VICTORY in Surrender

By Carl Kimbro, Fellowship Bible Church, Rogers, Celebrate Recovery Devotional Team 10/9/19



Victory and surrender. Two words that are as different from each other as day is from night. Battling our hurts habits and hang ups on our own is exhausting, and often leads to us surrendering to our old habits.

Our human nature is to “go it alone” when we face struggles. For me, pride and fear of rejection stopped me from asking God for help. My own rationale went something like this: “Surely God won’t help me, since I got myself into this mess. I guess I have to get myself out of it too. I have messed up so much that He must be completely disappointed in me. He’s heard all my promises and seen them broken so many times, He can’t possibly forgive me anymore. God’s waiting for me to fix myself before He will even listen to my prayers again.” I had surrendered, but not in victory. I had surrendered in defeat to my sin. It seemed so hopeless and the pain so deep, that I could never expect to have a close relationship with God again.

Principle 1
Realize that I am not God, that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life is unmanageable.

Principle 1 flies in the face of my own attempts to “fix” myself and overcome the sin in my life. I never thought I was God, but I thought I could control my addiction to my sin without His help. But isn’t that the same thing? If I was going to have victory, I had to admit to myself I was controlled by my sin. Admitting this was hard because it meant that I was powerless to do the right thing. But if I was going to move forward I had to admit this was true.

Principle 2
Earnestly believe God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me recover.

Principle 2 was more difficult for me than principle 1. I believed God existed and that He could help me. But I wasn’t sure He would. I thought I was such a disappointment to Him that He must have given up on me. But as I listened in open share group, I came to embrace Principle 2 fully. I heard so many stories from men who had surrendered their will to God that I learned that I did matter, and God would help me!

Embracing principles 1 and 2, I surrendered my will to God (Principle 3) and put Him in control of my life. I felt God’s hand upon me. Resisting sin became easier. I reached out to and found help from accountability brothers. These men became close personal friends. Surrender didn’t feel like defeat, it felt like victory! I am forever grateful to the lessons Celebrate Recovery has taught me and the victory God has given me in surrender.

If you have struggles in your life that seem insurmountable, let me encourage you to surrender it to God.  You WILL find your victory!
Click HERE to listen to "Victory in Jesus" by Steven Curtis Chapman!

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