10 Steps To Submitting To God To Live A Surrendered Life

In this post, you will discover the 10 steps to submitting to God you need to take if you want to live a life of full submission and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s word in James 4:7 tells us as believers, we need to submit ourselves to God and resist the devil so that he can flee from us. Only then, will God draw near unto us.

Without wasting much of your precious time, let’s look at the 10 steps to submitting to God you need to take if you are to live a life of obedience. Let’s dive in.

10 Steps For Living A Life Of Submission.

Below are the 10 steps you need to take if you want to live a life of surrender and obedience to God with references to bible verses in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

• Be Born Again.
• Say No To The World.
• Draw Near To God.
• Deny Yourself.
• Be Filled With The Holy Spirit.
• Give Yourself To Prayer.
• Read God’s Word Daily.
• Give Your Heart To God.
• Embrace Godliness With Contentment.
• Pray For Humility.

1. Be Born Again.

Being born again is the first step you need to take if you are to live a life of surrender and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ who commands us to obey His teachings.

The reason you need to be born again is that being born again will enable you to have the new nature of Christ Jesus that will make it easier for you to submit to God and resist the flesh that Ephesians 4:24 talks about.

However, if you are not born again the old self or old nature of sin will still be active in your life which will make it hard for you to submit to God, as the flesh hates submitting to God, as it likes to pleasure itself in sinful pleasures.

Related: How To Be Born Again In 7 Simple Steps (+Video Sermon).

2. Say No To The World.

The bible in 1 John 2:15-17 tells us that if you are a believer, you must not love the world nor the things that are there in because if you do so, it means that you don’t have the love of the Father in you.

You need to understand that you won’t be able to submit to God and His word which is against the world if you still have the love of the world in your heart.

If you love the world, then you will submit to the systems and ways of this present evil world because that’s where your heart is. Moreover, if you hate the world, you won’t submit to its systems or ways of doing things but to God instead.

Related: How To Avoid Worldly Things [That Please The Flesh].

3. Draw Near To God.

James 4:7,8 tells us that we must submit ourselves to God and draw closer to Him if we want Him to draw closer to us by resisting the devil and his evil works.

If you are unwilling to submit to God and His will for your life, then you won’t see any reason why you must draw closer to Him. Instead, you will prefer being in the world and to act like the world.

However, if you choose to draw closer to the Lord, you will find it much easier to submit to His will and purpose for your life even if the flesh feels uncomfortable now.

4. Deny Yourself.

Denying yourself and anything that pleases or glorifies self above God is one of the most important steps you need to take in your Christian life as a believer if you are to live a life of surrender and submission to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ tells us in Luke 9:23 that if we desire to come after Him, we must deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily and follow Him even if it’s inconvenient to the flesh that wants ease and comfort.

Failure to do so will disqualify us from being His disciple. You also need to know that you can’t submit to God’s will and purpose for your life if self is still active in your life as God’s plan and will for your life is often against what your sinful self wants. So, crucify self ASAP.

Related: How To Crucify The Flesh Daily [In 7 Simple Steps].

5. Be Filled With The Holy Spirit.

Being filled by the Holy Spirit is essential if you are to live a life of surrender and obedience to God as the Holy Spirit is what will enable you to produce the 9 essential fruits of the Spirit that Galatians 5:22,33 talks about that every true Christian needs to have.

And one of the 9 fruits of the Spirit you will be able to have if you are a true Christian is humility which will enable you to submit to God. You will find it hard to submit to God if you are not Spirit-filled as God’s Spirit is what helps you overcome self and the flesh.

The Holy Spirit is essential in your life as He’s the one responsible for regenerating you from the inside so that you can have the new nature of Christ which is full of humility that enables you to live a life of obedience to God.

Related: How To Regain The Holy Spirit If You Backslid? [+ Sermon].

6. Give Yourself To Prayer.

Prayer is key in your Christian life if you want to live a life of submission to God as prayer enables you to receive God’s grace you need to submit to Him as it acts as a communication link between you and Him (1 John 5:14).

Also, prayer helps you strengthen your Christian faith, especially in this age we live in. If you give yourself to prayer, you will find it easy to do the things of God because prayer energizes and recharges your spiritual life.

Moreover, if you are not given to prayer, you will find it harder to walk after the Spirit. Instead, you will find it easier to live after the flesh, which hates prayer but loves pleasure instead. Giving yourself to prayer helps to kill your flesh.

Related: Why Is Prayer Important To Christians? [+ Animation].

7. Read God’s Word Daily.

Reading God’s word daily during your quiet time in addition to prayer is what will help you live in accordance with what God wants and expects you to do.

If you don’t read your bible daily, you won’t know or have the knowledge of what God wants you to do and what to not do as you don’t have God’s word in your heart to light up your daily paths as Psalms 119:105 tells us to keep you from stumbling.

However, if you practice a daily habit of reading God’s word, you will know what God expects of you and how He wants you to live your life, which will make it easier to submit to Him by obeying what He says in His word.

8. Give Your Heart To God.

The bible in the old testament in Proverbs 23:26 tells us that we need to give our hearts to God so that we can learn to observe His ways and do what is right in His sight.

You need to understand that your heart is the center of all our life issues, which is why we need to guard it, will all diligence. If you have not given your heart to God, you will obey its sinful desires Satan wants you to do that come with your natural sinful heart.

Nevertheless, if you give your heart to God, He will purify it and give it new desires that will make you want to obey God and keep you from obeying the sinful desires of the flesh that our natural sinful heart is inclined to do (Ezekiel 36:26). 

9. Embrace Godliness With Contentment.

To live a life of humility that is in submission to God in your Christian living, you also need to embrace godliness with contentment, which is great gain as 1 Timothy 6:6 tells us.

If you have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, you are going to be content with whatever you have or have been blessed with, no matter how little because you know you came with nothing in this world and you won’t take anything with you when you die.

Moreover, if you have not surrendered your life to God, you won’t embrace godliness and contentment in your life as you will submit and live by whatever your sinful flesh desires which is never content with anything but just desires more.

Related: 7 Benefits Of Godliness With Contentment [In A Believer.]

10. Pray For Humility.

Last but not least, for you to submit to God, you need to pray for the grace to make you humble and to give you a heart of humility that finds it easier to obey God.

The bible tells us in Romans 12:16 that we must not be haughty and wise in our own sight, which is usually the case if we are prideful as our natural sinful pride hates submission and views it as slavery.

Pride makes us impossible to submit to God due to our fallen sinful nature that makes us naturally want to do things our own way and not be under any authority. If you are prideful, pray for God to make you humble before pride ruins you as it did to Satan.

Conclusion.

I hope the above 10 steps to submitting to God will help you live a life of surrender that is in full submission to God’s will and purpose for your life and not what your sinful self wants. In closing, if this post edified you, let me know in the comments below, and don’t forget to share before you leave. Godspeed.

Further Reading.

• 5 Examples Of Submission In The Bible [We Must Follow].
• 5 Clear Signs Of Disobedience To God [+ Illustrations].
• 7 Ungodly Characters In The Bible [Who Disobeyed God.]

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