Living a Life of Submission
by Gary Johnson
For all of 2024, it’s all eyes on Jesus (Heb 12:1-3) with this being a presidential election year. No matter who is elected in local, state and federal elections, Jesus will still be King on Wednesday, November 6. To help us stay focused on Jesus, we are stressing the importance of knowing and practicing the twelve spiritual disciplines (one each month). The disciplines move us into deeper relationship with Jesus, and submission – our October focus – can help us do that in a profound way.
Let’s admit something up front. When we hear the word submission, our initial thoughts are not positive and uplifting. To the contrary, submission may cause us to mentally groan inside of ourselves, as we each ask, “Do I have to?”
Yet, submission is one of the most compelling traits consistently modeled by Jesus Christ, and when we take to heart 1 John 2:6, “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus lived,” we must desire and practice submission.
Over and again, when Jesus spoke to God or of God, he consistently used the term “Father” (i.e., “Our Father in heaven” Mt 6:9; “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” Lk 23:46 etal). The term “Father” is an expression of willful submission. Jesus willfully, intentionally and deliberately submitted himself to the authority of God. Even though Jesus was fully and completely God, he emptied himself of any desire to be equal to God. In his humility, Jesus submitted himself to God.
And we must do the same IF we are going to practice the spiritual discipline of submission. When writing Philippians, Paul called out broken relationships such as between Euodia and Syntyche (Phil 4:2-3). He told the Philippian Christians to “make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Phil 2:2-4). How were they to do so? Read the very next verse. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”
An attitude resides in the mind. How we think determines how we live. How did Jesus think? He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, and that led to how he lived out his life resulting in submission and humility. Amazing!
Only in the powerful strength of the Holy Spirit are we able to do the same. To live in daily submission to God, as well as to others in our lives, we must depend on the indwelling power of the Spirit to give us such a desire and determination. After all, when we do so, we honor and revere Jesus: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21).
A practical way for us to pursue this discipline is to remind ourselves of this: “I don’t have to be first.” I don’t have to be first through the intersection when traffic is heavy. I don’t have to be first through the check-out when the store is swamped. I don’t have to be in charge at work. When we think less often of ourselves, we move more easily into submission. Self-denial (i.e., submission) is an attitude that results in an action. When I realize that I don’t have to have my own way, life with those around me can—and will—greatly improve.
Imagine what would happen in families where husbands and wives mutually submit to one another. Children would grow up in healthier homes where Jesus is exemplified. Imagine what would happen if church members would submit to their spiritual leaders in the local church (Heb 13:17). The congregation would become healthy and healthy things grow.
To help me pursue submission to God and others, I often say the following prayer in my morning devotions. May the words of this prayer become reality in our daily lives…
O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being sought out, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being rebuked, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being criticized, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being insulted, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me, Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to want it.
That others may be esteemed more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to want it.
That in the opinion of the world others may increase and I decrease,
Jesus, grant me the grace to want it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside,
Jesus, grant me the grace to want it.
That others may be more holy than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to want it.
That others may be preferred before me in everything,
Jesus, grant me the grace to want it.
May it be.
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The earliest publications of this prayer seem to be The Fervent Adorer, printed in Dublin in 1867 and Little Manual of Novices, printed in New York in 1880. At present, it is popular for many online sources to cite Saint Francis or Rafael Merry del Val as the author/speaker of this prayer (sometimes titled as “Litany of Trust” or “Prayer of Trust”). However, these publications in the late 19th century do not give an author’s name. It seems God answered the prayer of this saint and their name is, indeed, lost to history. The text above is closest to Little Manual.
