Surrender is a word that comes up quite a bit in SA. However, I don’t hear it too much in the LDS 12 Steps. I wonder why?
To surrender means “to agree to stop fighting, hiding, resisting, etc., because you know that you will not win or succeed. : to give the control or use of (something) to someone else.”
Stop fighting.
Stop hiding.
Stop resisting.
To give control to someone else, in this case, to God.
All these concepts make so much sense when it comes to overcoming addiction to pornography and lust and all that comes with it.
When I did a search for “surrender” on lds.org, these are some of the suggestions that came up:
One of the talks that came up when I searched “surrendering to gods will” is by Elder Bednar titled, “Ask in Faith.”
The talk is about prayer. Elder Bednar states:
Simply saying prayers is quite a different thing from engaging in meaningful prayer.
What is meaningful prayer?
I really like this quote too:
I expect that all of us already know that prayer is essential for our spiritual development and protection. But what we know is not always reflected in what we do. And even though we recognize the importance of prayer, all of us can improve the consistency and efficacy of our personal and family prayers.
Yep, I know that prayer is important; I know I need to do it in order to submit my will to God and to get guidance and direction in my life. I know that prayer will bring me closer to Him. But, at times, I either go through the motions or just forget to pray altogether.
Why?
Satan is a master discracter. He can put thoughts in my head like, “You can pray later, you need to get this done,” or “You need to keep the momentum if you’re going to hit your goals for the month.” These are lies. Prayer is one crucial way I can have balance and direction in my life.
Elder Bednar uses Joseph Smith’s prayer and first vision as an example of meaningful prayer. He says,
Joseph’s questions focused not just on what he needed to know but also on what was to be done! His prayer was not simply, “Which church is right?” His question was, “Which church should I join?” Joseph went to the grove to ask in faith, and he was determined to act.
I like this: not only asking a question about what he needed to know, but also about what he should do.
If I have faith in God and in the plan of happiness, I will want to pray and I will pray. It’s that simple.
Thus, faith in Christ leads to righteous action, which increases our spiritual capacity and power.
I really like this too and feel it applies to living in recovery one day at a time:
Understanding that faith is a principle of action and of power inspires us to exercise our moral agency in compliance with gospel truth, invites the redeeming and strengthening powers of the Savior’s Atonement into our lives, and enlarges the power within us whereby we are agents unto ourselves (see D&C 58:28).
He goes on to say that “…meaningful prayer requires both holy communication and consecrated work.”
And I really like this:
Discerning and accepting the will of God in our lives are fundamental elements of asking in faith in meaningful prayer…Each of us needs God’s help in surrendering our will to Him.
“Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other” (Bible Dictionary, “Prayer,” 752–53). Humble, earnest, and persistent prayer enables us to recognize and align ourselves with the will of our Heavenly Father.
I feel this is the key point of the whole talk:
We can move beyond routine and “checklist” prayers and engage in meaningful prayer as we appropriately ask in faith and act, as we patiently persevere through the trial of our faith, and as we humbly acknowledge and accept “not my will, but Thine, be done.”
The “checklist” prayer reminds me of President Uchtdorf’s talk about earning our way to Heaven. Just praying to check it off my list or report to my sponsee or Becky that I’ve prayed today is not meaningful and earnest prayer – it’s going through the motions.
I’m grateful for this study tonight. I’m grateful for prayer.
I’ve gained a stronger testimony of their effectiveness as I’ve asked for help in the moment of temptation. He’s always there and He always seems to help as I put my faith and trust in Him to do His will.
I’m so grateful for Becky and for my kids.
I love each of them so much.
I can’t believe how lucky I am to have Becky in my life. I can’t believe how stupid and thoughtless I was to almost lose her due to my selfish and stubborn choices.
I’m grateful that, today, I’m doing my best to live in recovery.
I look forward to finishing the day strong and getting a good nights rest.
Hasta luego!
Nate
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