Let go and Let God!

“For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Phil. 1:19-21

 

       We often forget that our manner of life is not about us, it is about Christ.  We struggle and fight to grow as individuals. We seek to come up with new words and new ways to initiate growth. Yet all we see the apostles do is obey what was commanded by Christ (Matt. 28:18-20). All we see the early church do is following in obedience the commands they were taught by the apostles (Acts 2:40-47). I never grew until I let go and let God.  I have done things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ giving thanks to the Father through Him, that I would never have imagined (Col. 3:16-17). I went because Christ called us to.

Did it take faith? Yes!! (Heb. 11 *1-2,6, 8)

Did it take courage and strength? Yes!! (Joshua 1:7-8)

Was it my choice to do what Christ ask of me? Yes!! (Isaiah 6:8)

How did I accomplish what Christ ask of me? Because He strengthened me! (Phil. 4:13)

Do I still live by faith? Yes!! (2 Cor. 5:9-11; Gal. 2:20; Hab. 2:4)

      We let ourselves get in the way of God working. We must continually work with earnest anxiety as individuals to obtain the promise. If we don’t then God can’t work trough us and in us. We have to choose to be about His work (Phil. 2:12-18). You have to make a choice. It was on our head, every sin, every righteous action; every bit of your faith is up to you (Rom. 2:5-11). God only promised-- He didn’t say “I will make you choose me every time.”  We have to pick our cross daily (Luke 9:23-27). It’s up to us each as individuals.

  What I found to be true in every area of my life and in the Christian walk is that when you let go and let God, there is success in Him. We hinder our maturity in Him. We hinder our growth in the word. We hinder our growth as body. We do it by simply not doing what He has asked of us. We see in the early church an obedience that could not be stopped (Acts 4:19-20; 5:29; 8:1-4). Now over time they had their issues.

 

     Yet the growth of each as individuals and the body was simply due to obedience. It’s simply from doing what God has asked of us fervently, zealously, and tirelessly (Luke 21:19).  If we want to grow, like God desires us to, as we see in His word, then we must do it His way. Oddly enough I have found it to also be true that the hardest thing to do is simply doing everything according to His word. Why? Because it takes more faith, it comes with persecution, and you must stand firm (2 Tim. 3:12). It’s just not easy. 

   It’s always easy to go with the flow. If you are in a raft in the river the easier thing to do is go with the flow. That may be mean you plunge to your death at a 1,000 ft. water fall but, hey, it was easy. To avoid such a thing you have to work with all your might to fight the current, do what is right. You have to tirelessly struggle to make it up stream to safety.  Then when you are there, it’s up to us to proclaim the good news (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:14-20). You don’t have to go over the water fall. Who would sit silent in that situation when you see others floating to their death, a death you just got away from? We do it all the time.  We get in the way (Rom. 7:21-25). That is why we have Christ. We must rely on Him to make complete what we can’t (Heb. 13:20-21).

Worry, fear, temptation, and loneliness can be some the biggest causes.  These things can somehow master us. They act as a hobble to our Christian walk. We often find ourselves stuck. Then we just choose to stay stuck. God never changes. He is faithful (Psalm 37).

Worry:  (Matt. 6:25-34; 1 Pet. 5:6-7)

Fear and Loneliness:  (Matt. 10:27-31; 2 Tim 1:7; Heb. 13:1-6; Joshua 1:6-9; Isaiah 41:8-10)

Temptation: (1 Cor. 10:1-13; James 1:12-18; 2 Pet. 2:4-11 *7 -9)



      If you are following my blog post there is a studied being made about the early church. A study about how those who are immersed into Christ are a part of that body we see in the New Testament. They had to let go of their own ways and let God be about His. If we are to be successful as Christians like we see in the New Testament church then we must get out of the way. We must be about doing it God’s way and letting Him work. We fail when we make it about us.

 

Are you going to let God work? What can you do to step out of the way? What are you letting stand in the way of doing what God ask? Are you growing? Is your congregation growing? Are you doing it His way, or in a manner you deem best? Are you justifying your actions by manipulating scripture?