Have you made a list of what you’re waiting for, and surrendered it to God?

Tom Harper

Back to the 1896 Christian classic I've been reading, called Waiting on God (by Andrew Murray). Day 7 of this devotional offers a simple concept to help us wait on God: surrender to his will.

Murray writes, "A soul cannot seek close fellowship with God, or attain the abiding consciousness of waiting on Him all the day, without a very honest and entire surrender to all His will."

Psalm 119:166 (NIV) puts it succinctly: "I wait for your salvation, Lord, and I follow your commands."

Murray doesn't suggest we surrender in a general sense and stop there, but that we actually list all the things we're surrendering.

He writes, "It is good that we sometimes count up to ourselves exactly what the things are we are waiting for, and as we say definitely of each of them, 'On Thee do I wait.'"

Might this be something to try yourself? The next time you feel overwhelmed by situations, people, and burdens, consider turning your prayer time into a "surrender session," laying out your list before the Lord. Give him each thing, one at a time.

When we truly surrender, the next move is his.

Waiting on him,



Tom Harper
Founder, BiblicalLeadership.com
LinkedIn profile | My books


Tom Harper is publisher of BiblicalLeadership.com and executive chairman of Networld Media Group, a business-to-business publisher and event producer. He has written five books, including Servant Leader Strong: Uniting Biblical Wisdom and High-Performance Leadership (DeepWater Books, 2019) as well as the Christian business fable Through Colored Glasses and its sequel Inner Threat (DeepWater, 2022).

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