How Do You Turn Your Life Over to God?

One of the most important decisions you’ll ever make in your life is to turn your life over to God. This sounds complicated, but it’s not. When Christ called Peter and Andrew to follow Him, they were fishermen. He told them, “Come, follow Me” (Matt. 4:19, NLT). If you’ve gone through Life Recovery Steps One and Two, don’t let Step Three get you stuck. Step Three of Life Recovery says, “We made a decision to turn our wills and our lives over to the care of God.”

How do you turn your life over to God? There are 6 action steps you can take to turn your life over to God.

1. Admit
The first step you already took in Life Recovery Step One was to admit. So, before you turn your will and life over to God, acknowledge that you can’t save yourself—only God can save you through His Son, Christ. This means you quit playing God, stop trying to control your life, and no longer seek to manipulate others.

2. Surrender
The Third Step of Life Recovery starts with, “We made a decision.” When you decide to turn your life over to God, that decision involves daily surrender to the Lord and His will for your life. Get up each morning and pray to God, “I surrender my day and my life to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

3. Trust
When you are active in addiction, whatever you are addicted to—whether it’s a substance or a toxic habit or relationship—is what you trust to take care of you. Your addiction will fail you; however, God will never fail you. You can trust Him with every aspect of your life.

4. Confess
When you trust Christ, God forgives you for your past, present, and future sins. Nevertheless, recovery is an ongoing process of confessing your struggles to God and at least one other person. Find a sponsor so you can have at least one safe person to confess to. Check out A Guide to Finding the Right Sponsor.

5. Obey
Deciding you want to give your life and will to the Lord is not enough. You must take it a step further by obeying God. Learn how God expects you to live by reading His Word. If you don’t have a Bible, get The Life Recovery Bible and apply what you read to your life.

6. Tell
When you admit, surrender, trust, confess, and obey, it seems you’ve done all you can to surrender your life to God. But when Christ called Peter and Andrew, He not only told them to follow Him but also said in Matthew 4:19, “I will show you how to fish for people!” Tell others about what God has done for you through your recovery!

Want to know more about turning your life over to God? Please call us at 800-NEW-LIFE (639-5433) for prayer, help finding a counselor or coach, and to get connected to a Life Recovery Group.

By Kimberlee Bousman