“Surrender” isn’t the most inspiring word. Its simplest definition is “to give up,” an act rarely celebrated. And when you imagine the word by itself, what do you envision? A white flag peeking out from smoking ruins? Beaten soldiers falling on their faces in shame? Are any of the pictures flashing through your mind positive? Probably not.
Yet, in a Christian context, surrender is often upheld as the most brave, most life-changing, most empowering action a person could ever take. Just look at this verse:
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’ ” (Matthew 16:24–25)
Essentially, Jesus is saying that you must surrender your current life—your pre-Jesus identity, fears, wants, and worries—in order to gain true life.
Does that mean beginning a relationship with Jesus forces you to surrender your own will? To give up your personality? Your interests? Your sense of humor? Your self-confidence?
Spiritual surrender can be a scary thing. Thankfully, the Bible thoroughly explains:
- What it means to completely surrender to God
- The benefits of surrendering to God
- The Holy Spirit’s amazing role in our surrender
This article draws heavily from the book Abide in Jesus by Christian writer Helmut Haubeil. All quotations and ideas are cited.
What Does It Mean to Surrender Completely to God?
Haubeil connects surrender to salvation by explaining faith, referencing the story of the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:
“So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ ” (verse 31)
Grace, God’s unmerited favor, saves us—“while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). But we must believe, we must have faith, in the saving power of Christ’s blood, shed on the cross, to enter into that saving grace and eternal life. Salvation is a choice that requires faith. And as Haubeil explains:
“The primary trait of biblical faith is trust. Whoever trusts Jesus will entrust themselves to Him. This means that we are saved because we entrust ourselves to God through Jesus Christ. Our trusting surrender is a clear visible sign of true faith.” (p. 26)
Complete surrender, then, is key to true Christian faith. It is not giving up. It is not waving a white flag in shame or falling on your face in hopelessness. It is bravely demonstrating trust.
Complete surrender to God is falling before the cross of Christ in confidence and hope, asking for His blood to wipe away your sins so that you can wear His white robe of righteousness.
The Old and New Testament tell this beautiful story:
“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness . . . ” (Isaiah 61:10)
“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus . . . let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:19–22)
“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life.” (Revelation 3:5a)
Complete surrender to God means hope for the future and peace in the present. Describing the latter, Haubeil (p. 26) quotes Ellen White’s Desire of Ages (p. 331):
“Those who take Christ at His word, and surrender their souls to His keeping, their lives to His ordering, will find peace and quietude. Nothing of the world can make them sad when Jesus makes them glad by His presence. In perfect acquiescence there is perfect rest.”
How Does the Holy Spirit Help Us Surrender?
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit is our great Comforter, Teacher, and Guide. When we surrender our lives to Jesus, when we deny ourselves and submit to God’s will above all else, we allow the Holy Spirit to transform our minds and characters to reflect Christ. Jesus said this about the Holy Spirit:
“He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John 14:26b)
Just as we cannot earn salvation, we cannot perfect our own characters. We cannot become like Jesus without help. We must surrender to the Holy Spirit and let Him work in us to produce His fruit: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 16:22–23).
Haubeil puts it like this:
“The Holy Spirit is the crowning gift that Jesus gave to His disciples. God could not give more than this. The Holy Spirit is the gift that brings forth all other gifts.”
Again quoting The Desire of Ages (p. 672), Haubeil continues:
“ ‘But like every other promise, it is given on conditions. There are many who believe and profess to claim the Lord’s promise; they talk about Christ and about the Holy Spirit, yet they receive no benefit. They do not surrender the soul to be guided and controlled by the divine agencies.’
“Receiving this gift is bound to conditions. We often speak about Christ and the Holy Spirit and still we do not receive any blessing. Why? We do not completely surrender to Him, so that we can be led and guided by Him. Many have not surrendered themselves to God—often out of ignorance—but rather have taken their lives into their own hands. This can be the reason for a deficiency in the Holy Spirit.” (pp. 26–27)
Benefits of Surrendering to God
When we surrender completely to the Holy Spirit, who daily reminds us of Jesus’ life-changing words, we enter into a new kind of peace and happiness. Jesus Himself described this process:
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:7–11)
Quoting White’s book Steps to Christ (pp. 43–44), Haubeil writes:
“ ‘God desires to heal us, to set us free. But since this requires an entire transformation, a renewing of our whole nature, we must yield ourselves wholly to Him. . . . He sets before us the height of blessing to which He desires to bring us through His grace. He invites us to give ourselves to Him, that He may work His will in us. It remains for us to choose whether we will be set free from the bondage of sin, to share the glorious liberty of the sons of God.’
“Our surrender to God brings an immense blessing. He invites us to surrender ourselves to Him, because He wants to heal and free us. From what? Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power. He is not his own. He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.” (pp. 27–28)
Does complete surrender to God mean giving up your freedom? No—it means the exact opposite! Romans 8:1–2 says:
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1–2)
How often do you hurt someone without meaning to? How often do you fall back into bad habits even as your mind is screaming at you to stop? How often do the popular activities of this world bring you nothing but emptiness? Without Jesus, we are blind, paralyzed, and imprisoned by sin. That’s why He came to Earth. Reading from Isaiah, Jesus Himself explained His purpose:
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” (Luke 4:18–19)
Haubeil describes the life of a person who hasn’t experienced the benefits of full surrender to God:
“He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan. While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.” (p. 28)
On the same page, he quotes White’s book My Life Today (p. 6):
“The surrender of all our powers to God greatly simplifies the problem of life. It weakens and cuts short a thousand struggles with the passions of the natural heart.”
Haubeil then lists seven benefits of surrendering to God (p. 30), paraphrased here:
- Your relationship with Jesus and God the Father will improve and grow.
- You will better understand the truth—truth about sin, God’s character, and the overwhelming love God gives humanity.
- The power of your prayers will increase (1 John 3:22).
- Your joy will increase.
- You will enter into a more abundant life—greater purpose, pleasure, and hope for the present and future.
- You will experience God working through you, performing wonders you never imagined possible (John 14:12).
- Satan will run away from you.
“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:7–8a)
Partial vs. Complete Surrender
Drawing on an analysis by minister Dean M. Kelley, Haubeil describes five increasingly comprehensive levels of surrender to God (pp. 30–31):
- Giving money.
- Giving time.
- Giving your “power and skills.”
- Laying your “fears and hopes” at the foot of the cross.
- Surrendering all that you are, your entire being—“which means completely surrendering [your] will and life to Jesus.”
God wants you, even the parts of yourself that you’re ashamed of or find painful. God can handle all of that. He already did.
On the cross, Jesus bore your sins, He gave everything, to gift you the choice of salvation. Will you give everything to Him? Will you surrender completely to the God who died to set you free?
“Surrender is not a one-sided affair. Jesus gave Himself to us first. He gave us everything that God could give and He invites us to give everything that we can give. It is a matter of everything for everything.” (Haubeil, p. 30)
Related Articles:
The Work of the Holy Spirit in Our Lives: Guiding and Transforming
God’s Promises: Seven Key Promises to Strengthen Your Faith
Behavior Change: Inside Out or Outside In?
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Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
