Surrender Your Ways

Encounter: Find a quiet place to sit with your Bibles and take a couple of deep breaths, centering your mind and heart on God. Open your Bibles to Luke 9 and slowly read verses 23 through 26. Circle, highlight or underline a word or phrase that draws you into this passage. Sit with this word or phrase for a moment or two and lift it up to God to reveal to you His intentions for this word or phrase.

The word “surrender,” makes people very uncomfortable. It is our natural state to want to control all things in and around our lives. What is the first thing that your body reveals to you when you consider the word “surrender?”

My desire has always been to submit and surrender my autonomous ways to be fully dependent upon God and His leading. But the truth is I have struggled to let go and as Carrie Underwood’s song says, “Jesus, take the wheel.”

Our passage this week in the New Living Translation has Jesus telling the crowd; “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.”

Jesus knew this would be a challenge for those he was addressing, just as it is for us today. How do we give up our own ways and take up our cross daily? It is not possible to do it on our own. It requires help from the power of the Holy Spirit and a willingness to surrender. Surrender takes strength and courage to trust in something greater than ourselves.

Jesus’ last days, prayed to God; “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; Yet not my will but yours be done.”

Reflect: Jesus tells us to take up our cross daily. The cross was a Roman symbol of a humiliating death. Yet Jesus used it to display the greatest gift of love to take our sins upon Him and put them to death. As you consider your ways in your daily walk, what might be one way you could surrender to Jesus and trust in His way?

We have many years of experience following our own ways. It takes a willing heart to let go and surrender our ways for His ways. Remain in Him and his love will carry you through the trials and temptation to follow your own way. “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think and then you will know His will for you, which is good and pleasing, and perfect.” Romans 12:2

Spiritual Practice: At the end of your day, sit in your space and breathe. Center your heart and Mind upon the presence of God. Reflect upon your day and discuss with God the events of the day. Ask Him to reveal to you the events in which you followed your way and the events in which you followed His way. Praise God for showing you the events of the day. Thank Him for guiding the way of His. Ask God to forgive you when you followed your way instead of His and thank Him for the abundant grace. Ask Him to continue to show you His ways in the future and the courage to follow His ways!

Gather: As you gather in your small groups, take the time to share with one another the struggles you faced when trying to surrender your ways for His ways. Discuss the following questions:

1. What are some of the challenges of surrendering your ways for His ways?

   
   

2. How might some of these challenges be overcome?

   
   

3. How can we support one another to surrender our ways and pick up our cross daily?

   ²⁶ As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.” Luke 22:26 NIV

Surrendering my ways with you,

Pastor Phil