A Prayer Of Surrender

At times, we’re confronted with circumstances in our lives that leave us with no choice but to entrust them to God. Most of the time, these are not petty matters but big and heavy ones that make us kneel down before God and come to Him in prayer, knowing that He is the only One to whom we can run. As we do so, we surrender to God whatever it is that weighs heavily in our hearts, trusting His mercy and goodness.

Father in heaven, I cast these heavy burdens to You. You know how weighty they are and how I cannot handle them. I let go of them and entrust them to You. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Cast It All to God

The Bible is clear that whenever we have anxieties, worries, or fears about whatever burdens we are carrying, we are not to take them alone but to surrender them all to God. In Matthew 6:5–13, when Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He used the phrase “and when you pray.” In other words, praying to God is presumed in the life of a Christian. We are expected to pray to God always because we are to live in dependence on God all the time. 

The same is true when it comes to difficult and painful seasons of life. We are not to take them all alone but to be dependent on God by surrendering our pains and burdens. That is why (Philippians 4:6–7 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (NIV) writes that we are to present our prayer requests to God. Whatever it is that burdens us, we are to pray and surrender it to Him. There, as the passage continues, the peace of God that transcends all understanding shall guard our hearts and minds.

The book of Psalms is also filled with such verses. (Psalm 55:22 Cast your cares on the Lord     and he will sustain you; he will never let     the righteous be shaken.) states that we are to cast our burdens to God and that He will sustain us. Not only do we get to let go and surrender to God whatever afflictions or troubles we may have—what’s more, we can also rest assured that He will sustain us. Psalm 9:10 also teaches us that those who know God trust in Him. Surrendering is a form of trust in God. We surrender and cast our pains and burdens because we trust Him.

Surrendering Is Humility

When we come to God in prayer and surrender the heavy weight of our problems, we are actually doing so in humility. If we think we can handle our trials and hardships alone, decide to face them on our own head-on, and try to solve everything by ourselves, we are being prideful. It shows that we think we are sufficient and can get by without God’s help.

We get to be humble before God when driven to our breaking point. This is when we acknowledge that our troubles are more than what we can handle, far beyond what we can bear by our own strength. The humble thing to do is acknowledge that we need God’s help and depend on Him. This is why we humble ourselves in prayer and cast all our cares upon God, who cares for us (1 Peter 5:6–7).

How Can I Surrender My Burdens to God in Prayer?

Surrendering to God in prayer whatever pains or burdens have been weighing heavy on you is as simple as praying to God that you give those things to Him. What matters most is the posture of our hearts. When we completely surrender our weights to Him, we are showing hearts full of humility, trust, and dependence upon God.

LORD, I can’t handle these pains and burdens. They weigh so heavily in my heart. My eyes are weary from grief, and my shoulders are tired from carrying the weight. I surrender and entrust these struggles and sorrows to You, O LORD. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

We should view surrendering and trusting in God with biblical wisdom. Keep in mind that just because we surrender something to God does not mean we don’t have to take any responsibility. For example, if we have a conflict with someone and we are at fault, we cannot just say that we surrender the relationship to God. We have to take responsibility and talk to the person. The outcome is what we surrender to God, and we trust in Him to work all things for our good (Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.).