God needs you

October 3, 2008 · Filed Under faith

Wow, did you catch that title? God needs you.

Kind of a bold statement, wouldn’t you say? God—creator of the universe, totally self sufficient and all powerful—needs you.

How can that be? God doesn’t need anything. Agreed. But, I believe God has chosen to need us. He doesn’t need us to exist, but I believe he has chosen us to rule and reign over the earth.

Let’s start at the beginning.

Adam and Eve were on the earth, and God gave them a simple command, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28).

They were given a simple command. Take control of the earth. They were in charge of their huge Home. But, something happened. Satan deceived them and that control was handed over to him. All of sudden, there was a new “ruler of this world” (John 12:31). Adam and Eve surrendered their control.

Prior to the Fall, God set laws and ordinances in place so that man would rule and reign over the earth. It was their job to “subdue the earth and have dominion.”

God purposely limited his power and involvement on the earth. In fact, God does nothing without the help of man. Nothing on earth can happen without man’s involvement. Think about some of the stories in the Bible:

David & Goliath

Mount Carmel: There were more than 900 evil “prophets”, and God wanted to demonstrate his power, but he required just one man to show his power through. Elijah prayed and God responded (1 Kings 18).

The Disciples: Why didn’t Jesus just broadcast his message to the world? He did, but through his 12 followers. It was their job to carry his message to the ends of the earth (Mark 16:15).

Way too many people are passive in their walk with God. Well, if God wants to do it, he’ll just do it. Wrong! God is waiting for you to pray, to believe, to “take dominion”. He has chosen to need us as his conduit into the earth. It’s our job, our responsibility to bring the Kingdom of God to the earth.

Be careful here. We don’t have the power to do supernatural things here on the earth. We only have natural power (strength, knowledge, movement, reason). But, if we surrender our “natural powers” to God through prayer and faith, then God will release his supernatural power through us into the earth.

Let me show you this in scripture using one of my favorite versus from Ephesians 3:20. Most Christians can quote it by memory: “God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.”

It doesn’t sound like God needs us, does it? Well, that’s because we never quote the whole scripture. There is one small phrase at the end of that verse that most people leave off: “…according to the power that works in us.” Those words “…according to” literally mean “limited through us”.

God can do wonderfully, exceedingly amazing things in the earth and in our lives, but they must be done through prayer and faith, and through our relationship with God in Christ Jesus.

Tags: believe, faith