Wrestling with Abandonment and Authority – Yielding Without Losing the Fight

There’s a tension I’ve been wrestling with—one that cuts deep into how I see God, how I respond to hardship, and how I live this life of faith.

On one hand, I’ve been reading Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ by Jeanne Guyon, and the chapter on abandonment stirred something in me. It’s not just about letting go—it’s about trusting deeply. It’s about yielding everything—my desires, my will, even my circumstances—to God. She calls us to a quiet, surrendered heart. To embrace even suffering as a place where God meets us and shapes us. And there’s a deep peace in that. A holy stillness.

But on the other hand, I’ve also been deeply shaped by teachers like Andrew Wommack, who stress the power of faith, authority, and resisting the works of the devil. According to him—and Scripture backs it—God isn’t the author of sickness, abuse, trauma, or confusion. He gave us authority (Luke 10:19), and we’re called to walk in it. We don’t passively accept everything that happens as “God’s will.” We stand on His Word. We take ground. We speak life.

So where do I land? Right in the middle.

And let me be real—most people swing to one side or the other.

Some people live in passive resignation, calling everything that happens “God’s will” because it’s easier than standing up and fighting. They think surrender means doing nothing. They sit in pain, repeating “God must be teaching me something,” while never rising up in faith to ask, “Is this something I’m supposed to resist?”

Others go the opposite way. They fight everything, rebuking storms God may be using to prune them, or resisting silence when He’s calling them to rest. They don’t know how to yield. They think surrender is weakness. They’re always doing, binding, casting, and declaring—but sometimes they’re doing it in their own strength, not from a place of intimacy.

The truth is, both sides can be off if they’re not led by the Holy Spirit.

And I think one of the biggest reasons we fall into extremes is because of our habits.

We respond to trials the same way we always have:

• If we’ve been taught to surrender, we do nothing.

• If we’ve been trained to fight, we push back without even asking God what He’s doing.

But discernment is key in this walk.

Jesus didn’t just live in abandonment or in authority—He knew when to rest and when to rebuke.

He yielded in the Garden but commanded the storm.

He was silent before Pilate but spoke with power to the demons.

And here’s another layer I’ve come to recognize:

Sometimes what looks like abandonment to others isn’t actually passivity—it’s intercession.

There are moments where God opens your eyes to see the spirit behind a person’s behavior, and instead of reacting in the flesh, you go to war in the spirit.

You don’t always rebuke them—you pray for them.

You might appear quiet, but you’re waging war behind the scenes.

That’s not weakness. That’s discernment.

Because abandonment to God includes being moved by what moves His heart—and when you recognize someone is being influenced or tormented spiritually, true surrender doesn’t mean watching them fall. It means interceding for their freedom.

That’s why we need the Holy Spirit to lead every response.

Not everything needs a confrontation. Not everything needs silence.

Some moments call for spiritual discernment to identify what’s going on behind the veil—and respond like Jesus would.

So here’s what I’ve settled into:

✅ I will abandon myself to the Father’s love, trusting His goodness when I don’t understand.

✅ I will resist the enemy, taking up the authority Jesus gave me to walk in healing, freedom, and peace.

✅ I will discern what season I’m in—am I being pruned, or attacked? Am I being called to rest, or to war?

✅ I will be sensitive to the Spirit, even when it looks like silence to others, because sometimes silence is strategy—and prayer is the greatest warfare.

This is the walk.

This is the tension.

This is the way of the cross and the crown—where yielding and authority meet, and where love teaches us how to fight.

So no, I don’t have all the answers. But I know this:

Abandonment without discernment leads to apathy.

Authority without discernment leads to pride.

But when both flow from intimacy with Jesus—you walk in power, peace, and purpose.

That’s where I want to live.