Truth Number Four:

No Human Effort is of Any Use and God Gets All the Glory

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “Most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of God may dwell in me…because when I am weak, then I am strong.”  God’s power is perfected in our weakness.  In my experiences, there never seemed to be much any doctor could do.  It looked rather grave in every case.  It was either a freak accident, undetected, or unexplained.  In these kinds of situations, God is all you have got.  But let me tell you, He is all you need too!  Our God delights in impossible situations!  He heals, delivers, and fully restores.  You come out of the fire with no smell of smoke (Daniel 3:27).  The marks on your body is all that is left of what seems at times like a dream.  Looking back, you begin to wonder if it really happened at all.  That is how fully God restores.

When you’re dead to yourself, human effort is no longer an option.  You have to stay out of the way and let God be the Director.  The moment you rely on human effort, you’ve crawled off the altar.  You might not completely obey the Lord because of fear.  You may think that complete obedience might be misunderstood by someone else so you stop short of it somewhere or worse than that, never step out at all.  You may decide in your own wisdom to change the plan. Whatever happens, when we are not totally obedient to God’s plan, our own actions will be clearly short of what He intended to happen.  After the fact and perhaps much later, you will see it, you will repent and will have learned a valuable lesson.  God is so graceful to bring along another opportunity for training in obedience.  Do not hesitate too long however, because all of the acts of obedience that do not make sense now are just practice sessions for the one or many acts of obedience to come that may impact many lives for eternity!