Ephesians 1:3 – 6 – “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.” NLT

When you look in the mirror, whom do you see? Do you see yourself as you believe you are, or do you see yourself as God sees you? We are made with a body, a mind and a spirit. We may or may not be pleased with how our body looks. We often times do not like what our mind is thinking. And, how do we view our spirit? Our limited perspective can negatively affect how we perceive ourselves. Sometimes we have unpleasant memories. We may feel guilty or unworthy, and many times we just wish we could change our lives and start all over.

Many believers do not realize that they can begin again. When we receive salvation and our sins are forgiven, we are given a new life. The problem occurs when we are told to repent and surrender our lives because we are not always sure what that means. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in.

So, how do we repent and surrender our will? Repent means to be remorseful for our past sins and seek the Lord’s forgiveness. Surrender requires that we give up control of our lives to our spirit and allow the Holy Spirit to change who we are inside. I believe that this frustrates many Christians. If we have been addicted and have lived a negative lifestyle as most have, it is because we have allowed our bodies and our minds to control who we are, and if we continue in this manner, we may never get ourselves under control.

Most are uncomfortable giving the Lord complete control. Repentance at salvation is a singular event while true surrender is an ongoing process. Many have never willingly surrendered to the Holy Spirit, and so they find this to be very challenging. As a result, there is little change in their lives and behavior.

In order to grasp the idea of a surrendered life, we must first realize as Christians that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Second, we must accept that God has always loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. (Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could love ourselves as God loves us or see ourselves as God sees us?) Third, God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. How does it feel to be one of God’s children?

As God’s children, we are told to let the Holy Spirit guide and check us in our daily lives. That means we are to recognize that God’s spirit is with us every minute and goes with us everywhere we go. He is there as our partner waiting to help us make every decision. From time to time He will cause something supernatural to happen as a sign to build our faith. We must continually be watching and expecting that to happen. When the supernatural does occur, we are to acknowledge God as the source and not rationalize the occurrence with the thought, “Wow! Am I lucky!” Always give God the credit because He is the giver of “every good and perfect gift (James 1:17)

Repentance and surrender go hand in hand in the life of the Christian. Remorse for our past sins is good, but surrendering our will is absolutely necessary if we are to live the life that God has planned for us. It is when we fail to turn everything over to God, that we miss out on many of the inherent gifts that a surrendered life brings.

If you are a Christian living without hope and there is no joy or peace in your life, it is probably because you may not understand what God has planned for you. So accept God’s promises and stop allowing your mind and body to tell you who you are.