Barriers to Surrender

Last week we started our discussion on what it means to fully surrender to God. We discovered that surrendering to God is the very heart of worship, and we learned that there are three barriers that keep us from completely surrendering to Him:  Fear, Pride, and Confusion.  Today we are going to address these first two barriers.

Fear - Can I trust God?

What makes this child willing to jump into her mother's arms?  Trust, right?  This child has learned that her mother can be trusted.  We won't surrender to God if we don't trust Him, and we can't trust Him if we don't know Him.

Fear keeps us from surrendering, but there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. (1 Jn. 4:18)

The more you realize just how much God love you, the easier it becomes to surrender.  So how do you know God loves you?

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.  Romans 5:8

The second barrier to surrender is Pride - Admitting our limitations.

I don't know about you, but I have such a hard time admitting that I can't do it all and need help.  We want to have complete control and that desire causes so much stress in our lives.  Satan used that desire to tempt Eve in the garden - "You'll be like God".  Our struggle to be in control is really a struggle with God.  We want to be God, and we're never going to win that struggle.  

A.W. Tozer said:

"The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven't yet come to the end of themselves.  We're still trying to give orders, and interfering with God's work within us."

We won't fully surrender to God as long as we think we are in control.  We are humans, not God, and that will never change. 

Are fear and pride keeping you from surrendering to God?