This is something we all have to work on and understand, It’s our inadequacy we have to accept. We all want to do our own thing our own way, independent of God, even though we know and read in Scripture “Without Me, you can do nothing.” In the light of that, we must believe the reverse, we need Him and His approval to do what we want or need. We have to realise our reliance on God and put our complete trust in Him and His Holy Spirit who Wills and Performs the Signs and Wonders of God. We are only vessels and I believe the more we relinquish the independence of these vessels to Him the more likely we are to see Him work in our lives. This is demonstrated in several scriptures. Jesus said “I do nothing on my own, only what the Father tells me to do,” so obviously we have always to be attuned to the voice of God, If He is occupying our thoughts constantly, that means, running every new thought, idea and decision past Him and taking the time to hear from Him on the matter. I believe we will see Him work in our lives to a much greater degree than we do now, this will happen. Our independence says “Why should I ?” Answer-- Because He is God and He knows what is good for us and what isn’t.
James tells us in His Epistle chap 4. We don’t get what we want, because we don’t ask, and when we do, ask, we often have an ulterior motive. We need to have a pure heart before God. He knows our thoughts, our motives and our reasons for asking, even so, He has the final say. If it’s not going to be good for us or for the advancement of His Kingdom, He will withhold His hand, it’s then we have to trust Him. He will only do what is good for us, it is impossible for Him to do otherwise.
Jesus also said “Seek ye FIRST The Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you.” I believe once again God wants to take first place in everything we do, even our needs and wants. So often we go to doctors, lawyers, and business owners for help, when God is saying, if only they had come to me I would have put them on the right track straight away. Now I know all such people have their place but, seeking God first puts Him in charge of the whole situation and also gives Him the opportunity to show you His will, this could save you a good bit of money and time as well. Think how you would feel if your child went to a car salesman, or a lawyer or applied for a position without first consulting you, or worse, consulting someone else on the matter, apart from feeling insulted, I’m sure you would be a bit hurt. God is our Father, who only has our welfare at heart,
He has no ulterior motive and is longing and waiting to be consulted, and part of our plans.
There were many blind, deaf, sick and lame people around at the time of Jesus, He didn’t heal all of them, but the Father must have told Him which ones to heal. Scripture says (many came to Him and were healed) obviously some didn’t come to Him. And so weren’t healed. I am thinking also of Naman the Roman commander who was healed of leprosy, there were many lepers in the area, but Naman a Gentile was the only one God chose to heal. He has the final word always. We have to understand, trust and respect that.
Another point I’d like to make here is, God is more interested in the state of our hearts and our genuineness towards Him, than physical healing, it’s our spirits that need healing. The paralysed man who was let down through the roof of the house when Jesus was inside teaching, is a good case in point, his sins were forgiven before he was healed. Although this particular miracle, I believe, was more aimed at the local clergy, Jesus used the opportunity once again to identify Himself as the Messiah.
If our spirits are right with God then we are more able to understand and accept His divine will. And that’s what counts in the long run.
God acts when we humbly accept our own inadequacy and acknowledge His adequacy. “Nothing is impossible for God” He doesn’t have accidents or make mistakes, He loves us so much that whatever He does is for our good, even if we don’t think so, or agree with Him at the time. All He asks is our trust. “WHY” is not a question He will answer immediately, but He may and often does show us the reason in due course.
There were a number of needy sick people around Jerusalem when Peter and John were going passed the colonnade to the Temple, but they were directed only to one man, Why? One needs to read the following chapters to see how God’s plan was worked out, and how it effected Peter and John’s future lives.
Every time we act independently of God it gives Satan another feather in his cap, because it gives him an opportunity to manipulate our thoughts and selfish desires, (What’s in it for me?) God is the only one who has your interests at heart, although you may not see it at the time, when you look back you will see how He has protected, guided and shown you a different path to take. That doesn’t come automatically! How do I know? Because Scripture also says “Every good and wholesome thought comes from God.”
Paul had this worked out, because we see only when there was none of Paul left that God demonstrated His greatness through him. When he, Paul, was tied up with chains in a prison cell between two guards unable to do anything about his circumstances, it was then that God sent the earthquake. When he was in a shipwreck and all the elements were against them and the captain of the ship had used up all his resources, God saved all on board, then again when he needed to get out of the city, because the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Paul, God provided a basket to let Paul down, over the city wall, there are several other occasions in Paul’s life. And it’s the same for us, when we have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no one to save us, the Saviour turns up. God will not do for us what we can do for ourselves, but He will always do for us what we can’t, if we trust and wait for Him.
However, going from personal experience, I have found this is not easy, adopting our reliance on God takes constant self appraisal, One of the hardest things for me is to maintain a pure heart before God, keeping my thoughts under control and to praise God in all circumstances, acknowledging Him no matter what happens, He’s in control and only has my best interest at heart. Yes, as I said, it’s not easy, but it’s worth every moment I’ve spent on my knees.
Praise be to the God of our insufficiency.
God bless us all
Phaline.
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