Category Archives: Faith

Spiritual Surrender

The word “surrender” conjures an image of giving up, of raising a white flag and throwing down one’s weapons in a painful acknowledgement of defeat. In its spiritual application, however, it is an act of liberation, not defeat. Spiritual surrender is a posture of yielding to God. It is a giving up of our expectations of the universe, a laying down of our defenses that keep God at bay, an intentional dismantling of the structures we have built to control our life and circumstances, and a giving permission to be undone. Most of all, it is a posture of unconditional vulnerability before God. Allow me to make the case for how such a radical surrender can be liberating.

Control is the Opposite of Surrender

We invest our energies to control every aspect of our lives, those we think we can control and those we fool ourselves that we can control, each a territory we have to govern. Like a frantic parent, we try to keep all our children territories subject to us, compliant to our directives and wishes. This is a difficult task for anyone. We feel pulled in multiple directions and are sometimes overwhelmed by the responsibility. We can only relax when every territory has relative peace, otherwise we are stressed and on edge. This is the situation that Jesus addressed in Matthew 11:28 when He invited those who are “weary and heavily-burdened” to come to Him to receive rest.

When our white-knuckled grip on life slips, then we become subject to our circumstances or to other people, which puts us at the mercy of outside influence and unkind fate. We struggle to get our grip back, to reassert our control, and then we try even harder to solidify our control. It becomes an exhausting, uphill battle. We’ve been taught that this is just the way it is, the only way one can succeed at life. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We can surrender up this machinery and let God take over its operation, as He offers a completely different model for living.

The truth is that control is an illusion. We never really have as much control as we believe. Our lives and circumstances can spin out of control with just a little shove. Something happens we can’t foresee. Trusted people let us down. Bad fortune comes out of nowhere. We try to plan for all scenarios, but we are fooling ourselves to think we have it all covered because it is impossible to prepare for everything. And if we are scrambling to do it out of fear, then it is fear, not you, that is in control. Given that we can’t truly control our circumstances, I suggest that we stop trying. I’m not saying that we stop planning. I’m saying that we stop trying to exert control over our lives, that we stop trying to enforce our wills, that we embrace surrender instead.

A Definition of Spiritual Surrender

Surrender is the opposite of control. It is a letting go, in contrast to taking hold and dominating. I’m not suggesting that we surrender ourselves to our circumstances. That would be defeatist. Instead, we surrender ourselves to God, entrusting our circumstances to Him. Now, this surrender has many levels, mostly because we generally only surrender what we perceive to be already out of our control. People sometimes choose surrender out of desperation when they find themselves at the end of their rope, but desperation surrender usually only lasts until we find our footing again. Regardless of how we initially embrace surrender, it can be a starting point, but the path to peace requires a fuller surrender. This means that we surrender not just what is out of our control, but those things that we are fiercely and firmly controlling.

Surrender is not an apathetic giving up. Apathy implies that one stops caring altogether, that one ceases to value one’s situation. In surrender, we entrust what we care about to the guardianship of God. Surrender is a willful action, whereas apathetic giving up is an abdication of will, an abandonment of healthy self-regard, as nothing seems to matter anymore. With surrender, we choose to matter to ourselves, and we entrust our lives to God because our life matters.

Surrender is a state of being. It is not a one-time act. We continually relinquish our control and yield our lives to God, trusting Him with the reins of our lives, believing He is better equipped than us to manage our lives. For those who think that giving up control to God is foolish, I say that one must give God the opportunity to show Himself capable, instead of dismissing Him immediately. There is nothing that is beyond God’s capability. He is greater than our circumstances. However, God is not one to be controlled, so one must park one’s expectations outside the door, and let God be God in His own way and timing. Yet, God’s delight is to show Himself to those who seek Him (Matthew 7:7-8).

Jesus teaches that when we seek God’s kingdom first (Matthew 6:33), then the things that we worry about, the things that we try to control, will be taken care of by God. Jesus is challenging us to put God’s priorities first. Said differently, if we dedicate ourselves to what God cares about, to His priorities, then God will commit Himself to addressing the things we care about.

The Importance of Trust

Given that surrender is a releasing of control, it implies that we also relinquish our expectations, our need for predictability, our reliance on desired outcomes. We must, therefore, trust. Surrender without trust is terrifying. Taking little steps, we surrender and trust, entrusting to God what we have surrendered. In my book, Four in the Garden, Creator explains that “trust grows by trusting.” By choosing to trust, we grow in trust, until we can relax into our trust in God. It is then that we find peace in our surrender. It is then that we are liberated from the exertion and burden of having to control our lives.

Surrender is not only a state of being, but also a process. As we learn to trust, we find courage to submit more of our lives to God. We learn to surrender our priorities to His, our will to His, our agenda to His. We surrender our fears and insecurities in exchange for spiritual confidence in His ability to direct our lives, to nurture us even in the midst of hardship. Finally, we reach a point where we find the courage to surrender our very selves to Him, after He has nudged us lovingly to that precipice where we can step off that frightening cliff and discover that He will catch us and uphold us, even enable us to fly. It’s the familiar “push the bird out of the nest” analogy, but the choice is ours, the choice between staying where we are or trusting God more fully in willful surrender.

Choosing Vulnerability

Surrender requires vulnerability before God. Vulnerability is an intentional dropping of our defenses, a setting aside of our self. I think this is the hardest and scariest thing to do, but it’s the only way that God can get hold of us. When we make ourselves vulnerable, we give God permission to be God within our lives, giving Him the freedom to be real and the freedom to remove any obstacles that get in the way of that spiritual reality. Because vulnerability leaves us exposed, that is why learning to trust God is so important. As we risk trust, we find the capacity for surrender. If the risk feels too daunting, then we honestly admit our fears to God and ask Him for courage so we can trust.

The Liberation of Trustful Surrender

The liberation that comes from spiritual surrender is evidenced by the freedom from fear, the freedom from stress, the freedom from ultimate responsibility over our lives. Thus, we are free to live for God and for others, the burden of having to micro-manage our lives now in God’s hands. We still have to manage our affairs, but the weighty burden of that management is now lifted. Anything that we surrender to God becomes His, and by implication, His responsibility. So we can enter the rest that Jesus spoke of. He goes on to say in Matthew 11:30 that “His yoke is easy and His burden is light.” Trusting in ourselves is a weighty burden that we have to carry alone. When we put our trust in Jesus, then He offers to carry our load in exchange for His load, which is easy and light because it is rooted in love, grace, and humility, instead of control.

Questions for Reflection:

  1. Can you recognize the areas in your life where you are exerting the most control?
  2. Which area of your life do you think you might be able to surrender and entrust to God?
  3. What scares you most about surrender? How might you address those fears?

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Rick Hocker is a game programmer, artist, and author. In 2004, he sustained a back injury that left him bed-ridden in excruciating pain for six months, followed by a long recovery. He faced the challenges of disability, loss of income, and mounting debt. After emerging from this dark time, he discovered that profound growth had occurred. Three years later, he had a dream that inspired him to write his award-winning book, Four in the Garden. His goal was to help people have a close relationship with God and to share the insights he gained from the personal transformation that resulted from his back injury. He lives in Martinez, California.

For more articles, visit http://www.rickhocker.com/articles.html
Website: http://www.rickhocker.com
Email: rick@rickhocker.com

When Effort is Not Enough

When you pursue an important goal, you want God’s help to accomplish it, whether looking for a job, trying to lose weight, or seeking wisdom for a friend in trouble. But what is the balance between exerting effort and trusting in God? What is your part and what is God’s part? How do you know the difference?

Trust Alone

Let’s look at the extremes, first. I’ve known people who, desiring to be spiritual, wait on God to make the first move. These people expect God to provide income, housing, or a spouse without any effort on their part. It’s like trusting God for good grades without studying. “If God wants me to have this, He will provide it,” they say. When the desired thing doesn’t happen, then it must not be God’s will. The Bible says, “You have not, because you ask not,” (James 4:2) but some things require more than just asking. I believe God wants us to participate in the answer. These days, new age spirituality emphasizes the power of intention, but we need to apply willingness and effort, along with intention, toward our goals and desires. Our participation demonstrates to God our seriousness of intention. “God will provide,” but only if we do our part. We collaborate with God as we work toward our goals. It is meant to be a joint effort.

Effort Alone

At the other extreme are those who believe that goals are accomplished by pure effort alone. In effect, they take God out of the equation. But we can only do so much on our own. We have limitations. We need God to bless, extend, or multiply our labors to get us to the other side. It’s foolish to think that effort alone is sufficient. Our efforts fall short. We need God to open doors, grant us favor, manifest resources, and bring about what only He can do.

Sowing, Waiting, and Reaping

The challenge is to know when to restrain effort. For example, we could spend twelve hours a day looking for work, but anyone who has tried will tell you that nothing is more depressing. A farmer plants seeds, then waits for the seeds to sprout, trusting that God will bless him with a harvest. We invest ourselves, then we step back and wait and trust. We try to be wise with how we use our time. When we are desperate or fearful, we tend to over-invest and employ a scattershot approach to things, doing everything and anything that might make a difference. That leads to despair and burnout. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself whether your effort is driven by fear or trust. Fear-driven effort produces far less results than trust-driven effort. We do our part, trusting in God, then we step back and trust God to do His part. We must remember to give God time to do His part. Seeds don’t sprout overnight.

We have to be careful with over-exertion. Sometimes, our efforts get in God’s way. We can be so focused on our labors that we miss God’s provision. I remember when I had to be out of my apartment by the end of the day. I should have spent all day looking for a new apartment because time was running out. Fear and panic could have driven all my effort. Instead, I chose to go to church that morning. I spoke with someone at church who happened to have an available room. That day, I moved into my new place. A farmer knows the seasons, when to sow, when to rest, when to reap. After sowing, the farmer scans his field for any changes, looking for first sprouts. In the same way, we step back and widen our view to look for any movement or change that God has brought about. If we keep our heads down all the time, we miss what may be happening around us. One purpose of the Sabbath is to remind us we need to rest from our labors and enjoy God.

The Bigger Picture

In my twenties, I struggled with a dysfunctional friend, not knowing how to deal with his codependency and attachment. I pushed back and set firm boundaries, but he became more passive-aggressive and resentful. Years later, out of the blue, it occurred to me that I needed to ask his forgiveness for hurting him. Up to that point, I was focused on his hurting me and my having to forgive him, since he was the problem. When I asked him to forgive me, he broke into sobs. We both experienced much healing as a result of that action. The friendship became more manageable after that. He had never been given an outlet to release his hurt and anger until I gave him an opportunity to forgive. If only I had stepped back and looked at the bigger picture, I would have seen the pain I had caused him by my actions. My point is that we need to remind ourselves to look at the larger picture and not always be so focused on our goals. The answer sometimes comes when we get rid of our tunnel vision.

When We Lack

In some situations, we can do nothing, such as a sibling’s cancer diagnosis. But even then, our part would be to pray for them. Or we can offer practical support. A friend was diagnosed with stage-four esophageal cancer. Never have I known anyone to put so much creative effort toward his own cure. He changed his diet and his thought life, banishing all things unhealthy or negative. He underwent alternative treatments, even flying to Asia for a special detox procedure. He tried experimental drugs, one of which proved effective. He’s now cancer free, and attributes people’s prayers and positive intentions to this miracle. From my perspective, his attitude and spirited efforts were contributing factors.

After we have done all we can do, all that’s left is to trust, and that’s sufficient. There comes a time when we surrender. We’ve done all we know to do and nothing has worked for us. At that point, we give everything to God, trusting God to do what we cannot do. That is the point where we abandon all effort. We give up. It’s now up to God. God may or may not act, but we have tried. In my experience, God often waits until I reach the end of myself as the prompt for Him to act. I suppose He wants me to know my limitations and wants to break my pride. Sometimes, we place our faith in our own efforts, when our faith ought to be in God, so He lets our efforts come to naught in order to teach us this lesson. On occasion, new direction comes during this surrender and we are given a new task or a shift in focus, but we need to be in a posture of watchful waiting—the farmer looking at the entire field, not the patch of dirt at his feet.

We all experience times when we don’t have faith, when we are discouraged or doubtful. In those times, I think it serves us to go through the motions. Even that is an act of faith—applying effort when we can’t see if it will do any good. We don’t have as much control over our lives as we think we do. Some goals are never realized. Some harvests never manifest. The true benefit of working toward a goal isn’t the goal itself, but the inner growth that results from the effort and faith applied. Are we learning patience, endurance, trust, and compassion? Are we being changed? That is the best measurement of a goal.

Finding A Balance

It’s difficult to know the balance between effort and trust. Am I doing enough? Am I trusting enough? An excellent picture of this balance is found in Exodus 17:10-12 where the Amalekites fought the Israelites while Moses stood on a hilltop during the battle with the staff of God in his hand. As long as he held up his hands, Israel prevailed. When he lowered them, the Amalekites prevailed. So Aaron and Hur sat Moses down on a stone and they held his hands up, one on each side, until the battle was won. The lifting of the staff demonstrated trust in God, but it took effort to keep it elevated. This action embodied faith. In this illustration, effort and faith went hand-in-hand. In the same way, our efforts should be acts of faith. As far as it’s possible, our strivings should be founded on faith and focused on God. In other words, faith generates action, and action reinforces faith.

Moses got weary, so his friends helped him to keep his hands uplifted. We, too, need to rely on our support network in our undertakings. Whether we are searching for work, housing, or wisdom, we need our friends to come alongside and hold us up when we weaken. We often forget about this important resource. Don’t be quick to write off friends because you think they can’t help or understand. They may have ideas or resources you don’t have. Or find a support group of people who can relate.

This balance between effort and trust shifts over time. At times, we work. At times, we rest from our labors and trust God for a harvest. In everything, we exercise faith, believing that God is working on our behalf to bless our efforts. It’s an opportunity to draw close to God and learn His priorities for us. In the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42), Jesus affirmed Mary for spending time with him, whereas Martha missed out on relationship because she was preoccupied with her work. In our laboring, we need to remember to stop and listen to God as Mary did. Let us cultivate relationship with God, which is God’s greatest desire for us and which supersedes the less important goals we set for ourselves. These smaller goals are but opportunities for God to teach us and transform us, through both success and failure.

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Rick Hocker is a game programmer, artist, and author. In 2004, he sustained a back injury that left him bed-ridden in excruciating pain for six months, followed by a long recovery. He faced the challenges of disability, loss of income, and mounting debt. After emerging from this dark time, he discovered that profound growth had occurred. Three years later, he had a dream that inspired him to write his award-winning book, Four in the Garden. His goal was to help people have a close relationship with God and to share the insights he gained from the personal transformation that resulted from his back injury. He lives in Martinez, California.

For more articles, visit http://www.rickhocker.com/articles.html
Website: http://www.rickhocker.com
Email: mail@rickhocker.com

When Faith Doesn’t Work: Targets Versus Outcomes

If you’re like me, you want a magic formula to guarantee that God will answer your prayers every time. When God doesn’t come through, you think that maybe you did something wrong. I didn’t have enough faith. My intention wasn’t pure enough. My heart wasn’t right. I should’ve prayed more or prayed differently.

No magic formula exists. God isn’t manipulated, no matter how hard we try to coerce him to give us what we want. We beg. We plead. We make bargains. God doesn’t play those games. God responds to our heart, but His response is according to His will, not ours.

If God is going to do His own thing, then why even pray at all? What good is faith? Because God does respond to us mere humans. As I said before, He sees our heart and responds to our heart. God is compassionate and merciful, and it’s our faith in those attributes that causes us to pray in the first place.

To read the entire article, visit http://www.rickhocker.com/articles.html and click on the top link.

A Working Definition of Faith

What is faith? Most would say that faith is a strong belief in spiritual things. I think that faith is something entirely different. Belief is a product of the mind. Faith emanates from the soul. Belief determines what we think and choose. Faith determines the extent we experience spiritual reality.

To read the entire article, visit http://www.rickhocker.com/articles.html and click on the top link.

Faith Drives Experience

“Because you believe in My goodness, you experience My goodness.” God spoke those words to me during a song at church. For the rest of the service, I was caught up in the implications of that statement. I wondered if the inverse were true. If I didn’t believe in God’s goodness, would I not experience it?

This is an excerpt from an article on faith I wrote. To get the entire article, visit http://www.rickhocker.com/articles.html