GOD DOESN’T NEED ME BUT I NEED HIM
When I started in ministry, I was excited about the opportunity to use my gifts and talents for God. There was so much I wanted to accomplish. I was “expecting great things from God and doing great things for God.” I knew I needed His help to carry out these desires. I had no doubt that with God’s assistance, great things would happen.
With maturity I realized I can’t do anything for Him on my own. It’s not even teamwork. Everything I accomplish in ministry and life is all by His grace and mercy. I feel like a little boy thinking he can hit a baseball a mile when it is really his father standing behind him, wrapping his arms around his son and holding the bat around him making contact with the ball. Without my heavenly Father’s arms wrapped around me, I’d miss it by a mile every time. When I insist on doing things my way, God lets me see how badly I fail without His help.
It’s not about me, it’s all about Him! As I mature spiritually I find God keeps getting bigger and bigger. I, by comparison, keep getting smaller and smaller. That’s the way it should be! There’s something freeing about “letting go and letting God.” While I’ve been busy trying to do as much as I can in ministry, God is more interested in me doing only what He wants but doing it well.
There’s a real peace that comes with letting God be God. I recognize He doesn’t need me to run His Kingdom down here. I need to humbly come to the conclusion I can’t do ANYthing without Him. “Apart form Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). But “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).
When I embrace and internalize that reality then I am more motivated to listen to Him. I spend less time asking Him to help me with what I am doing and more asking Him what He wants me to do. I see some of my biggest plans lying in ruins by the wayside, but I find He has used me to touch lives at times and in ways I didn’t expect. People are important than the program. I’m to serve my people. They aren’t here to serve my program. I’ve got more peace and more patience because I know if I am in His will, then He will bring whatever results He wants whenever He wants. God doesn’t measure success by numbers (people, dollars, possessions, etc.) but by faithfulness. So, I spend more time making sure I am doing what He wants and less trying to get Him to make my plans work.
I’m sure you already learned this and can add to what I’ve said. Keep it foremost in your mind. God doesn’t need any of us but each one of us totally needs Him! What a privilege it is that He chooses to use us for His kingdom and glory!
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.
If God withheld His grace and help from your life, what would it be like? What could you accomplish for Him on your own, without His help? How often do you try to do this?
How natural is it for you to give credit to God for EVERYthing that happens?
cto Rev. Dr. JERRY SCHMOYER
Christian Training Organization
Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org
(India Outreach, Spiritual Warfare, Family Ministries, Counseling, World View)
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