I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15:5

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 We can do nothing without Jesus, but we can do all things through Him! In Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost for His Highest," he writes about the importance of seeking God versus just stirring up human energy and Christian intention to do good. These words were originally published in 1935; yet, their timeliness is remarkable:

Determinedly Discipline Other Things. This is another difficult aspect of the strenuous nature of sainthood. Paul said, according to the Moffatt translation of this verse, "I take every project prisoner to make it obey Christ . . ." (2 Corinthians 10:5).

So much Christian work today has never been disciplined, but has simply come into being by impulse! In our Lord's life, every project was disciplined to the will of His Father. There was never the slightest tendency to follow the impulse of His own will as distinct from the Father's will—"The Son can do nothing of Himself . . ." (John 5:19).

Then compare this with what we do—we take "every thought" or project that comes to us by impulse and jump into action immediately, instead of imprisoning and disciplining ourselves to obey Christ.

Oswald Chambers challenges us with some rather strong words there. What an observation—that the Church might not be modeling Christ as much as it thinks it is. Everything we do—everything—needs to be subjected to God's will, even the wonderful endeavors motivated from a place of compassion.

Jesus, the very Son of God, didn't assume, but He spent time with His Father. It was His custom to get away and pray—away from the distractions and even the very great need—so as to determine what God's great, big, smart plan was. Then He obeyed it. Always.

I want to see nothing less than God's perfect will come to pass!

Let's seek God!
Pastor Jeff

© 2007 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.