By Lisa N. Orimoto, Ph.D. · Edited by Jackson Painter, Ph.D.
“Surrender is one of the most talked-about concepts in Christian spirituality and one of the least practiced.”
Not because people don’t want it. Because most of us don’t know how. We know we’re supposed to let go. We just don’t know what letting go actually looks like on a Tuesday, in a body, with a schedule and a history and a set of fears we’ve been carrying for years. This guide is about that.
The Invitation
Surrender Is Not a Feeling. It’s a Practice. And Practices Can Be Learned.
The invitation of Romans 12 — to offer ourselves as living sacrifices — sounds passive but is deeply active. Surrender is not the absence of will. It is the redirection of it: toward God, through specific, repeated, embodied acts of release.
Over thirty-one days, this guide walks through what surrender actually requires — the honest examination of what you’re holding, the tools for releasing it, and the daily practice of reorienting your mind, your money, your body, your emotions, and your sense of self toward the God who holds them better than you do.
Thirty-One Days
From Preparation to Practice to Terrain.
Days 1–3
Preparing for Surrender
Why surrender? What is it? To whom are we surrendering, and what is its purpose? What is at stake if we don’t? Before the practice begins, these days clear the ground. Surrender made abstract is surrender postponed. These opening days make it concrete, personal, and urgent.
Days 4–14
Tools for the Journey
Pause. Think. Rest and Reflect. Sabbath. Pray. Obey. The Examen. Fasting. Breath Prayer. Imaginative Contemplation. These are not background concepts. They are the daily instruments of surrender — each one examined on its own terms, with guidance for how to actually use it.
Days 15–31
Walking the Path
Surrendering our minds. Surrendering to the idol Mammon. Surrendering our bodies. Surrendering our emotions. Surrendering the self. The second half of the journey moves from tools to terrain — the specific areas of life where surrender is hardest, most needed, and most transformative.
The Approach
Pause. Attend. Release.
Pause
Long enough to notice what you’re actually holding — the anxiety, the control, the comfort you’ve been protecting.
Attend
To God through the daily Scripture, reflection, and prayer practice assigned for that area of surrender.
Release
Through a concrete act of relinquishment — not a feeling of letting go but a decision enacted in the body, the schedule, the wallet, or the will.
Good For
Individuals in seasons of transition, loss, or long-held control
Small groups wanting a spiritually serious, practically grounded formation study
Congregations in Lent or other seasons of intentional self-examination
Anyone who has tried to surrender and found themselves taking it back
Length
31 days
Format
Daily reflection + Scripture + practice + prayer
Access
Subscription
“You don’t have to have it all figured out before you begin. Surrender is not a destination. It is the direction.”
Pair with the Thinking Christian Podcast series on spiritual formation, or explore the Audio Seminary for teaching on the practices of the Christian life.