We are taught in our culture to not rely on anyone but ourselves. This taints our faith in a lot of ways because we have a hard time handing it all over to God. Jesus, in His human nature, lived His life in unrelenting faith to God, even to death on a cross. Shouldn’t we, as followers of Jesus, also let God lead us in our lives?

James 4:7 tells us to submit ourselves to God. Romans 12:1 admonishes us to give ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. Luke 9:23 says to deny ourselves and follow Jesus. There are many more examples of this, but let me say this: surrendering ourselves to Christ is important because it is presented to us so many times in the Bible. God is drilling this into our faith because it is important to submit to Him and how He wants us to live in Him and for Him. This is something not to be taken lightly.

But we do, don’t we? We cannot let go of some things in our lives to Christ. We beat around the bush about it; but in parts of our lives, we are not ready to do this. The question is, why are we waiting? Why won’t we just do it, now – not tomorrow, not next week, not if this or that happens, or when the “right” time comes around – but we need to do it now. Don’t get me wrong; I’m in the same boat, so I’m speaking to myself as well as you.

When we surrender to Christ, we are set free. There is no bondage to the world anymore, but freedom in being with Christ Jesus. We can’t be partially surrendered; we aren’t supposed to hold on to parts of ourselves or lives. We are to give it all.

The easy parts are giving our burdens to Christ. When we have a problem with this or that or some type of tribulation, yes, we are all for giving it to Jesus to fix. But shouldn’t we also give the rest to Him as well? Relationships, finances, free time, etc. We need to give it to Him. Yet, we do the opposite. We struggle with giving it all to Jesus.

Have you ever heard the Holy Spirit speak to you? Has He told you to do something that is contrary to what you think your life should be? We have two options when we hear Him. We can ignore Him or act.  In the little things of life, it is easy to listen, to surrender; but it is in the momentous actions in which He calls us that we have trouble. Those things that can lead to life changes scare us, and we are hesitant to answer the call.

Me, I am now retired from my federal job based on a disability that affected my ability to do my job. It doesn’t mean I can’t work; it just means I wasn’t able to do my duties. I was moved by the Holy Spirit to apply to do this a couple of years ago. The move to do this required me to lose over half my pay. I really struggled with this for quite some time, even during the process. At one point though, I realized the moving and my response to the Holy Spirit’s guidance meant that I would not be abandoned by Jesus.

With great angst and struggle in my mind, I gave it to Him. I put my trust in Him to take care of my family and to provide for us. You know what? Things are working out.

It isn’t as if we don’t struggle, but my trust and surrender in this aspect of my life has shown me that to surrender to Jesus is worth it. There is no longer any angst within my mind or heart. There is instead of this a peace of mind and a peaceful heart. What Christ has planned for me now, I don’t know, but I trust Him to lead me and show me where and what to do to serve Him. I have realized it isn’t about me, but it is about Jesus and His Kingdom, not my life.

The urging of the Holy Spirit in our lives to surrender our lives can cause fear and anxiety. Some respond and some don’t respond to action. It is fear that causes us to pause; and instead of considering what Jesus wants of us, we contemplate how it will affect us. We don’t think about His glory and how He WILL take care of us, but we get selfish and think about ourselves.

I don’t think it is bad to have some fear or anxiety, but we must push past those emotions to act for Jesus. He won’t neglect or abandon us because He has a purpose for each one of us to magnify His Glory and His Kingdom. We fear the unknown; but if you will consider this, we don’t know what will happen in the next minute, day, week, or years to come. They are all unknown, but our problem is we get comfortable in our lives, and how we live is a pattern we expect to continue each day.

I stepped into the unknown when I received my retirement. I have been working since I was 14 and have never stopped. It was quite scary to consider losing most of my income and not working a regular job anymore, but I’m doing it now. I trusted and responded, and I’m okay.

It takes a lot of courage to surrender all to Jesus and follow His will for us. Our will, as important as it might seem to us, is in no comparison to what Christ wants. It may not be life changing, or it may; but regardless, we need to surrender and follow Him. It may be as simple as getting baptized and being the example and light of Jesus at work and in your family. Even this can be scary for some. We worry about what others think of our change, or what they will say to us, or if they will persecute us.

It may be as simple as Jesus calling you to serve in the community to aid the poor. It may be a complete change in your life and career. You may be at a good job making good money, and Jesus is tugging at your heart to change your path to His path. It is our decision to follow His calling for how we live and what we do.

Society tells us to stand alone. Society says our lives are defined by our ambitions and our desires. This is a selfish aspect of our society. They tell us we can’t rely on anyone else to make it in this world. We are taught to step on people, lie, cheat, and be dishonest to move ahead. Even as Christians, some do this.  Even if we don’t, though, the attitudes of self-reliance are ever present around us. We are all surrounded by this and are victims of this thought cycle pushed on us since we were young.

When we surrender to Jesus, we are turning our backs and flipping upside-down the society we live in.  This is good of course, but many struggle with this nonetheless. Society says to do one thing, and Jesus says to do another. Society tells us to hold on with a tight grip aspects of our lives, and Jesus tells us to hold onto our purpose for Him. Society tells us success is achieved alone by ourselves. Jesus’ plan of success and purpose may be opposite of what our society tells us it is. We just need to let go of what we have been brainwashed with and hold on to Christ and His promises, and act on His will for us.

I think we all want to do this, but we fear failure – not in a godly sense, but in a worldly sense. We worry what others will think. We think about the comfort we have with our careers and lifestyles. Basically, and to the point, we think in selfish ways.  It is not about Jesus but is about what will happen to us if we follow Him completely.

Some may be offended by this, but we are selfish. We tend to think of ourselves when Jesus calls us to surrender. We fantasize and daydream of serving Him; but when called to action, we tend to shy away when it threatens our comfort zones of how we live now. We then contemplate now, not how we can serve Jesus, but how it will affect us; and then we try to negotiate with Him instead.

He may call us to do something that takes us out of comfort zones or that will change our lives in some manner. In response, instead of answering His call, we either ignore it, justify why we can’t do it, or will partially answer His call or even replace what He wants us to do with something that we are comfortable with or that won’t change our lifestyles.

Look, the whole point is to follow Jesus and not stand on our own. We can’t do it. We can’t survive on our own without Christ in our lives. We need to surrender to Him so we no longer rely on ourselves but rely on Him to guide and lead us to where He wants us to be, not where we want to be. It takes an unshakable faith and complete trust in Him to take care of us. Without complete surrender and trust, we cannot fulfill Christ’s complete plan for us in our lives in this world. We all know this, and we all feel it in our hearts. We need to overcome the fear and anxiety, and stop standing alone.

johnflysaught@gmail.com

Life is hard. It can beat us down into the ground. Because of this, people get broken within. They lose heart and they lose hope. I think we can all attest to this at one point or another in our lives – the emptiness, the desperation, the guilt of sin, all of which causes a broken spirit. I’ve met many people that are broken, and you know what? Some don’t even realize it. They think that is what life is and nothing more.

It is troubling for one to have no hope of the future but just a picture of the next dreary day to face. The only thing they have is the end of the work week, only to be let down by the chores of the weekend and the reminder that Monday is just a couple of days away. People want to escape and they turn to the world. Even Christians can get caught up in this cycle of life. We can break free from it though; we don’t have to be broken.

I can think back to my cycles of being broken. I can recall many times getting stuck in my troubles and thinking, “Woe is me,” over and over again, feeling sorry for myself and not facing what the cause of the trouble was. Yes, I have looked to the world for comfort and left Jesus to the wayside, blaming Jesus for my tribulations. I used Jesus as a punching bag with my thoughts and words. Did it help? Nope, not at all, but I did it nonetheless.

In my mind I would wrestle with Jesus about my reality and situations. I forgot His promises in my broken state. I would rather be angry at Him than face my reality and the troubles I got myself into. Why didn’t he bail me out of my issues? Why did He not give me the strength to avoid the sins I committed? I was so self-absorbed that I couldn’t see the truth in front of me – it was myself that placed me in the situations that made me broken within.

The truth of the matter is I deserved the pains I had that caused my suffering. But you know what? Satan capitalized on my pity parties and dragged me further from Christ than I would like to admit. Many times I didn’t see this happening, but only found myself in a deep hole, looking up to the small light above. It was my heart that Satan was trying to make cold. Thankfully, he failed at each attempt because I was able to come to my senses and reach out to the light, and with Christ’s help, climbed out of the holes of brokenness.

You may be facing the same thing I did. You may be in your own hole of despair and hopelessness that has caused you to be broken, to have a broken spirit. I don’t know your situation, but you do; and let me tell you, you can make it back to Christ.

Satan will want you to stay broken. He will want your hurt to get worse and worse. He will grab you by the ankles to pull you down the hole of nothingness. This can be avoided. It takes effort and a conscious realization of what you are doing to yourself and what Satan is attempting to do to you.

1 Peter 2:24 says, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

Christ died for us, and with Him the sins we committed through His grace and mercy; so we would be seen as right in front of God on judgment day. The verse doesn’t say some sins or we are party healed. It says “sins” and “healed.” Don’t read into this more than its simple statement of our position in Christ.

Those times when we feel broken, we must remember that Jesus died for us. It is our choice though to believe this or not. And with the promise of eternity with Him if we accept His grace and mercy, we should live our lives, not in a broken state, but in a joyous state.

For example, in Romans 15:13, the Apostle Paul tells us, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”

“Joy and peace in believing” – how simple and awesome is that. No strings attached. No conditions attached. No parentheses saying “except.” Because of our belief we can abound in hope. We can hold on to this concept of hope because Christ has given us many promises.

As we suffer though our troubles and hold tight to Christ, we will grow stronger in Him. Our relationship with Christ should not be contingent on a good and happy life, but should be on the promises of being with Him in heaven through belief and hope. When we get closer to Christ and when we face troubles, the hold of Satan on our lives, or his attempts to drag us down, will be nil. We won’t be broken because our hope will be in our hearts.

Isn’t that what it’s about? Keeping the love and hope in Christ in our hearts? If we can do this, the brokenness within will be less likely to happen, even in the worst of times. Yes, we will be tempted by Satan to let Christ go and turn to the world, but these are the times when we need to keep our trust and hope in Christ and to let the Holy Spirit lead us.

The Holy Spirit is our helper, not sometimes, but all the time. We just need to listen. The road to brokenness begins with us not listening to the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Holy Spirit does not lead us to failing, but if we listen to him, we will be sure to avoid such troubles. When we don’t listen to Him is when trouble enters our lives and we wander around like lost sheep outside the pen.

Some Christians fall because of brokenness in their lives. They walk away from Jesus and fall into the world to look for answers like I did or you have done. Some, though, let go of Jesus, shut the Holy Spirit out, and walked away. We all know people who have done this. They faced a hard time, blamed God, and never came back. It is sad to see this happen. It reminds me of the parable of the sower; they sprouted up, and when adversity came about, they withered and died. They lost sight of Christ and let their own selves give up on the hope and promises of Christ.

Look, I’m not calling anyone out on this. I’m just speaking from the heart of what I’ve been through and what I’ve seen. If a sinner like me can crawl out of the cave of darkness back to Christ, then others can too. You can too. All it takes is asking and seeking Christ in your lives again. There is not a secret formula or specific words; just talk to Jesus. He will not turn you away but will welcome you back with open arms.

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:2-4).