[Devoted1]

"Are We Dependent Or Independent?"
By: Zach Wood
Philippians 3:3 (NLT)
For we who worship God in the Spirit are the only ones who are truly circumcised. We put no confidence in human effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us.


The Apostle Paul is huge example of Godly living. He's one of those people in the Bible who stands out among many. This passage from Philippians is under the section titled "No Confidence In The Flesh". The more I read this passage, the more convicted I became of how independent I am so many times from Christ and how often I rely on human strength and confidence when I try to tackle life's obstacles and tasks.

Sometimes, we tend to rely on our own strength when serving God and doing works for Him. I shared this Scripture with the Worship Team Saturday morning at my church before we began rehearsal. I talked about how the Spirit is the true worship leader and we are vessels for the Spirit to use to help people come to the Throne of God. I explained how we sometimes get something down so well through rehearsing that many times we feel we can do it alone. I went on to explain that no matter how much we practice and rehearse something in our lives, we can never separate ourselves from the guidance of God. We're never good enough to do something apart from God's direction. We may improve and get better at whatever we're doing, but God never meant for us to become independent from Him to do things in our own strength. He didn't create us that way and it won't work our way.

If we are going to truly worship God, we must be completely dependent upon Him as if we're trying something for the first time. Yes, God gives us strength and knowledge to get better, but He never says to rely on Him less as we get better. We always need Him. Paul says to never put confidence in the flesh. He knew what He was talking about. Let's learn a lesson from Him and stop trying to serve God on our own strength. It's wonderful to have the passion to serve and to want to get better. But we should never think we're good enough to rely less on God's guidance and instead rely on our own. It just won't work. Maybe for a while, but sooner or later, we'll realize things aren't working so well.

If we desire to boast about what Christ does in our lives, then we need to end our independence and be completely dependent upon Christ.

[smhatahy]

Originally Posted by Devoted1

Philippians 3:3 (NLT)
For we who worship God in the Spirit are the only ones who are truly circumcised. We put no confidence in human effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us.

In the Old Testemant circumcision was an act of seperation. So you can say that this verse is saying that by worshiping God we sperate ourselves from the world, and it says in the Bible (John 4:23) that God searches for true worshippers that worship Him in Spirit and in truth. You may be saying, how are we supposed to seperate from the world when its all around us, or how can we worship God? If you look at the verse Paul is saying, in the last half, that those who worship God will do two things:

1) Put our confidence in Christ as Zach said. A lot of times God is the last person we ask for advice. We talk to our parents, our best friends, our not so good friends, but we fail to ask the One who should be the first and only person we should ask, and that is God. God knows every single aspect of our lives, wouldnt you think He would know best what you should do?
It says in the Bible (Hebrews 11:5) that without faith that it is impossible to please God. By putting our faith in God ("We put no confidence in human effort") we please him and what most people dont realize is that pleasing God is worshipping God.


2) We witness to others what Christ has done in our lives, again as it says in John 4:23, God is looking for worshippers. So it is our job, to find new souls for Christ and train them up to be worshippers of Christ. We can do this by being examples of Christ, and telling others about Jesus. It says in Luke 15:7, that the heavens will rejoice when one sinner repents and comes to know the Lord. As i said before you worship God by pleasing him, and it says that it brings great pleasure to God when a sinner repents.

These are two aspects of worship that we really dont think about. There are many other, but in my opinion these are very important.

Just some of my thoughts after reading the verse...