Living Like God Intended By Pete BriscoeSample

Skipping The Middle Part

Learning to trust is one of life’s most difficult tasks. —Isaac Watts

Jesus loves the Father and lived His entire earthly life fully dependent on Him—and He calls us to do the same. Our love for God should lead to dependency on God. And that dependency leads naturally to obedience.

Our love for Him → dependency on Him → obedience to Him.

But we tend to skip that second part. We skip the dependency, faith, and trust—trying instead to please God by obeying Him in our own strength rather than by faith.

Acting in our own strength is called independence—and it’s the exact opposite of the moment-by-moment dependence that Jesus modeled while walking this earth. As believers in Christ, we’re called to follow His lead, displaying a dependent faith worked out in obedient action as we trust Him!

James puts it to us this way:

But someone will say, “You have faith, I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. (2:18)

The bottom line is this: Our dependency on Christ is displayed by our deeds.

True faith will display itself!

Dear God, I love You! Break the independent desires of my flesh. Give me the wisdom and faith to depend on You with increasing trust. Then, God, I ask that You would enable me to follow You in joyful obedience into any work that You have prepared for me to do.