One of the most difficult battles I’ve fought is the battle in my mind. The battle between my thoughts and my feelings. Growing up, I battled with negative thoughts and I was often consumed by my habit of overthinking. We joke about it and create memes for us to laugh at over thinkers, but the reality is that it’s a struggle to get out of a space of overthinking and in to a space where we are at peace.
Jesus says in John 14:27 (NLT) “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give, so don’t be troubled or afraid”
I always longed for the concept of peace of mind and heart but I never understood that attached to peace was surrender.
The Oxford dictionary defines surrender: “to admit that you have been defeated and you want to stop fighting; to allow yourself to be caught.”
In this world we may view surrender as giving up – admitting defeat. But if we look at it through the eyes of Jesus we see that it is in this world that we will be defeated and by the things of the world we will be corrupted and caught up.
John describes the world in 1 John 2:16 (NLT) as offering “only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see and pride in our achievements and possessions.” – “These are not from the Father but from the world.”
The truth about surrendering to God is that we admit that we no longer live but Christ lives in us (Gal 2:20)
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.-Galatians 2:20 NIV
James 4:7 tells us that surrender is to submit to the Lord “submit yourselves then to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you”
If I no longer live but Christ lives in me then what I desire in this world, the negative thoughts that consume my mind and the spirals of overthinking are not my burden to bear. Through my surrender and submission of these desires, thoughts and feelings I can experience the peace of Jesus. Without surrender I seemingly remain in control and I battle what goes on in my mind on my own.
Paul tells us in Philippians 4:7-8 (NLT) “Do not worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience Gods peace which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus”
When you understand that to give up control, to surrender in every aspect of your life – relationships, work, family and social, to submit whatever is on your mind to the Lord and to hand over the reins to Him, that is only when you will experience the peace of Jesus.
You will not be able to understand it because it’s not the kind of peace this world offers, where peace may refer to the absence of conflict, but you will experience that your heart and mind is guarded by a supernatural peace even in the midst of uncertainty and conflict and you will know that everything is under control, we can be certain that in Jesus we have peace, in the world we will experience many trials and sorrows, but He has overcome the world – John 16:33.
𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘆:Seymone Earnest
𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆: Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, South Africa
