Total Dependence on God

Memory verse: Any of you who does not give up everything he has, cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:33)

Another adjustment that is a part of knowing and doing the will of God is your coming to a total dependence on God to complete what He wants to do through you. Jesus said our relationship with Him would be like a vine and branches. He said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). When you are God’s servant, you must remain in an intimate relationship with God in order for Him to complete His work through you. You must depend on God alone.

The adjustment requires moving from doing work for God according to your abilities, your gifts, your likes and dislikes, and your goals to being totally dependent on God, His working, and His resources. This is a major adjustment, and it is never easy to make.

Without God at work in you, you can do nothing to produce Kingdom fruit. When God purposes to do something, He guarantees it will come to pass. He is the One who will accomplish what He intends to do. If you depend on anything other than God, you are asking for failure in Kingdom terms.

Once a church asked, “O God, how do You want to reach our community through us and build a great church?” God led them to start a bus ministry and provide transportation for children and adults to come to church. They did what God told them to do, and their church grew into a great church. 

They were flattered when people from all over the country began to ask, “What are you doing to grow so rapidly?” They wrote a book on how to build great churches through a bus ministry. Thousands of churches began to buy buses to reach their communities, believing the method was the key to growth. Later many sold the buses, saying, “It didn’t work for us.”

It never works. He works! The method is never the key to accomplishing God’s purposes. The key is your relationship with a Person. When you want to know how God wants you to reach your city, start a new church, or be involved in His work, ask Him. Then when He tells you, don’t be surprised if you can’t find any church that is doing it that same way. Why? God wants you to know Him. If you follow someone else’s plan, use a method, or emphasize a program, you tend to forget about your dependence on God. You leave the relationship with God and go after a method or a program. That is spiritual adultery.

Good books, successful methods, creative programs, and others’ success cannot take the place of your relationship with God. They never do the work. God does the work. Apart from Him you can do nothing. By focusing on anything other than God as the answer, you rob yourself and your church from seeing God at work. You keep yourself and your church from knowing God. That is a great tragedy for many in our day. May God deliver us from that.

Does that mean God will never lead you to develop an organized program or follow a method? No. But only God has the right to tell you what to do. Don’t take the initiative to decide for yourself what you will do. Wait before God until He tells you what His will is for you.