by Joyce Meyer
Then she came and told the man of God. He said, Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons live on the rest.
2 KINGS 4:1-7
The key to value and worth is knowing who we are in Jesus. When we know that, there is nothing for us to do but stand in awe of the Lord and give Him thanks and praise for what He has done for us in Christ. Like this poor widow, the first step to fullness is to recognize we are empty.
All of us are empty vessels. None of us has anything in us of any value except the power of God that is resident there to flow out of us. What do we have to offer to God? Nothing. God is not needy. He doesn’t need you or me. He can do His own work without us. We are not indispensable.
I don’t say that to tear us down or make us feel bad about ourselves. I say it to make a point. If we don’t get rid of our highmindedness and haughtiness, the Lord will not be able to use us as He desires.
We do have value, but only the value the Lord assigns to us because of the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. We have nothing in and of ourselves. In Christ, we are and have everything. But in our flesh, there is nothing of any value or worth. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and it profits us nothing.
When I first started ministering, I wanted to help people. The Lord spoke to me then and said: “When you are empty of yourself so that all you have left within you is the ability to depend on the Holy Spirit, when you have learned that everything you are and have comes from Him, then I’ll send you around to your neighbors to fill their empty vessels with the life I have poured into your empty vessel.”
Arriving at the place of being empty of ourselves is not an easy task and is rarely ever a quick one. A deep work must be done in each of us before we can say with the apostle Paul:
I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
GALATIANS 2:20
I spent many years wondering if I would ever reach a place of manifesting humility instead of pride — of being dependent on God instead of independent, of trusting in His arm instead of in my own. If you feel the same way, let me encourage you that as long as you don’t give up, you are making progress.
It may seem as though reaching the place you desire is taking forever, but …He who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you (Philippians 1:6).
If we press on and are sincere about spiritual maturity, we will all eventually be like the woman in 2 Kings 4:1-7 — empty of ourselves and ready to be used by God to fill other empty people.
It is only after we have realized it is not us; it is all the Lord, that we can even begin to serve Him as we should. Someone has said, “It remains to be seen what God can do through a man or woman who will give Him all the glory.”
We must come to realize the battles we face in this life are not ours, but God’s. If we stop trying to win them by relying on the arm of the flesh, we will find the arm of the Lord moving on our behalf and doing for us what we could never do on our own.
To know and experience what God can do, we must first realize and acknowledge what we cannot do. We must get our eyes off of ourselves and our limited ability, and totally onto Him and His infinite power.
THREE IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES
After this, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and with them the Meunites came against Jehoshaphat to battle.…
And Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord [yearning for Him with all their desire].
And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court
And said, O Lord, God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven? And do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In Your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand You.…
And now behold, the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom You would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they turned from and did not destroy —
Behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit.
O our God, will You not exercise judgment upon them? For we have no might to stand against this great company that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.
2 CHRONICLES 20:1,4-6,10-12
In verse 12 of this passage we see three important statements that apply to us today as much as they did to the people of Judah who faced overpowering enemies: 1) “We have no might to stand against this great company that is coming against us,” 2) “We do not know what to do,” 3) “But our eyes are on You.”
When we reach the place of being able to make these three statements to the Lord in total honesty and complete dependence upon Him, He will be free to move on our behalf, as He did for the people in this story.
Sometimes we wonder why it seems God is not moving in our lives. The answer may be that we are still too full of ourselves. The reason God may not be taking control of our situation is that we won’t let go of it. That is part of what the Bible means when it says the battle is not ours, but God’s.
THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS, BUT GOD’S…
And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their children and their wives.
Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel…a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.
He said, Hearken, all Judah, you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you King Jehoshaphat. The Lord says this to you: Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
Tomorrow go down to them. Behold, they will come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the ravine before the Wilderness of Jeruel.
You shall not need to fight in this battle; take your positions, stand still, and see the deliverance of the Lord [Who is] with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.
And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping Him.
2 CHRONICLES 20:13-18
Before we begin to shout what we read in verse 15, “O God, the battle is not mine, but Yours,” we must do what we are told in verse 12: 1) acknowledge we have no power to save ourselves, 2) admit we do not know what to do about our situation, and 3) turn our eyes upon the Lord, placing our faith and trust in Him to deliver us.
Once we stop looking to the arm of the flesh for our solution, God will begin to give us His instructions for what to do. Often it will be what He told the people in this passage: “Be still.”
In Psalm 46:10 KJV the Lord says to us, Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. In Isaiah 40:31 we are told that …those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.
It will not be the end of the world if we do absolutely nothing for a month or two except fall to our knees and say, “Lord, I am waiting on You. I worship You and wait for You to move against my enemies and bring forth my deliverance.”
When the Israelites were journeying from Egypt, the land of bondage, to Canaan, the land of promise, the cloud of the Lord went before them, leading the way. Each time the Ark of the Covenant was lifted up and carried out before them, Moses would cry out to God, …Rise up, Lord; let Your enemies be scattered; and let those who hate You flee before You (Numbers 10:35). I love that verse. I believe it should be our w
ar cry: “Let God arise and His enemies be scattered!”
We need to remember that when the Lord rises up, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10,11.)
Many in the Body of Christ have lost sight of the greatness of God. We tend to think of Him and His abilities from our limited human perspective. We serve a great and mighty God. Every enemy will crumble before Him. It is so important that we keep our eyes on Him and not on ourselves.
In verse 16 of this passage God began to give directions to His people through His prophet. He told them to take up their positions, stand still, and see the deliverance of the Lord. They were not to be afraid or dismayed, for God was with them.
Hearing that news, King Jehoshaphat and all the people bowed their faces to the ground and worshipped the Lord. Faced with their enemies, that was the position of God’s people in this situation — and it should be our position today.
We need to spend more time in worship and praise and less time in planning, scheming, and trying to tell God what He needs to do. We need to remember that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
GOD HELPS THE HELPLESS
…Clothe (apron) yourselves, all of you, with humility [as the garb of a servant, so that its covering cannot possibly be stripped from you, with freedom from pride and arrogance] toward one another. For God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, the disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful) — [and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble.
1 PETER 5:5
God wants us to learn we cannot succeed by trusting in ourselves and our own human knowledge, wisdom, strength, and ability, but in Him.
The world says, “God helps those who help themselves.” That statement is totally unscriptural. In some matters we do help ourselves: God won’t send an angel to clean our cars and houses for instance. We need to be in charge of that. We also need to go out and look for a job to earn our own living. God gives us wisdom and strength, but we need to use our own arm of the flesh in these matters.
The Bible tells us God helps those who cannot help themselves in the sense that we are to depend not upon our own efforts, plans, and schemes to get us through this life and solve all our own problems, but on Him.
Saying that God helps those who help themselves is not only unscriptural, but misleading. This statement tends to make people feel as though they need to do all they possibly can for themselves before ever asking God to help. No wonder it is a “worldly statement” frequently accepted as Scripture.
Satan, the god of this world’s system (see 2 Corinthians 4:4) would like nothing better than for us to believe that lie and spend our lives in frustration trying to take care of ourselves rather than leaning on God.
God does not help those who help themselves; He helps those who know they cannot help themselves, those who, like King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah, realize they are totally dependent upon Him for their deliverance.
THE EVERLASTING ARMS
The eternal God is your refuge and dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He drove the enemy before you and thrust them out, saying, Destroy!
DEUTERONOMY 33:27
We often sing that old hymn, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” As we sing it, we should feel the everlasting arms of the Lord coming down and lifting us up. We should experience the manifest presence of God with us as we make the conscious decision to no longer lean on the arm of the flesh, but on the arm of the Lord.
WITH US IS THE LORD OUR GOD
Be strong and courageous. Be not afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there is Another with us greater than [all those] with him.
With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.…
2 CHRONICLES 32:7,8
When the Assyrians came in great strength to invade Judah and lay siege to Jerusalem, King Hezekiah encouraged the people with these words: “Be strong and full of courage. Don’t be fearful or discouraged because of our enemy, the king of Assyria, and the huge army with him. The One Who is with us is greater than all of them put together. The king of Assyria will fail, and we will be victorious, because he is depending on the arm of the flesh, but we are trusting in the arm of the Lord.”
That is the attitude you and I need to have in the face of our seemingly overwhelming problems. Rather than looking at our past failures, our present fallacies, or our future fears, we should be looking to the Lord and trusting in His wisdom, strength, and power. We should be reminding ourselves that no matter how many problems may be facing us, the One Who is with us is greater than all those who oppose us. With them is the arm of the flesh, but with us is the arm of the Lord.
In Jeremiah 17:5-8 we read that those who put their trust in the arm of the flesh are cursed with great evil. They are like a plant in the desert that is dry and destitute. They will not see any good come. But those who put their trust in the arm of the Lord are blessed. They are like a tree planted by a river. They do not cease to produce fruit even in the midst of a drought. No matter what comes, they will flourish and …shall not be anxious and full of care… (v. 8).
We are not to lean on the arm of flesh, but on the arm of the Lord. That means we are not to lean on ourselves or on other people, but on God. People will disappoint us, and we will end up devastated, but God will never fail us or forsake us. Like Jesus, we need to love people, but not trust ourselves to them.
LOVE MAN, TRUST GOD
But when He was in Jerusalem during the Passover Feast, many believed in His name [identified themselves with His party] after seeing His signs (wonders, miracles) which He was doing.
But Jesus [for His part] did not trust Himself to them, because He knew all [men];
And He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man [needed no evidence from anyone about men], for He Himself knew what was in human nature. [He could read men’s hearts.]
JOHN 2:23-25
Jesus loved people, especially His disciples. He had great fellowship with them. He traveled with them, ate with them, and taught them. But He did not put His trust in them, because He knew what was in human nature.
That does not mean He had no trust in His relationship with them; He just didn’t open Himself up to them and give Himself to them in the same way He trusted God and opened Himself up to His heavenly Father.
That is the way we should be. We should love people, but trust God.
Many times we become devastated because we form relationships with people we should not be involved with. We become too familiar with them, start depending upon then idolizing them, and looking to them when we should be looking to God.
I love my husband. He and I have a wonderful relationship together. I don’t think I could find a better man to be married to than Dave Meyer. He is good to me. He respects me. He treats me the way a husband should treat his wife. But, being human, he still sometimes says and does things that hurt me, just as I sometimes say and do things that hurt him.
Why does that happen even in the best of human relationships? It happens because we are not perfect. Only God can be counted on never to fail us, disappoint us, hurt us, or do us wrong. As much as we may love, honor, cherish, and respect others — especially our spouse or our family members — we must not place our trust in the weak arm of the flesh, but only in the strong arm of the Lord.
When we expect things from people they are not able to give us, we always end up disappointed and hurt.
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THE WARFARE OF REST
For we who have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest.…
HEBREWS 4:3
The importance of entering into God’s rest through believing and trusting in Him is very important, as previously mentioned. There is a warfare of rest. We can defeat what the devil is trying to d
o in our life simply by refusing to become upset. In this chapter we will examine how to enter and stay in that place of rest.
The world we live in today fits the description in 2 Timothy 3:1 below. As you read the following Scriptures, keep in mind that believers operate from a different world than that of unbelievers — we are in this world, but not of it.
But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].
We are in hard times: hard to deal with and hard to bear. Verses 2 — 5 continue describing what we recognize as the times we are living in today and one action we are to take.
For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.
[They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.
[They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.
For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].