I have been thinking a lot lately about something my sister shared with me. It led me into a deep self examination, and honestly, it hit me harder than I expected. It fits perfectly with the theme of Spiritual Surrender, which is something every believer talks about but few of us truly understand in practice. I say I trust God, I say I believe His Word, I say I want to follow the Spirit, but surrender is another level entirely. It is something deeper. It is something that shows up in the small corners of daily life where only God sees.
Spiritual surrender is the daily choice to submit my thoughts, habits, desires, and decisions to God’s authority, trusting Scripture and responding to the Spirit’s prompting with humility and obedience.
I love how my sister put it. She said, “Yielding to Scripture’s commands and the Spirit’s urging requires surrender.” Then she added, “How do we do that? Through prayerful focus on the Lord.” That line has stayed with me. It made me ask myself some uncomfortable but necessary questions. Have I truly surrendered to God, or do I just like the idea of surrender? Do I give the Lord my attention, or do I let everything else pull me away? Do I spend more time scrolling than praying? Do I sit with God, or do I run through my day on autopilot?
Those questions exposed something real in me. Surrender is not dramatic and it is not glamorous. It is not a big emotional moment but a life built out of daily choices. Surrender is revealed in what I cling to and what I lay down, what I fight for and what I release, what I justify and what I confess. Surrender is the posture that says, “Lord, You lead. I will follow.”
Let me walk through what this has meant in my own life, because I believe it will speak to anyone who wants to follow Jesus more faithfully.
How Spiritual Surrender Reorders My Daily Life
This is not about perfection. It is about honesty. When I hold my life up to the light of surrender, I see patterns that explain where I have been spiritually healthy and where I have been spiritually weak. I have walked through addiction, temptation, insecurity, shame, confusion, and seasons where I clung to things that were slowly destroying me. Surrender did not come naturally. It came slowly and painfully, usually after I tried to run my life in my own strength.
But God has met me over and over again with grace. He has never stopped calling me to Himself. He has never stopped inviting me to let go of what harms me and take hold of what brings life. Surrender is not something God demands from me but something He leads me into.
Here is what surrender looks like in my daily walk with Christ.
1. Surrender begins with Scripture
Everything starts with Scripture. If the Bible is not my foundation, then my surrender has no anchor. God’s Word tells me what is true. It tells me what is right. It reveals my blind spots. It exposes my sin. It guides my decisions. Without Scripture, surrender becomes vague spirituality instead of obedience.
For those wanting a deeper explanation of biblical surrender, I recommend reading this helpful overview on surrendering to God from GotQuestions, which lays out the meaning and cost of true obedience: https://www.gotquestions.org/surrender-to-God.html
There have been seasons where I drifted from the Word. I convinced myself I was fine. I thought I could coast on what I already knew. But every time I drifted away from Scripture, I drifted toward myself. And that direction never leads to life. It leads to confusion, compromise, and exhaustion.
Surrendering to Scripture means letting God’s truth overrule my desires, emotions, impulses, and opinions. It means the Bible gets the final say, not my feelings.
2. Surrender continues as I respond to the Spirit’s urging
Scripture gives the commands. The Spirit gives the timing. Scripture tells me God’s will. The Spirit nudges me into it.
There have been countless moments where I felt the Spirit urging me to turn away from something, confess something, walk toward something, apologize, repent, forgive, or simply slow down. And I could feel the tension between flesh and Spirit. That tension is where surrender is tested.
Obedience is where surrender becomes visible. I wrote more about this connection between love and obedience in this blog about why love without obedience is incomplete: https://archkennedy.com/love-and-obedience/
When I obey the Spirit’s promptings, His voice becomes clearer. When I ignore them, my heart becomes dull. The more I respond, the more sensitive I become to His leading. The less I respond, the easier it becomes to walk in the flesh.
Responding to the Spirit’s urging is one of the clearest signs of real surrender.
3. Surrender reveals itself in what I give my attention to
My attention reveals my priorities. If I want to know what I love, I look at what I reach for. Do I reach for prayer or my phone? Do I reach for Scripture or distraction? Do I reach for God or for the noise that numbs me?
Sometimes my biggest battle is not temptation but attention. I can waste entire days without meaning to. Surrender interrupts that pattern and calls me back to the One who gives me life.
4. Surrender requires honesty with God
I cannot surrender what I refuse to acknowledge. We all have areas we resist God in. We all have habits and desires we hide behind. God already sees them, and He lovingly exposes what needs to be surrendered. He exposes to free me.
Real surrender grows in honesty. The more honest I am with God, the more He transforms me.
5. Surrender changes the way I face temptation
When I was not living surrendered, temptation owned me. I let my flesh rule my choices, and it wrecked me. But as I have learned to surrender, temptation has lost its power. The Spirit now strengthens me where I used to fall. Scripture gives me clarity where I used to be confused. Obedience builds strength where I used to collapse.
Surrender is strength under God’s authority. It is not giving up. It is giving God control.
6. Surrender brings peace to my mind
Every time I choose God over my impulses, I feel peace return. Every time I choose obedience over old habits, my heart quiets. Surrender lifts the weight off my shoulders because it places the weight back on God, where it belongs.
Peace grows in the soil of surrender.
7. Surrender is revealed in the small things
It shows up in how I treat people, how I react when I am frustrated, how quickly I confess, and how I behave when no one is watching. Surrender is not loud. It is often hidden. But it is real.
How I Am Learning Spiritual Surrender In My Own Journey
I am still learning this. I am still practicing it. I am still asking God to take areas of my life that I want to control. And I am still discovering that surrender is not something I graduate from. It is something I grow in.
For a deeper devotional look at this, I love this Desiring God reflection on the joy found in surrendering to Christ:
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-joy-of-surrender
Here is what God continues to teach me.
1. God is patient with me
He does not shame me. He does not reject me. He draws me gently. He convicts me lovingly. He strengthens me faithfully. His patience is the foundation of my surrender.
2. Surrender is the only pathway to freedom
Any time I cling to something God wants me to release, I become enslaved to it. Any time I surrender something God calls me to lay down, I find freedom. True freedom is found on the other side of surrender.
3. Surrender is not loss, it is gain
It feels like loss at first, but God always replaces what He removes with something better. He heals what I surrender. He restores what I release. He never takes without giving.
4. Surrender draws me closer to Christ
Obedience brings intimacy. Every surrendered moment aligns my heart with His. Surrender is a relationship, not just a decision.
5. Surrender is a process, not an event
I surrender day by day, moment by moment. Sometimes slowly, sometimes reluctantly, sometimes joyfully. But always with the help of the Spirit.
Why Surrender Matters In A Distracted Culture
We live in a world that encourages self rule, self expression, self fulfillment, and self promotion. Everything centers on following your own heart. But Jesus calls me to something different. He calls me to follow Him.
The world says trust yourself. Christ says deny yourself.
The world says express your truth. Christ says obey My truth.
The world says seek your will. Christ says seek Mine.
Surrender is countercultural, uncomfortable, and unpopular. But it is the only way to walk with Christ in a world that constantly pulls us in the opposite direction.
Surrender shapes us into people who reflect Jesus. It builds humility, obedience, clarity, purity, and strength. It protects us from the lies of culture and anchors us in the truth of Scripture.
My Personal Call To You
If you are anything like me, you want to grow. You want to honor God. You want to obey Him, not just admire Him. You want His will to shape your life more than your desires do. And you want to walk in real surrender.
So here is my encouragement. Start small. Ask God to show you one thing that needs to be surrendered today. He will show you gently and clearly because He loves you. And He will give you the strength to obey.
Surrender is not the end of your freedom. It is the beginning of it.
Arch Kennedy
Bold, Unfiltered, and Unafraid
Watch my full commentary below:
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