Surrender (2)

If God’s will was obeyed by everyone every day, our world would experience amazing peace and prosperity. Life would have meaning and people would be filled with joy.  Sadly, all of us regularly reject God’s principles and do things our own way.  We live for personal gratification and are often blind to the needs of our family, friends and others around us.


As we recognize the past destruction and pain we caused to ourselves and others by doing things our way, it often helps to reflect on how things could be if we did things God’s way.  Part of Step 3 is coming to understand life as God sees it, as God planned it, and as God is offering it to you and me, in love, today.

These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.  But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.  (Matthew 7:24-27 MSG)

Some of us may wonder how we will ever succeed at doing things God’s way after living so many years on self-will. We have already admitted that we are powerless over the pull of our addictions. Our past record would make it seem impossible to live by God’s instructions.  Thankfully, God not only commands us to live a godly life, He also provides us with the power to do it.  God promises to put His Holy Spirit in us and make it possible for us to do what He tells us to do.

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him … I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. (Philippians 2:13, 4:13 NLT)

As we get to know God by reading the Bible and spending time with Him in prayer, we will start to feel comfortable in surrendering to His ways. God begins to transform us from the inside out.  God, through the guidance of His Spirit within us, helps us to know that what He says will work, actually works.  He gives us strength and courage to obey Him.  When we choose to make healthy choices, often in spite of our feelings, we begin to experience peace within and a satisfying life beyond anything we’ve ever known.  Amazingly, shaping our lives around God’s word fills us with peace for today and hope for the future.  This is the result of our choosing to surrender, “turning our will and our life over to the care of God”, that we speak about in Step 3. 

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.  (Hebrews 11:1 NLT)

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