ture called life with our delightful companion, Jesus Christ. The
white-knuckle ride in which we had grasped the handlebars in a
death grip gradually begins to change. Our hands loosen and we
know that Jesus is in control.
This is more than fiction. Jesus really does long for us to pray a
prayer of surrender. He wants to get his hands on the handlebars of
our lives, to chart each course and direct each path. And until we let
him, we will not know the complete joy of the adventure.
I found this out in my own life. Before I had a real, surrendered
relationship with Jesus, my life was going in all directions. I was on
a quest for the “true fulfillment” I read about in women’s magazines:
the job, the career, the all-consuming interest that would make me
truly happy.
Trying desperately to chart my own course and choose my own
destiny, I kept steering my life onto the wrong road or into a ditch.
I wanted Jesus on the bike with me, but I wanted to be the one in
control. I finally found out that it doesn’t work that way. In my self-
ish, restless quest for my own fulfillment, I began to take Spike for
granted, and we began to drift apart.
That was when I knew it was time to do what God was calling me
to do: to give up my own agenda and let him take over. It was time
to surrender my death grip on the handlebars of my life.
During that time I often prayed that God would fulfill in me the
promise of Philippians 2:13, a promise that he will help us let go and
want his will. (“For it is God who works in you to will and to act ac-
cording to his good purpose.”) This was a prayer he answered.
Deciding to dive into the adventure of God’s will is what surren-
dering is all about. There is a childlike abandon obvious in us when
we manage to let go. Soaked completely in his Spirit, we find our
lives finally following his plans and his purposes.
101 MOST POWERFUL PRAYERS IN THE BI BLE 161