The following is a devotion from my message series 10 Steps to Freedom. I hope these devotionals help you experience lasting freedom in Jesus!

STEP TWO: day 5

Surrender and unleash the Spirit’s power within you

If there’s someone in your life who is arrogant, prideful and boastful, someone who thinks only about themselves and assumes everyone exists to serve them, how do you feel about that person? Do you naturally want to cater to their every whim or do you want to put them in their place? You want to wipe that smirk off their face and you want them to be humbled! This opposition to pride is from God Himself:

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” James 4:6

When we surrender to God, we are humbling ourselves before Him. God draws near to us and unleashes the power that already exists in us through the Holy Spirit. If we are prideful, arrogant or self-sufficient, the power will not come, because we will only end up using the power for our own selfish ends. But when we surrender, when it’s not about us or our agenda or our glory anymore, when we stop asking God to bless us or free us the way we want Him to and simply surrender, the power is unleashed. When we stop running, stop putting stipulations on what parts of our lives we want God to control, when we put both hands up and surrender, God’s power will begin to flow in and through us, a power that will finally give us the strength we need to be free.

It’s not just a one-time decision but a daily posture of humility and surrender that aligns your life with the power that God has always wanted to pour into your life through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Surrender to God daily!

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. If you were honest, what areas of your life have been the cause of the most pride in your life? Where are you in danger of being arrogant or boastful?

2. Use the lines below to describe what it would look like and how your life would be different if you truly lived daily with the power of God flowing through your life.

You can read other devotional entries for 10 Steps to Freedom here.