Who’s Running the Show? Transitioning from Independence to Dependence
By Jim Banks, www.jimandpatbanks.com www.traumaprayer.com
These have to be the Last Days! If not the last days, then certainly a short run-up to them, for God seems to be pushing all the buttons and turning all the knobs He can within each of us in an effort to cause us to cooperate with His ability to convert us into specific (useful) elements of the spotless bride.
Many of you have heard me tell this story of the tail end of a ministry we made to Florida several years ago. We were driving north on Highway 111 some distance from Soddy-Daisey, TN (just north of Chattanooga). If you’ve ever traveled that area one thing you’ll likely remember is that it runs through a very sparsely populated area and there’s not a lot of traffic as well. I learned what I know about driving from my parents; my father’s habit of always paying attention to what’s going on down the road as far as you can see, and my mother’s lead foot.
One time my mother asked me to follow her from the house to the local gas station in case she ran out of gas because she knew she was running on empty. I said yes, and she took off down the road like she was on fire. I couldn’t keep up with her. Knowing that you burn much more gas driving fast than you do when driving slowly, coupled with the fact that she knew she was on empty to begin with, I was baffled. I caught up with her at the gas station and asked her why she drove there so fast. With a twinkle in her eye, she said, “I wanted to get here before I ran out.”
With that background you now know why I was scootin along pretty good up 111, plus I hadn’t seen another car in about ten minutes, when a Tennessee State patrolman appeared coming over the hill toward me. He pulled me over and gave me a ‘good-driving’ citation. As I was pulling away, I asked the Lord, “Why am I so irritated?” He said, “Well … you still don’t like people telling you what to do. Do you?”
Call it rebellion if you like. You can even refer to it by any number of other terms, such as; an independent spirit, uncontrolled, autonomous, self-reliant, on-your-own, self-governing, etc. But no matter how you choose to express it, and continue to choose to see it as a virtue, the bottom line is, you’re in control. Ultimately, even if you try to let Holy Spirit do as He wishes from time to time … you are still running the entire show. I’ve heard it expressed this way, If God is not Lord of all, then He’s not Lord at all.
Our personal submission to the Lord is absolutely necessary in order to do the “greater works than these” (John 14:12) and entering into the place of “For as many as are (exclusively) led by the Spirit of God these are the sons of God.” (Romans 8:14)
The importance of this fact is repeated in numerous places in the Word, but perhaps no more succinct than in, Romans 8:19-22, “In fact, all creation is eagerly waiting for God to show who his children are. 20 Meanwhile, creation is confused, but not because it wants to be confused. God made it this way in the hope 21 that creation would be set free from decay and would share in the glorious freedom of his children. 22 We know that all creation is still groaning and is in pain, like a woman about to give birth.” (CEV)
In other words, not only are the people of the earth needing each of us to stand in the fulness of who God created us to be, but the same freedom that we can bring to people through the finished work of Jesus the Christ on the cross, can be made available to the entire balance of creation as well. How is that possible?
Colossians 1:20 “… and through him (Jesus) to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens.” (RV)
1John 4:17, “Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, even so are we in this world.” (RV)
When Jesus came to earth, He came to reconcile (reconnect) all things to the Father and the only way that it will happen through us is if we are individually completely submitted to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to run the show. Our independence (self-protection and self-provision) keeps the One who is, “greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world (1John 4:4)” from being able to accomplish what He desires.
This begs the question of ”How do I get from where I am to full submission and complete dependence upon Holy Spirit?”
First of all, we have to do what Jesus tells us to do in Matthew 4:17, “From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” If the Kingdom of Heaven is here (at hand), then the only way it can operate in and through us is for us to do what the King of the kingdom tells us to do, without our normal independent thinking and actions.
Thus, Repent actually means is this; “But what think ye? A man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in the vineyard. 29 And he answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented himself, and went.” (Matthew 21:28-29 RV) Repent means to, a) change our mind so that it agrees with the direction of the Lord, and b) change our actions as well. Ask any former addict and you will hear this repeatedly, no one changes without both a desire and a decision to change. My description of the way the Christian life works is when it becomes “the life of 10,000 little surrenders.”
The next step is to enact Romans 12:2 everyday. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (ESV) In order to change the way we act, we have to change the way we think. Adopting what God thinks of us puts us on the right path. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:24 ESV)
Now, let me let you in on a little secret. The transition from independence to total dependance on God is difficult. It is seemingly impossible for many people because they never experienced true love growing up. The ability to trust is founded in love and if your parents couldn’t, or wouldn’t, build that receptor for love into you even receiving an honest compliment is neigh unto impossible. So, how does the receptor, the ability to receive love, get built into us as adults? We have to encounter the One who is Love on a frequent basis. “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24 ESV) “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63 ESV)
Jesus said in John 14:18-23, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
I published a blog back in July, entitled “Draw Closer To Me’ that had a unique revelation in it that points directly to this issue of “How do I love when I haven’t ever experienced it or felt it?” The fellow I was ministering to at the time was in this same situation and related that he had never felt adored. Jesus said to him something neither of us had ever heard before, “If you’ll adore me, I’ll adore you.” As if on cue, the following chorus of a song hit me from 1978 by Seals & Croft;
Darlin’ if you want me to be closer to you, get closer to me.
Darlin’ if you want me to be closer to you, get closer to me.
Darlin’ if you want me to love, love only you, then love only me.
Darlin’ if you want me to see, see only you, then see only me.
James 4:8 “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”
Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
I am not saying that we have to have secular music to validate the truth, but sometimes we are never able to recognize the source of truth because of the messenger. The reality is that until I choose to draw close to the Lord, He’s not going to be able to provide what I need because I expect it to be delivered on my terms.
Recent Comments