How to Surrender Your Problems To God. Monday 14th Week

Breakfast with the Word Monday 14th Week Ordinary Time of the Year B

 

 

Matthew 9:18-26.

 

When the Church in Philippi is having some internal crisis. Paul exhorts them in Philippians 4:6-7 saying “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

Here, Paul is asking them to remove anxiousness and worry entirely from their lives, but to surrender their problems and crises to God through prayer and supplication.

 

When we look at the gospel of today, we can eventually see how best to surrender our problems to God. 

 

 

What It Means To Surrender.

 

To surrender means simply to give something that is yours to another person either because you are told to do, or because the person is more powerful than you are. 

 

It also means yielding something that you have to another person, because of the authority of the person or because it is necessary to do so.

 

Consequently, when we surrender our problems to God, we are submitting under His authority to do take absolute control of them. 

 

Hence, it is no longer we who are taking absolute control of the condition but God is taking control. 

To surrender our problems, therefore, shows that we are handing over to God our problems, situations and circumstances. This alone will save you from worry, depressions and bitterness. It will give you courage and peace of mind. We have to know that every healing and solution to any problem begins from a peaceful mind. 

 

When we surrender our problems to God it means that we are asking God to take absolute control of our situations. 

 

Then how can we do this? We shall find them in the gospel of today: 

 

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Ten Good Things About Saint Thomas. Feast of Saint Thomas

 

 

   1.    Understand that God is willing.

 

I began with this because many people today see God as someone that does not want to listen to their prayers.

When you take time to ask some people the reason they lose faith, they will tell you that it seems God does not want to listen to them as He listens to others. 

 

Please realize henceforth that God is always willing to carry your burden. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says to us “come to me all you who are weary and overburdened”. Therefore, there is an already invitation from God to come to Him with our weaknesses, troubles and problems. 

 

In fact, today’s gospel reveals more to us, Jesus’ attitude to anyone who can come to Him. It also reveals what His attitude to our problems could be and how impossible situations bow before His presence. Always know that He is ever willing. 

Our problem is that we fear our problems more than we believe in Jesus and we seem to enjoy sin more than we enjoy being in His presence.

It is time to take our problems daily to Jesus. Surrender your problems to God with a true acceptance that He is ever willing to carry them.

In today’s gospel, you will observe that the official of the Synagogue whom Mark called Jairus ( Mark 5:22-43) comes to Jesus while Jesus is still speaking and teaching John’s disciples and those around them about the New Wine and Old Wine.

This indicates that this Synagogue official must have interrupted what Jesus was saying. Under normal circumstances, Jesus would have gotten sad or upset by this type of attitude. But, Jesus did not only listen attentively to him but follows him immediately to his house. Such a thing can not happen in our time. 

Jesus does not only stop what He is teaching but takes the pains as well to walk to the official’s house, not for any sordid gain but the salvation of souls. 

How many times have we underrated, insulted and sent people out of our presence because they come to ask for help? Jesus reveals to us how He certainly treats anyone who comes to Him. 

(ii) Secondly, when the woman suffering from severe bleeding for twelve years meets Jesus, she proceeds to touch His garment. 

Instead of Jesus getting upset about how someone can touch Him without respect. He simply tells her “courage my daughter, your faith has saved you. Hence, this becomes the first time Jesus addresses someone as a daughter. This is Jesus for you. Jesus loves it more when we continually come close to Him.

 

 

  2.  Realize That There are Things You cannot Control.

 

We are indeed gifted, educated, technical, talented, and very intelligent. Despite however capable we can be, we must come to the knowledge that there are situations and things we cannot control. 

 

In life, we must encounter them one day. When we realize this, we learn to surrender our problems to God. I have reflected on this gospel before. The topic of that day was When You need Healing from God, Do these. You can as well read it here. But today, we have to take another dimension of this to find out how we can surrender our problems to God. 

 

Hence, one of them is to truly realize that we are not omnipotent. In today’s gospel, the situations of today reaches the extent that both Jairus and the woman with the issue of blood cannot solve. What they did was to look for the power of the omnipotent.

Here, we have to understand that God always has a solution to every problem. That we cannot solve the problem does not mean that God cannot. 

 

 

   3.  Pray Until Happens.

 

 

Jesus was speaking when Jairus came in with his problem, and I guess that he is not ready to leave the presence of Jesus until Jesus follows Him home. The woman with the issue of blood could not allow the crowd to stop her from touching Jesus. 

 

In Genesis 32:26, Jacob tells the angel, that He will never allow Him to go unless he blesses him, and the angel blessed him. This is the reason I began with my first point. 

So, knowing fully well that God is always willing to answer your prayers, pray until something happens. Pray and never lose hope (Luke 18:1). At least even its the will of God that you undergo such a problem, He will certainly give you the grace to walk through it and remain undefeated, just like Paul did in 2 Corinthians 12:10-9.

 

   4.  We Can Never do without Faith.

 

 

One of the greatest ways to win the heart of Jesus is faith. Faith is seen in what comes into your mind before approaching Him. 

Before we approach God and surrender our problems to Him, we must believe in His power to do what we ask for and thus not lose hope that He can. (Heb 11:6). 

Hence, we cannot say that we believe in God and yet we speak words that show that we do not.

To surrender your problems to God, let us learn to speak faith-filled words. We can say things like “I believe my God can not abandon me”, I so much believe that my own time will come”, God is my shepherd, what I know is that I must survive”. 

Personally, when problems come to me what I simply say is Aka Chukwu di ya (the hand of God is there). This has led me through a lot of problems. We should avoid speaking words that show a lack of faith, lack of respect and lack of trust in God. 

 

Before Jairus meets Jesus, He must have convinced himself that he will do everything today to bring him to the house. This is why he proceeds straight to Jesus without thinking whether Jesus will feel sad or not or whether Jesus will listen to him or not. 

The woman with severe bleeding says, ” if I touch his cloak I will be made well.” She didn’t think if it will work or not, or if Jesus will react or not. 

In both two persons, they never entertained anything negative. Faith is knowing what you want and go for it without doubt nor thinking negative. And Jesus loves those who come to Him without doubting His power. He loves it when we do not think negative of His beloved presence. Let us surrender our problems to God in faith. Let us take those cases to Him in faith. 

 

 

     5.  Take Action.

 

Faith goes with works. We do not stay idle waiting on God to send manna from heaven. As you are praying for something to happen, get to work. Act like someone in expectations of something good.

 Ask questions on how the thing you are praying for is done. Seek for directions, begin something. Jairus did not stay in His house believing that Jesus will send power wherever he is to heal his daughter. Jairus has to jump out of his office, humbles himself and walks some miles to see Jesus. 

The woman with the issue of blood did not stay in her house wishing and believing that Jesus will do magic. She has to come out of her comfort zone. She has to walk through the crowd even. Thereby, passing through challenges to meet Jesus. 

We have to come out of our comfort zones and work towards what we want. Also, we have to ask others how they did it, then do the same. We have to do researches on how the problem is solved.

If you are praying for job opportunity, search newspapers, the internet, check job websites, ask questions etc. We have to know that God helps those who help themselves. 

 

God loves it when He sees us work. In the parable of the talents of Matthew 25:14-30, the servant that was punished is the one that didn’t put any single effort. If we truly need God’s intervention, we have to act like people who are truly in need of that. God is not magic, in life we begin the process and God completes it. 

 

6. Be not Afraid, Rather Trust God in Every Situation. 

 

When you encounter any problem, be calm and be not afraid. Trust in the power of God to see you through. Believe that one day it will definitely come to pass, because God is in control. We must have this attitude if truly want to surrender our problems to God.

When Jesus entered the official’s house and they told Him that the girl is dead. Jesus laughed over it and downplayed the seriousness of the situation. He knows He is greater than the situation at hand. He is teaching us not to fret when we find ourselves in tight spaces in life.

Here, He teaches us not to be afraid when we feel drowned during problems and challenges but to believe that One who is with us is greater than the situation at hand. 

Let us then surrender our problems to God. Let us come to Him in faith.

 

 

May He bless and deliver you from every impossible situation. Amen