Surrender To The Wave

In the ambulance, the lethal jellyfish poison rapidly spread through Ian’s body. He asked God, ‘I want to call on you, but don’t know how. Show me what to pray.’ (As an atheist he was out of practice.) God helped him. ‘The Lord’s Prayer flashed into my mind,’ says Ian. He prayed through it line by line, letting it guide his words.

Read Matthew 6:5-10.

The first part of the Lord’s Prayer that Ian got stuck on was the line, ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done’ (v10). He knew this was the crunch issue. Would he surrender his life to God? How many of us, if we’re honest, would be more ready to pray, ‘My kingdom come, my will be done’? But do we really think we can do a better job with our lives than the all-wise God can, the God who knows us best and loves us most? Stimulated by the Lord’s Prayer, Ian yielded to God: ‘I give the rest of my life to you, take every part of it’. Although it turned out that he had more life left than he imagined at that point; it’s a prayer that has marked his life ever since.

This life of surrender is analogous to surfing. The surfer aligns his board with the direction of the wave as it approaches, paddling into the wave with full intent. If the board is facing the wrong direction, the swell is missed. Similarly, we are to align our lives to what God is doing, very intentionally moving our lives in the direction of God’s movements.

The surfer then rides the swell, learning to flow with it, doing his best to stay in what’s called the power pocket. In the same way, we must remain prayerfully reliant on the Spirit in all we do, all the time praying, ‘Not my will, but Your will be done!’ Only a kingdom wave-rider knows the thrill and power of total surrender to the wave of God’s purposes.

Do you think there’s reason that Jesus teaches us to worship God (v9) before surrendering to Him (v10)? Have you surrendered every part of your life to God?