Tag Archive for dependence

We Need You

John 14:10 

Our Father exalted,
holy,
complete in wisdom, power, and love,
forever good,
forever true,
we need You!

I need You.
My dear spouse needs You.
Each of our precious children needs You.
Our pastor needs You.
Each friend,
each unique member of my family needs You.
Everyone I know,
everyone I encounter,
every individual in this sea of humanity
needs You.

O Father, we need Your light in our darkness.
We need Your truth,
Your rightness,
Your glory shining through
our struggling and inconsistent lives.
Lord God, we need Your holiness.
We need Your peace.
We need the patient, selfless love that only You can give.

But Father, more than anything else, we need You.
Help us need You as Christ needed You.
He depended on You constantly and
trusted You with all His heart.
He was completely Yours,
so You were completely His.

Father, in Jesus Christ You are ours as well.
You are ours
as we are Yours.
You are ours as we
trust You,
follow You, and
simply, deeply need You.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: We Need You, Holy God
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Dependence

My Creator,
I am completely dependent on You,
whether I recognize it or not.
You are the very breath of life within me.
Should you withdraw for a moment,
I would return to dust.
I, and everything I know,
exist only by Your love and
timeless wisdom.

Help me trust that love
in each simple concern of my daily life.
Help me rest in that timeless wisdom
instead of listening to
each tick of my own clock.

And Lord God, my Holy Father,
make me come to You more quickly,
more eager to see You and
know You and
know that I am with You,
till my every breath be
faith and
prayer and
love.

In all the beautiful glories of heaven,
You will still be the only Source.
Let me look to You now,
my Savior,
my Light of Life,
my God.

I lift up my eyes to you,
to you whose throne is in heaven.
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God.
(Psalm 123:1-2, NIV)

More than You Can Imagine 2

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
(Ephesians 3:20-21, NIV)

Conventional wisdom is that you can achieve anything you choose by setting goals, working hard, and believing in yourself. In God’s service, my experience has in some ways been the opposite: release personal goals; focus your confidence in God, not yourself; and stay flexible in His hands.

I’ve found that getting beyond our own agendas and abilities expands our horizons. In many respects, dependence on Him frees us from our personal limitations.

At various times in my life, I thought, “I will only write classical music”. Then, “I will only write lyrics.” Then, “I will only write hymns.” But staying available to Him has led me into many other areas: devotional books; evangelistic materials; Sunday School curriculum; teaching. Six days a week I post a short devotional thought on Facebook. This blog was another step of faith which I could never have foreseen just a few years ago.

Stay open to God’s surprises. I find that very few of my hymns are planned. I don’t sit down to write them. God blind-sides me with delightful inspirations and opportunities. I’ve find that He is indeed “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20, NIV). His work through us need not be limited by our ambitions, abilities, or imagination. The limits are “his power that is at work within us”.

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
(Philippians 4:13, NIV)

Serving God is wonderful and exciting freedom—freedom from self-dependence, freedom from binding ambitions, freedom from narrow, self-centered horizons. Serving Him is freedom to simply follow. It is being “workers together with God” (1 Corinthians 3:9) as He saves people from their sin and draws them to Himself. It is constant availability, learning not to “live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3, NIV).

More than You Can Imagine

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
(Ephesians 3:20-21, NIV)

The conventional wisdom is this: You can achieve anything you choose if you work hard enough and believe in yourself.

As a servant of God, that has not been my experience.

Yes, it is energizing to be inflamed with a goal and a purpose. And hard work and confidence are necessary if we are to press ahead through innumerable discouragements.

But in God’s service I’ve experienced three crucial differences:

1.       Rather than “achieving anything you choose,” I’ve had to give up all personal ambitions. Repeated setbacks have forced me to recommit myself–to release each personal goal and hope for achievement. My ambition has been reduced to this: I only want God’s purpose to be accomplished, whatever it is.

2.       I’ve had to lose faith in my own abilities and believe only in God’s ability and faithfulness. He’s thrown me in so far over my head that I’ve had to just cling to Him. I am confident, but I’m confident in God, not myself.

3.       Instead of pressing toward one long-term goal, shoving everything else aside, I’ve discovered how vital it is to simply trust and obey Him one hour at a time, one task at a time. I don’t know what He will lead me to do 15 minutes from now. My job is to stay tuned to Him, to stay willing and available.

What is the result of all this? More next time.

Empty

We often picture the earthly Jesus as a kind of superman, with unlimited power flowing from His fingertips. But listen to what the Bible says about Him:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but empted Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant. (Philippians 2:5-7, NASB).

Listen to what Jesus says about Himself:

“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does…By myself I can do nothing.” (John 5:19, 30, NIV)

“These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” (John 14:24, NIV)

It wasn’t Jesus’ own power that made Him what He was. He had emptied Himself of all His power and glory. Jesus made Himself dependent on His Father, constantly and completely, for every word and every action. When He spoke or acted, it was at His Father’s will and by His Father’s direct provision.

Jesus was what He was by faith. His strength lay not in unique abilities but in His relationship with the Father. He was the embodiment of the Father’s will for us expressed in 2 Corinthians 12:9,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (NIV)

Jesus made himself an open vessel for the Father, holy and yielded. His weakness was His great strength. His emptiness was the secret to His constant sufficiency. His power was His complete and constant dependence on the Father.

Jesus wants to share that relationship with us. He wants us to have the same relationship with the Father that He enjoys. He longs for us to participate in the deep love that flows unhindered among the Father, Son, and Spirit:

“I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him…We will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:20-21, 23, NIV)

Study the life of Jesus. As you see how He lived, all through faith, the hunger will grow in you to share His beautiful, simple relationship with the Father. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit all deeply desire to share that relationship with you.