Our God is really a great God. He could have done this work (Pemba problem, Pemba victory) by Himself, but He chooses to wait for us and to encourage us and to grow us… until we come into partnership with Him.
I find three options in our walk with God. Passivity, activity or partnering.
- Passively saying that God is in charge and His will is to be done – without us having to get involved in it, is passivity
- Saying that we have been given this world and it's ours to look after and we can simply "tap into a power source called dominion" (not requiring Jesus' involvement) as if we are God ourselves – is to be presumptuous.
- God is looking to partner with us.
I found this concept of partnering while talking to a friend of mine and then needed to see it in the bible. I found it everywhere. It's in the life of Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Jesus, Paul and so on. I think the Message bible puts it best…
Mat 25:14-23 "It's also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master's investment. The second did the same.
…. snip …
"After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.' "The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master's investment. His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.'
How great is our God to even want to partner with us? Can you think of any other religion that has this?
Take a look at the graphic below and ask yourself – where do you fit on this speedometer? Where do you want to fit? What do you have to change to get to the new position?
Faith + Hope + Love 