From the human standpoint, “being strong” is something that we are supposed to summons up and make ourselves do. It is hard to be strong when you are afraid, broken, terrified, troubled or discouraged. What do you do when you just can’t conjure up the strength you need? What to do when trials come upon you like the unending waves upon the beach; do you fight against the waves or surrender? The answer is simple but profound you surrender – strength is found in surrender.

I was raised to always be strong and to stand in the face of adversity and to never, never back down. Giving up was never an option. I have learned the hard way, sometimes leading to my own destruction and failure, that this is not always the best motto.

You see the enemy wants us to fail. He wants us to think that we are invincible. Sometimes when we find out we are not, it is too late. Failure can be all-encompassing; it doesn’t care who you are, if you have a nice marriage, or important social status. Failure doesn’t care if you are white, black, brown, or have pink polka dots.

I noticed that most failures in my life can be narrowed down to three prevailing reasons – Me, Myself and I. Surely many of us could write a book on all the hurt, pain, and destruction caused in our lives by our own hands as we struggled to “be strong” and not surrender. In order to be strong we must surrender. We all heard this said, but what does it truly mean? How do we surrender and what do we surrender?

In all of our struggles there is a theme that is at the core in every of every one of us; and that is death.

Satan wants you dead, and God wants you dead too.

It is Satan’s sole purpose to kill and destroy us, hoping that we might fail and miss the grace so freely given.

God wants us dead also, but wants us to “surrender” to Him, and in doing so, die to ourselves that grace may take hold of our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Many of us are afraid of a physical death, and just as many of us are afraid of dying to ourselves. We all try to hold on to things that we think precious. Instead of surrendering all to God, we hold on even tighter. We all have things deep in us that are our own personal treasures and possessions. We must surrender to God even our most intimate secrets and vulnerable places that we hold most dear.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, all because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Surrendering to God is a safe place to be, as we are assured without any uncertainty that He will never leave us. He is our strength and is always working for our good instead of our failure. What the enemy has intended for our demise and destruction can be changed in a second. God’s yardstick is the only one that counts when measuring success. We need to just be willing to surrender ourselves to Him 100%, no matter what it might cost us in our lives. Total surrender and death to self is a scary idea, but we must do it. We must give it all to Him; things we are hiding, things we are holding onto, and the things we are avoiding.

We cannot successfully repair and paint over the cracks and damage in the foundation of our lives, but He can, and He will. All we need to do is surrender our lives into His hands, for it is with His hands He created the universe and all that is in it. It was with His hands that He rewrote upon the sands of time giving us life eternal in Christ Jesus, and with His hands He will give us strength to replace our failures with His success as He makes all things new.

Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

1 Peter 5:6 – So humble yourselves under the mighty hands of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.

 I surrender all

I surrender all

All to Thee, my blessed Savior

I surrender all