His Strength, Not Mine

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

I live in an interesting world – I am surrounded by very wonderful but very active grandkids and often I hear them now saying, “Let me do it ..” They are all becoming their own little individuals and want to start doing things THEIR way.

I am also surrounded by senior citizens. Thousands of them. And because of age and health issues, some of them are beginning to lose control of their “independence.” I recently heard an older couple arguing and the spouse said, “Don’t help me – I can do it myself.”

Much of our Christian life if like that if we are honest. Our independent spirits bristle against surrendering over control to someone else. So much of our difficulties and frustrations could be eliminated if we would learn the value of surrendering to Jesus and allowing Him to live His perfect life through us (Galatians 2:20). So much of what we do, even for “the kingdom” is really you and me trying to do it in our own strength vs. His.|

My friend, Dave McCarty, is the president of a para-church ministry, Gospel Friendships. His daily weekly emails always pack a punch and he writes about this topic of independence:

The ultimate blessing in this life,

is when the Spirit of Jesus opens my eyes to see how pathetically helpless I am  —  powerless to make my life work, to engineer happiness for myself and those I love.  I see this in my saner moments, and then I’m actually thankful for my pathetic helplessness.  And enjoy it!   Am comforted by it.  Usually, however, I’m in denial, needing to be rescued from the Curse of independency, the idiotic notion my ancestors Adam and Eve had, that independency produces happiness, that being free to captain my soul, master my fate, will bring me contentment in this life.   Independency brings me misery. 

Only dependency on Jesus has ever made me happy.  Independency is an illusion, a myth, perpetrated on me by the alliance of the world, flesh, devil.  Why?  So I operate by puny human power, like pre-believers, undermining my fruitfulness with them.   Why?  If I cannot see how pathetically helpless I am apart from Him, how would they know/see, and why would they be interested in Him, apart from whether there’s a Heaven or Hell?  Most don’t believe in an afterlife, and afterlife is only one of the benefits to following Jesus.  

I don’t think I’m alone in running from pathetic helplessness.  The Church seems little different than the world in the kind of leaders we seek: strong, confident, successful, make-it-happen.  Independent/agendified/driven.  Oh sure, we Christian leaders learn to put on airs of humility and camouflage our independence.  Unconsciously.  Satan could not be more pleased.  No wonder we’re no threat to the enemy’s hold over pre-believers in our day.   No wonder we’re the laughingstock of the watching world.  Without Jesus-humility and Jesus-love, how could we believers possibly be one, that the world might believe?  Human power, not Jesus power.

If you, like me, are battling with this issue – we need to run to the cross, repent, and allow Him to live His life through us so that He will increase and we will decrease. Lord, help me today to rely on YOUR power instead of Bill Welte’s power. Amen. – Bill Welte is President & CEO of America’s Keswick

Team YOU: Ezra 9-10; Proverbs 14; Acts 1

Motivations: Sometimes our congregations seem to expect too little of us, and we expect too little of ourselves. We hunker down in the pews to follow the clergy’s leadership, dole out a comfortable sum for the offering plate, and hope we don’t get button-holed at coffee hour to volunteer for a committee or project. Marian Wright Edelman

Practice to Remember: Level 1: Philippians 1:9-10; Level 2: Philippians 1:12-18

Powered Up:  The faith we bring to prayer must include a trust that God is able to hear our prayers and that He is disposed to answer them. Yet when God says no to our requests, this faith also trusts in His wisdom. R. C. Sproul