by: Jennifer Petticoffer
Proverbs 3:5-7
Have you ever been so excited about God and serving Him that you felt like jumping up and down like a frog? I have to say that I do this quite frequently. I love the Lord, reading His Word, applying truth, and hearing inspiring messages of how to be a better Christian servant. I want to do it all right now, multi-tasking until I fall over from physical exhaustion or from a nervous breakdown. Sound familiar?
The Lord wants us to obediently and enthusiastically serve Him, but He also wants us to do this through His power and strength not our own. I thought of some ways the title of this article could be changed to reflect what is really going on in the lives of Christian women like you and me.
- “F.R.O.C.C. – Fully Rely on Caffeine and Carbohydrates”
- “F.R.O.F. – Fully Rely on Feelings”
- “F.R.O.N. – Fully Rely on Naps”
- “F.R.O.S. – Fully Rely on Sugar”
- “F.R.O.A. – Fully Rely on Adrenaline”
I have been guilty of all of the above. I don’t know if it’s my age, my mind, or my lack of Holy Spirit power, but I don’t like depending upon a cocktail of aspirin, coffee, and a sugary snack to have enough spiritual energy to go soul winning. If that’s what it takes, I’ll do it but I don’t believe that is what God has planned for his children.
God wants us to fully rely upon Him. We want to show our love for Him by producing much fruit, but we cannot even do these labors of love without Him! We can do absolutely nothing without Him.
John 15:5 – “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
Maybe we have the “mind over matter” philosophy. We think – so we believe we can do. God is a “faith over matter” God. We should be zealous Christians, but our zeal must be Bible-based and Holy-Spirit fueled. If we use our own righteousness or works, we are not fully submitting to God’s power.
Romans 10:1–3, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”
Some drawbacks to going without God’s righteousness and power are …
- You can find yourself ALONE, and ahead of the LORD in certain areas.
- You can find yourself POWERLESS; disconnected from the your spiritual Source, the Holy Spirit.
- You can find yourself DISCOURAGED, with no energy, joy or comfort.
- You can find yourself BACKSLIDDEN, because YOUR PLAN of zealous service didn’t work out YOUR WAY and you drop out altogether.
- You can find yourself BITTER, because a pharisaical attitude is pride which alienates you from the sweetness of submitting to the Lord’s strength.
So, the old frog adage is true, “Look before you LEAP!” Look to God before you leap into the day, into a project, into a decision, into any thing. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” To look to God, we must first FOCUS on Who God is. God is: All powerful, Lord, Divine Salvation, Sanctifier, Shepherd, Omnipresent, our Healer, our Righteousness, Provider, Banner, Peace, Lord of Hosts, most High, Strong, God of the mountains, Everlasting, Ancient of Days, Author of Life, Beginning and Comforter. I should and could go on, but I do have a word limit! Do you get the idea? God is all!
All Powerful (Omnipotent) – Jeremiah 9:23-24 – “Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.”
All Knowing (Omniscient) – Romans 11:33-36 – “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”
All Present (Omnipresent) Matthew 28:20 – “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
If we are fully relying on God we must focus on Him, and then we must always consider Him FIRST. Usually we exhaust all of our energies before we go to the Lord. We try our way and if that doesn’t work, we try stimulants, our own wisdom, social networking, or wait until we’re desperate in order to get an adrenaline rush. God wants for us to seek Him and His kingdom FIRST! (Matthew 6:33)
Sometimes our perspective of God can be all out of whack. We don’t focus on Him, so we don’t fully realize His greatness and power and subsequently we don’t consider Him first. Think about some of the great “wonders” of this world. They are immense in dimensions, but unless we have been close enough to them we cannot fathom what makes them so wonderful.
Grand Canyon – 277 miles long and 18 miles wide, one mile deep.
Pyramids – the Great Pyramid is 481 feet tall, 756 feet across.
Blue Whale – 98 feet long, 176 tons, 352,000 lbs.
Great Wall of China – 13,171 miles long
The images of these wonders that we see in magazines were taken from a great distance. The photos now fit into our hands, but THE CLOSER WE GET TO THESE OBJECTS, THE GREATER THEY WILL BECOME AND THE SMALLER WE WILL BECOME. THIS IS WHY IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO “DRAW NIGH TO GOD” and to fully rely on Him.
We all have the daily struggles of life. We all can “run out of spiritual gas” when doing God’s work. We sometimes become “weary in well doing.” It’s before and during these times that we must focus on God, seek Him first and then fully rely upon Him. It’s then that we can know the true joy of serving our wonderful God.
Acts 17:27-28a – “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being;”
Jennifer Petticoffer
Staff Member
Longview Baptist Temple
Longview, TX