Come & Do What Only You Can Do

If you’re like me, then, we don’t want to do what only we can do in our lives. We certainly want to give our very best – but frankly – if this is just a human effort producing human results… then, what’s the point? But the hunger and the ache and the yearning of our souls is, “Oh God!, please come – please come – and do what only You can do among us!”

Transcript

Hey everybody!  Nick Cash here with you on “Practical Faith” – I love sharing discipleship resources with the Body of Christ.  I’ve been creating and sharing resources online at LikeTreesPlanted.com for years, and it’s a joy to get to bring them here to you as well!  Everything on the site is free – actually, you can’t pay for anything on the site – it’s all there, available to anyone who wants it, and it is all completely free of charge at LikeTreesPlanted.com.

Now, today, I’d like for us to look together at a short passage of Scripture from the Old Testament – it is in the Book of Haggai.  Haggai, chapter 2, verses 4-5.

Now, for context here, Zerubbabel is the Jewish governor of Judea under the Persian Empire during the 6th Century B.C.  Zerubbabel is a royal descendant of King David, and an ancestor of Jesus.

Also in this passage is a reference to Egypt, and throughout the Old Testament, “Egypt” refers to both the literal time of enslavement that God’s people endured for 400 years AND to the enslavement and bondage of sin that all people experience apart from God’s deliverance.

Okay, so with those things explained, here is Haggai 2:4-5 – “ ‘But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord.  ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest.  Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work.  For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.  ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you.  Do not fear.’ ”

I – I hope you are desperate for God.  And not just when things are tough, but always!  Even when things are going great, I pray that you are hungry and yearning for the continued Presence of God to be engaged and at work in your life.

If you’re like me, then, we don’t want to do what only we can do in our lives.  We certainly want to give our very best – but frankly – if this is just a human effort producing human results… then, what’s the point?

But the hunger and the ache and the yearning of our souls is, “Oh God!, please come – please come – and do what only You can do among us!”

And I believe that at least part of God’s response to such a prayer comes from Haggai 2:4-5:

“ ‘But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord.  ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest.  Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work.  For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.  ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you.  Do not fear.’ ”

See, the last thing we want to do is operate in our own strength, and only accomplish what we can from our own limited human efforts.

Of course, we want to give our very best and utilize all of the gifts and experience that God has granted us!  But we want to do it in full submission to God, and in full cooperation with His Spirit.

And we are desperate for Him!  I don’t know about you, but I have been pleading with God to come walk among us and to do in and through His people in this world what only He is capable of doing!  – And y’all: it is happening!  He is doing it!  He is here among us.  He is doing what only He can do, and we are in absolute awe of His glory.

Let’s pray together:  Dear God, keep us hungry for You.  Keep us thirsting for Your Presence, for Your wisdom, for Your direction, for Your results – You accomplishing what only You can accomplish, for Your glory to be revealed to the world through our lives.  Give us a hunger for Your Word, God.  And give us the discipline to satisfy that hunger everyday by spending quality time with You in Your Word.  We are Your people.  This is Your world.  Help us, Holy Spirit, to always be surrendered to You, and available to You, and co-operating together with You, in concert with Your power and Your will.  We love You, Lord.  In Jesus’ wonderful Name we pray.  Amen.