27/05/2026
Surrender to the wave of God
Matthew 6:5-10
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
The first part of the Lord’s Prayer that some people get stuck on is the line, ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done’ (v.10). They know this is the crush issue. Will they surrender their lives to God? How many of us, if we’re honest, would be more ready to pray, ‘My kingdom come, my will be done?’ But do we really think we can do a better job with our lives than the all-wise God can, the God who knows us best and loves us most? Stimulated by the Lord’s Prayer, we can find ourselves yielding to God: “I give the rest of my life to you, take every part of it.”
This life of surrender is analogous to surfing. The surfer aligns his board with the direction of the wave as it approaches, paddling into the wave with full intent. If the board is facing the wrong direction, the swell is missed. Similarly, we are to align our lives to what God is doing, very intentionally moving our lives in the direction of God’s movements. The surfer then rides the swell, learning to flow with it, doing their best to stay in what’s called the power pocket. In the same way, we must remain prayerfully reliant on the Spirit in all we do, all the time praying, ‘Not my will, but your will be done!’ Only a kingdom wave-rider knows the thrill and power of total surrender to the wave of God’s purposes.