Strength Is Born in the Surrender

 

God’s path to making you stronger may not look like you expected—but it’s always good.

What You Believe Will Shape How You Live

At some point, we all face the soul-piercing question: Do I truly believe Jesus is the answer? Because if He is, that belief must show up in how you live, respond, pray, and press forward. Proverbs 4:23 warns us to guard our hearts, because everything flows from them. What you let in will eventually leak out. So when we keep our hearts aligned with Christ—praying deeply, clinging to truth, and resisting the negativity of this world—we will start to see victories not because we’re strong, but because we’re surrendered. Strength doesn’t come from striving—it comes from yielding to the One who holds all power.

You’ve Been Made New

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” This is our reality in Christ, and it’s something to be incredibly excited about. We are new creations—the old is gone. That’s real. Our spirits are made brand new when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, but the transformation of the soul (mind, will, and emotions) takes much longer. We still have to make a conscious decision to line up our soul with our spirit, and that takes diligence, humility, and surrender.

The Holy Spirit won’t barge in and clean house without your permission. You’ve got to give Him the keys. And the only way we mature is by making that choice daily—to bring our thoughts and bodies under the Spirit’s authority. God gave us responsibility because growth requires our participation.

In the Waiting, God Is Growing You

Romans 8:24-25 (MSG) says, “That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along.” Most of us are waiting for something glorious to happen to our lives, and God is meeting this need. Whether we know it or not, transformation is the glory we’re waiting on, and it is happening to us this very moment.

Yes, the waiting is uncomfortable, but it’s not wasted. It enlarges us. The tears, the tests, the tension—all of it builds spiritual muscle if we let God have His way in us. It doesn’t mean the pain doesn’t cut deep. But it does mean that every ounce of what you’ve been through can become a testimony of endurance and faith. Romans 5:3-5 (NLT) reminds us, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”

You can’t carry old lies into a new identity

There’s a battle going on in the space between your ears. As new creations in Christ, we often stand at the crossroads between who we used to be and who we’re becoming—and the bridge between the two is the mind. The enemy knows that if he can tangle your thoughts, he can choke your purpose. That’s why Romans 12:2 urges us not to copy the behaviors of the world, but to let God renew our thinking. And that renewal starts with surrender. It means laying down the old ways of reacting, the comfort zones of fear, and the lies we’ve lived with for far too long. You can’t step into divine strength while clinging to worldly patterns. If we want the life Christ died to give us, we’ve got to surrender our thoughts to His truth—and let that become our new normal.

You were never meant to live bound by what Jesus already broke

Some of us are so used to pain, we’ve made it part of our personality. Shame, fear, self-hatred, and old griefs ride in the passenger seat of our lives like they belong there. But Jesus already broke those chains. And if you want to walk in the strength He provides, it starts with releasing what no longer has the right to hold you. This is the hard surrender—letting go of what hurt you, what shaped you, what you thought made you strong. It’s not instant, and it’s not easy. But it’s holy. And if you’ll give God the same energy you’ve been giving your survival mode, He’ll give you beauty for ashes. He’ll rebuild what life tried to tear down. In Him, your journey doesn’t just continue—it rises, strengthens, and becomes something unshakable.  ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (MSG) are taken from The Message. Copyright ©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

“Strength Is Born in the Surrender”, written for ttps://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2025. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.