Quotes About Surrender

It doesn't take a lot of strength to hang on. It takes a lot of strength to let go.

But here too it should be noted that the President's approach was to first ask the repressive and brutal Taliban to surrender Osama bin Laden to us, and only after that government refused to do that did we invade.

There has not yet been a major ground offensive battle... There are, we know, negotiations going on between the opposition forces and the Taliban leadership for surrender.

I believe man is stripped naked when he's in conversation with God. Your deepest fears, strongest desires, highest hopes - they're all there when you are talking to God.

One always talks of surrendering to nature. There is also such a thing as surrendering to the picture.

Submission reaches the end of its tether when it becomes destructive.

We are not trying to manipulate God and tell Him what to do. Rather, we are asking Him to tell us what to do.

frequently we hold on so tightly to the good that we do know that we cannot receive the greater good that we do not know.

If we are to progress in the spiritual walk so that the Disciplines are a blessing and not a curse, we must come to the place in our lives where we can lay down the everlasting burden of always needing to manage others.

Just as worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship.

Our problem is that we assume prayer is something to master the way we master algebra or auto mechanics. That puts us in the "on-top" position, where we are competent and in control. But when praying, we come "underneath," where we calmly and deliberately surrender control and become incompetent.

Make me a captive, Lord, And then I shall be free; Force me to render up my sword, And I shall conqueror be. I sink in life's alarms When by myself I stand; Imprison me within Thine arms, And strong shall be my hand.2

Catherine Marshall writes, "Resignation is barren of faith in the love of God…. Resignation lies down quietly in the dust of a universe from which God seems to have fled, and the door of Hope swings shut."2

The moment we feel we can succeed and attain victory over sin by the strength of our will alone is the moment we are worshiping the will.

Lord, take as your right, and receive as my gift, all my freedom, my memory, my understanding and my will. Whatever I am and whatever I possess, you have given it to me; I restore it all to you again, to be at your disposal, according to your will. Give me only a love for you, and the gift of your grace; then I am rich enough, and ask for nothing more. —St. Ignatius of Loyola

I said that every Discipline has its corresponding freedom. What freedom corresponds to submission? It is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way. The obsession to demand that things go the way we want them to go is one of the greatest bondages in human society today.

we hold on so tightly to the good that we do know that we cannot receive the greater good that we do not know. God has to help us let go of our tiny vision in order to release the greater good he has in store for us.

Today, O Lord, I yield myself to you. May your will be my delight today. May your way have perfect sway in me. May your love be the pattern of my living. —Richard J. Foster, Prayers from the Heart12

As worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. Holy obedience saves worship from becoming an opiate, an escape from the pressing needs of modern life.

As Foster writes, "We will never have pure enough motives, or be good enough, or know enough in order to pray rightly. We simply must set all these things aside and begin praying. In fact, it is in the very act of prayer itself—the intimate, ongoing interaction with God—that these matters are cared for in due time."1

But when we choose to be a servant, we give up the right to be in charge. There is great freedom in this. If we voluntarily choose to be taken advantage of, then we cannot be manipulated. When we choose to be a servant, we surrender the right to decide who and when we will serve. We become available and vulnerable.

What freedom corresponds to submission? It is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way. The obsession to demand that things go the way we want them to go is one of the greatest bondages in human society today.

Lord God, you deserve my best. Forgive me for the times I have offered you only the dregs, whether it be half-heartedly muttered prayers or only the money I know I can do without. Help me to remember that there is no better resting place for my heart and indeed all my possessions than with you. Help me to trust and obey you more each day. In your name I pray. Amen.

We sing, 'Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord, to Thee.' But we must flesh out that consecration in specific ways, which is why the next line of the hymn says, 'Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold.' We consecrate ourselves by consecrating our money.