Early in life, many of us were on the fast-track, accomplishing whatever we thought important in our life.  We were working hard, raising a family, becoming very involved in our kids activities, and being fueled by other endeavors, taking a short break only whenever we were experiencing burnout.

You could say that our plate was full, and we knew we couldn’t take on another task, but when we were asked to join that organization or be part of this committee or whatever else, we couldn’t say no.  Being pulled in so many directions because of our commitments invited us to meet the brothers Stress and Anxiety.  And over time, we were getting worn out and realizing that we felt no sense of peace in our daily lives, we weren’t happy, and we knew something was wrong.

How many of us today find internal peace evading us in our lives?  We get caught up in the anxieties of the world and worry and stress about everything: our job, our children, our marriage, our health, our relationships, and pretty much everything else.  It’s that feeling of being on a peace-less merry-go-round with no way off.   Well, there is a way off! 

Jesus offers us that peace in John 14:27, when He says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.”  Note that Jesus is offering us a permanent, lasting peace, unlike the temporary peace extended to us by the world.  His peace doesn’t change like the tide in our lives.  Even when we fall out of His grace, He is standing there, with open arms, making His lasting peace available to us again.  That certainly sounds desirable for our current and future well-being.

Now it is up to us to decide to accept His offer of permanent peace in our lives, which comes at a cost, our total surrender to Him.  Questions should immediately pop into our minds from that sentence: What is meant by total surrender? - How does it pertain to me and my current life? - Is it something I am capable of committing to?  We need answers to these questions in order to discern what is being offered in order to make the right decision(s) for ourselves.

I’m pretty sure that each person we ask would have a different definition of total surrender.  Here is my definition: 

It is a combination of the following ingredients:  TOTAL FAITH, TOTAL TRUST, GIVING OUR ALL, BECOMING A NOTHING, and NOT LOOKING BACK.

Now we look closely at each of these ingredients:

TOTAL FAITH:  With this level of faith, we need no evidence whatsoever that God indeed exists.  We blindly believe He is our Creator, loves us unconditionally, wants what is best for us, and desires our presence in the Kingdom.  We also believe that at every single moment in time, God controls everything in the universe.  To everyone reading this, it’s important to realize that our faith journey didn’t happen overnight, but it was through prayer and asking the Holy Spirit to direct our lives, which is available to everybody willing to make the commitment. 

TOTAL TRUST:  In this heightened state of trust, we form a total reliance on God.  We are making a willful choice that if we live our life according to God’s will for us, then He will come through as He promised and gift us eternal life.  Digging a little deeper here, we see that trusting God means that we had the courage to give up control of our life and allowed Him to take charge, which wasn’t easy and occurred overtime as we came to know Him and love Him.  It’s such a feeling of relief when we finally have the courage to turn over control to Him who, in turn, will empower us to trust Him.  And finally, we trust that He will show us the way to our true home, Heaven.

GIVING OUR ALL:  In this state of mind, we are holding nothing back at every moment from doing what He desires us to do, whether it’s helping everyone we can, showing love unconditionally to everyone we meet, or supporting those to whom He leads us.

BECOMING A NOTHING:  We gain the wisdom that God is everything in our life and we are nothing, which takes tremendous humility on our part, and this means that we are leaving the worldly pride that had deafened our ability to hear God calling our name.  We must remain a nothing, totally surrendered and abandoned to Him with no worries about ourselves, OTHERS or our earthly existence.

NOT LOOKING BACK:  If we have total faith and trust in God and have become a nothing on this earth, then we could move forward in every aspect of our life with total confidence, not needing to stop and look back for any reason because our life is totally in God’s hands.

Total surrender is so powerful!  It becomes a mighty weapon, capable of defeating anyone or anything that attempts to interrupt or break our peace with Jesus. 

How realistic is it to achieve this definition of total surrender?  It will be difficult at first, but we can experience moments of it as we walk forward in our daily life.  But over time and with our dedication, patience and practice, it will become more a part of our life.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able walk into Paradise carrying our Total Surrender Flag and handing it to Jesus?  Then we could see the expression on His face.