Why "Balance" is Making You Exhausted
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Just to give you some backstory on this is in the first between Genesis and Malachi, Exodus second book in, it's the Jewish portion of the Bible, so it was written for them, but there's a lot for us that we can learn through it. And anyway, god's had a frustrating time with his people, which is not uncommon.
They're continually unfaithful to him, but he's got this tension because he also has promised Abraham that they can have this promised land. And so there's, we pick up that dialogue in the Exodus and he says to Moses, he says, listen, Moses, you can take the people up to the Promised Land because I promised it to Abraham and Isaac and Jay.
You can do that. You can do that. And he go, oh, that's great. Thank you. But there's a caveat. I'm not coming with you. I'll send an angel to sort out then that's fine, but I'm not coming with you. And so Moses responds like this. He says, if your presence doesn't go with us, don't send us up there to the promised land, because how will anyone know that you are pleased with me or with us as a people, unless you go with us.
Unless you go with us, and then he goes on and says, what else will distinguish us as your people from all the other peoples of the earth? He says, what else is gonna distinguish us from anybody else in this world unless your presence goes with us? See, Moses was smart enough to know. That the promised land without God with them would be a disaster.
It would just lead to greater forms of distraction and idolatry. So I've been thinking about this whole thing and just letting God speak to me about this, around this area of greater things. And I've been pondering a question that goes round and round in my head, and it's this, what do you do when God asks you to do something impossible?
And then he doesn't appear to give you any resources to do it. What do you do with that? He's asking you to do a greater thing. It's impossible. There's no resources to do it. And I have been around this so many times and the fact that I've been walking with Jesus now since I was 21, I've seen a lot of church leaders do some things and I'm thinking, okay, how did you do that?
And they would say this to me. God guides by what he provides. So their whole tenor of what they were doing was backed up by the fact that they had finances or whatever to build. And then I watched over the years as church leaders would build things quickly and then suddenly it would all fall over in a big mess, including their personal lives.
And I'm going hang on. Does God guide by what he provides or. You just get an idea and you're just lucky enough to have a bunch of rich guys in your community that would build your vision was of God's. Here's my caveat on that. This is what happens to me. God guides by what he withholds. That has been my experience.
God guides by what he withholds, and the reason for that is it positions us in a place of faith. You end up having to go where you should start on your knees before God going, I have no idea how this is gonna happen. And through greater things, I hope you'll get the fact that you don't need more power.
You have all the power that you need. You just need to learn how to release that power. And part of it is you've gotta stop trying harder and start trusting deeper. Yeah, stop trying harder. Start trusting deeper. So I've been in around this, like I said, for years now. And I think it all started probably for me when God brought me down here and said, here, we're gonna rethink church.
And I go, great. What does that mean? I have no idea, but we're gonna rethink it anyway. And we had a lot of challenges as a people, for those of you that were here, well done for still being here 'cause it was difficult. But he said a couple of things to us and I know, and I'm trying to be as pastoral as I can 'cause I know that some of you get triggered by the word I'm about to say.
And I did go back to the Lord this week and said I could just change that word and tone it down. And he just said, don't you dare. Because they're still not doing it. You are still not doing this word a lot of us, so I'm sorry if it triggers you. As I said, I'm a serial offender, offended some last week.
Find something. Next week. I'll get to you eventually. He said You have to unhitch from the temple unhitched from Moses, and you have to unh from Rome. You have to do this. And I'm going, that's great. But how? I've got a bunch of debt. I've got no blueprint. I dunno what I'm doing. I'm having absolutely no idea, but you're telling me to go to the promised Land.
And I remember sitting there, I can remember Anna, and I was sitting on the kitchen floor like in a coma kind of thing. I just curled up in a fetal position. I'm going, I'm not equipped to do this. I don't have the expertise to do this. I don't have the resources to do this, but God knew something about me that I didn't really understand at the time, but I do now and that's this in me.
He had someone just stupid enough to believe that the five loaves and the two fish in my little hand, he might be able to do something with. I was just stupid enough to say, okay, God, I don't have a clue what you're saying, but let's go anyway. Even though there's no provision, I got no idea. And he said, just trust me.
Just do this one step at a time. And I remember I was completely out of my depth, and that's where greater things begin. See, even if you look at it from the natural across the church world, coming down at 45 to plant a church or start a church or rechange a church is ridiculous. No one does that. They all want the young bucks.
And so I'm down here at 45 and I'm struggling and I'm going, why didn't you pick me, Lord, when I was 30? Look at how good I was when I was 30. Man. I was in my prime. And he goes, yeah, you were. And there was absolutely no room for me whatsoever. But he said, I like it. Now I can use you. You don't have any confidence.
You're broken. You dunno what to do, but you're willing to listen and you're willing just to be it. So I was, so when I tanner's Galatians two 20, that's my life verse. I've been crucified by Christ with Christ no longer. I either live but Christ that lives in me. And that verse. It didn't actually come straight away.
It's taken me a while to get that. It's easy to know that in your head. I'm crucified with Christ. Okay, so I'm dead with Christ. That's nice. Yes. And then you carry on until suddenly you find yourself in an impossible situation. But this was actually getting me to the point where the mystery of the Gospel of Christ was about to propel me and us into a whole new dimension.
And as well as being stupid enough to believe God that he could do whatever it is he says he's gonna do, which I had no idea anyway. I also had that same thing. I don't want the promised land unless his spirit is with us, because it'll just distract us. It'll just become another idol. So I've discovered that God tends to guide by what He withholds when we are desperate.
When we come to the end ourselves. So in the A possible, let's talk a little bit about exhaustion, because we live in a very exhausted world and we've all been there and you're probably some of, you're probably there right now and on lines like you've been doing all the right things. You've been showing up, you've been living out the values.
I do. So I'm loving my wife, I'm doing all the right things. I'm living mission, and you are completely exhausted. Don't put your hand up if that's you.
Here. Exhaustion is a symptom. It's actually a warning signal that you are trying to manage and control. Here it comes, managing control. No, it's not coming. There's that technical issue you are trying to manage and control life without God's supernatural power. You are attempting to take the promised land without God, which is exactly what Adam and Eve did.
They had the ability to stay connected to God. Paradise would span right across the earth, but he gave him free will and they opted for the apple. No. They opted for self-governance over self-surrender. Yeah, and that is exhausting. I know whole churches that are built on this, they look fantastic. They've got all the bells and the whistles and everything going for 'em, but when you scratch beneath the surface, nobody is changing.
Nobody is being disciple because the energizing power of the spirit is not there. They've taken the promised land or built their own promised land, but they have left God behind Moses could have gone. God offered Moses the opportunity to have all that without him, but he was smart enough to realize that is going to be a disaster.
So lemme say this, and I'm glad that we are not like that anymore as a church. Yeah, we are a spirit led church. We are not driven by that. And we have people occasionally leave your kids' program's not good enough, this, that and the other. And that's fine. That's fine. You have that right to go do, and I'm not gonna get angry about it.
One thing we are about is that we are gonna make sure that whatever we do is empowered by the Holy Spirit. Whatever takes place, God has to be in it. 'cause if he's not in it, there's no life. And I bump into ones. And I bumped into one recently, that left us probably 10 years ago. And I said, how's your kids not even walking with Jesus anymore?
Hung out in the real coolest places of church, but they're not even following Jesus anymore. They don't even believe. And he's saying, can you help me? I can try if I can make contact. But we're not like that. And that's frustrating to people if you happen to be very strategic because we don't move unless the Holy Spirit tells us to move.
And if he's not going with us, then we are not doing it. So exhaustion isn't failure, bud, but is the warning signs a failure? And we are a spirit led church. Paul was very strong. I take Paul's words so strong like how is it that you start in the spirit and now you're trying to work it out in the flesh?
He what he's saying, you're trying to self-manage everything. You're trying to control everything, and it is exhausting. Now, I'm gonna say something in a few minutes that's gonna really probably rattle a few cages. So Brace for Impact. If you're exhausted. If you're really exhausted and you're tired because you're trying to take the Promised Land.
And the Promised Land can be your family, it can be your work, it could be your business, can be anything. If you are trying to take the promised land without him, it's exhausting and you will hit the wall. And when you hit the wall, there are two words that are gonna come rattling out of your mouth, which sounds so perfect from a humanistic point of view.
And you are gonna start saying this. I've gotta come up with some balance and some boundaries. Balance and boundaries. Big words all over the place at the moment. You gotta have balance. You gotta have balance. You gotta have balance. You gotta have boundaries. You've gotta be able to, keep your life in order, keep it in check.
I wanna suggest to you, that's only my suggestion, is if you embrace this, you will never, ever achieve greater things. Because you are trying to control everything in your own strength. You are not being led by the Holy Spirit. This year of deeper was when we were called to go all in. I need to remember the emotionally healthy spirituality.
We need to deal with the stuff in our life, but God showed me two different ways to function, and it was around this area of balance and boundaries. Here's the first diagram, and it's about me. It puts me at the center. So this is the model of when you go in and take the promised land, without God, you're in the center and you're gonna manage your family.
You're gonna manage your work, you're gonna manage your friends, your hobbies, your church, and God. It's when you take control, you are gonna be self-governing. So you gotta make sure all these things are right, boundaries around them, make sure that it's all healthy, it's all balanced. The problem is life is not static and it won't do that.
So here's what happens. Suddenly you lean into one area more. You're all down in the work. It's the work's going great. Boss is going great, everything's going, family. Suddenly the misses then starts unhappy. Unhappy, man you, you're spending all your time here, so now you've gotta go up here. And then you put all your energy up here and before you know it, your friends are whinging 'cause you never see them anymore.
And then after that, before a while, Hey come, we used to hang out and do this stuff, but you're never anymore. And then you, so you bounce around, it creates duplicity and you bounce around. And if you're not careful, you end up having a different face in all of those places you're trying to take, this is all part of the promised hand, but you're trying to take it in your own strength.
This is when you try and balance this is you in the middle trying to balance the, also the big era of this, and this is so prevalent, I hear it all the time, is that you actually separate God church from you.
So you are even trying to manage your relationship with the church. 'cause that's where you have to go and serve. And then you've gotta manage your relationship with God. But then he's in competition with the family. It's. Absolutely exhausting. And the Lord just said to me, that's how you get in a big mess.
You're trying to take the Promised land 'cause all this stuff is part of your promised land without him. And then we moved to the next one. He said, this is what it should be like. You can't separate the Father, son, and Holy Spirit that has to be in the center. You can't separate the church. 'cause the church is not a building, it's a people, you're it.
Which means you can't separate you from the church 'cause you are the church and you can't separate you from a relationship with Christ. 'cause that's the nature of who we are. So then you put that in the center, you're a part of it, and then you do one thing. You love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength, and then outta place, that place of health.
Then you love your neighbor. Now watch this.
If you love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and you're healthy, you're singular. You're not doing the other model duplicity, trying to balance and do boundaries everywhere. No, this is who you are, and then it's looks like a ripple effect. Then what happens is you just outta that place of love.
You love your family. You love your friends, you love your work associates, you remain absolutely consistent in who you are. The other model causes you to wear faces. I hear quite often, man, he's nothing like that at work. What do you see here that's bad? That's the other model. That's you taking the promised land in your own strength without God.
So what's the solution? If you've gotta love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Is that balanced?
You actually have to start here at a place of imbalance. Imbalance where you will love God wholeheartedly with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. This positions you for greater things. 'cause if you love him with everything, you'll be so healthy. Now you can love your neighbor, which starts with your spouse and your kids, and you remain consistent all the way through, and there's no exhaustion because it's a ripple of the Holy Spirit just moving through us.
That's the difference. Don't start with balance, start with imbalance. When it comes to your relationship with God, and I know I've seen another part of people go people get all weird. Then when they go after God and then they do abusive things to their family, that just means they haven't made a connection with God.
Because if you have a connection with him and you live from a place of imbalance, of loving him with everything you got, there's no way he's gonna allow you to behave like that with your spouse. No way. He's gonna allow you to treat your staff like that. So you've actually, if you want to get to balance, you've actually gotta start with imbalance to get everything in perfect balance.
This is how, remember I said go deeper. You have to go deeper into the freedom that you have in Christ. Couple of scriptures around here, just to help you understand it. John 14, Jesus was talking to the boys and said, oh to ask the Father, he will give you another advocate to help you. He'll be with you forever.
Here's the spirit of truth. Keep going. The word cannot. World cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. Now go back to the Book of Acts and you see when the Holy Spirit first fell, it says You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judeas Amaria to the ends of the earth started.
The Holy Spirit was released, started upon. Will come upon you by the time John is writing. Oh no, not just upon anymore. He's now gonna live within you. He's gonna dwell within you. That is the greater things. That's when you get to that place, and the greater things become great when you've surrendered fully to God because you've come to the end of you.
You are not trying to fix this in your own strength. And then you're trusting God and then the Holy Spirit steps in and does a whole bunch of things. That's what distinguishes us from the rest of the world. I think when Jesus spoke to the guys in John, when I first heard this, when he was talking about it in John 14, he says, the Holy Spirit will be with you.
He will now be in you. That must have been so completely radical for them, like trying to get their heads around. This was huge. They have spent their entire existence going to a place to worship God, to have a relationship with God. Even if you go right back into the old Covenant, right back into Genesis, God first had a dwelling past and it was called a tabernacle.
I dunno if this is what it looks like. That looks like a AI generated to me, but it's, it was a tabernacle, but basically a tabernacle was a tent. It was a tent that they had to put up and pull down, and they wouldn't move it unless God moved. During the day, he was like a cloud and if he got up and went pack up the tent fellas we're off, we're over here at nighttime, if he decided to move, there was a pillar of fire over there, so they'd pack it up and they move.
So God was mobile. He was mobile with 'em, but they still had to go to the tabernacle. Now move on a few years, and then King David gets the idea that he wants to build a temple. He wants to build the biggest and best temple. God says, you can't do that 'cause you've got too much blood on your hands. And there's a bit of back and forth.
But then God says I'll do it through your son. But here's the deal, Kings were never part of God's plan. That's why I keep the old covenant in the soap devotions with you so you can read it. They were never part of God's plan when they asked for a king. The prophet tried his best to say, God doesn't want you to have a king.
He's gonna be your king. But oh, no, we want a king. Why do you want a king? Because all the other pagan nations have kings, but you're not supposed to be like the pagans. We want a king. So he gives them a king. And of course, what goes with kings temples, they've all had temples, so God didn't run a king in a temple.
Now, this is just a caveat, a little sidestep for you. Your Bible would be about half the size that it is. If there'd been no kings and there'd been no. Temple because there would've been no history of the kings, no chronicles of the kings. There'd be no prophets to tell the kings you're being bad to get back online.
It'd be a lot thinner, but God still works through the free will of human beings, and some of the guys chose differently. So he just works around the plan around that. That's the nature of how much he loves people and if he's even willing to work out his plan and adjust it to get to where he wants to go.
Now it's a temple. Now you have to go to the temple. You couldn't carry the temple with you. There was no opportunity to take God home with you. There was no, you can't go visit you. You the only place you could go is you had to go to the temple and visit the temple. Now, remember what I said about the term unhitch and how it really rattles with us.
You have to go to the temple. If you still are not fully unhitched, your language will be, I am going to church.
Going to church. You can't go to church. You are the church. The church is the family of God. You can come to our family gathering. You'd be better off if someone says to you where you go, I'm going to church. That just creates the imagery of the temple in people's mind. You're better off saying, Hey, I'm going on Sunday.
I'm going to a family gathering. Oh, what's that? Oh, it's a place where people of the way, which way? The people that follow Jesus, they go hang out. What is that really? It's a local church. Better off getting to that here than up here. So even that's why I say this whole thing of Unhitching, we don't realize how much of that old covenant still sits in us.
In methodology wise, because we grew up with it, we were trained in it we just got it all the time. It's really difficult. It took us 12 years to actually undo some of this stuff. And now Jesus comes along and it's not about the temple, which is static and it's not about the, even the mobile thing now.
He says, you are gonna be the temple. He says, now I'm gonna dwell in you in the human temples. And that is the reason why we can do greater things. It's the reason why we can do greater things. It's the reason why he said, I will dwell within you and you will be my witnesses, and you'll have power. Power for what?
Power to continue on the mission. Power to be my witnesses in Jerusalem. Judea Samaria to the winds of the earth in the context that they were in. Jerusalem was like your home, that's your Jerusalem. You gotta be a witness for Christ there. If you work at Hillcrest College that's your Jerusalem, if you've got a sporting club, wherever you are in the context all the time, it's your Jerusalem.
When you get to to Jude Judea, it's like all the other suburbs of the, say the city of the Gold Coast. You get to Sumeria, now you down into Tweed Heads 'cause that's the next sort of city or up into Logan and the ends of the earth for them, Brisbane. 'cause they didn't have 50 cent train rides. They had to walk everywhere.
So contextualize it for now, he comes to make us a witness. He comes to prepare us to be people of the way. The greater works that he talks about us doing has nothing to do with greater miracles than what he did. There are whole parts of the body of Christ that focus on the miracles and they're doing this, but that's not what it was about.
The greater works that he was saying is that I am gonna dwell in you and you are gonna be my witnesses and you are gonna go as people of the way you are gonna represent me with your little loaves and fish. And even though you feel totally in incapable and totally I can't do this, if you'll bring that to me, I'll do some greater things.
Will that include miracles? Absolutely. Will include that. Absolutely. But that's not the starting point. The starting point is us living in a way that we're not gonna take any of the promised land unless he goes with us. So what do I want you to do? Here's what I want you to do across the start of this, 'cause I'm laying the foundation for the series I want you to commit this week.
To talk to the Lord about living from imbalance when it comes to him. Stop trying to balance everything. Stop trying to put boundaries around everything. Lord, I want to get to the place where I wanna live from. Imbalance. I want you to get to the place of love and God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.
I want you to be living not out of the ME diagram, but out of the central diagram. Which is like a rocking a pond that just keeps you consistent and growing and loving and caring.
I want you this week to review your life and see where am I trying to operate outta my own strength? Where am I exhausted? Because I am trying to control everything. I'm trying to manage everything. I'm trying to make it all happen, and then I want you to write it down, and I want you to talk to the Lord about it and just say, this is the area that I am trying to control.
This is the promised land I know we need to go to, and I'm trying to make it happen. You can't make it happen without paying a huge price in exhaustion. A depletion of your own soul. And then I want you to just pray this prayer. Once you've identified it, just say, Lord, I can't, but you can. I can't, but you can.
I've reached the end of me on this. I'm trying to take the promised land without you, and it's going really bad, so I'm not gonna push this anymore. And I ask that Holy Spirit, your presence. The presence of my God would be with me all the way through, unless his spirit works in us and through us. In every situation, nothing will distinguish us from the rest of the world.
There is a promised land. There is a promised land. There's a promised land for your family. There's a promised land for your school, your university, your home, your business. Will you work? There is a promised land, but you will not be able to take it in your own strength. You will just be exhausted and you'll be frustrated and people won't be saying There's something that distinguishes you from the rest of the world for good.
It'll be like there's something that distinguish you from the rest of the world that's really bad. 'cause you are cranky, you are upset, you are angry all the time because that's what happens when we try and take the Promised land in our own strength. And you can try and manage it with boundaries and balance and, but you'll just continue to be exhausted.
That's where the greater things happen when you can get to the place, like Moses said, look, I don't send us to the promised land. I do not want to go if you're not with me. Because I know I could have the promised land, I could make it happen. And there are people that you know that look like they're doing really well because they've created a lot of things around them.
But when you scratch under the surface, they are so unhappy because they realize I got the promised land, but I don't have God with me and I don't look any different to the rest of the world. That's what God's been building for us over the last. Decade saying, I need to unhitch from this. I need to unhitch from this.
I need you to become the people of the way, which way Jesus Way. And all you have to do is bring your little bit and say, Lord, I can see I've gotta dream out there, but I'm not taking it in my own strength. I can't but you, I can't. But you can if you want to. But I'm not going there unless your spirit goes with me, because nothing will make me look any different.
Now, here's the challenge that we are gonna have with this, is you have to let go of self-reliance. And that is really difficult because it feels like weakness and the world around you will tell you it feels like weakness. You. You're not pulling your own weight wanting to do this. Anne and I would have consistent arguments over this all the time when she'd say I don't know how it's gonna work.
Just give it to. And I used to say, if you say that one more time, I'm gonna strangle you. Give it to God. What does that mean? What does it mean? Give it to God? It means I'm not gonna take the Promised land in my own strength. I will wait until he makes a way. And you gotta understand that your limitation is actually God's invitation.
His invitation, your limitation is his invitation when you get to the end of you. When I came down here after clinical depression, he asked me to do this. I was at the end. I was at the end of everything. But that's the place where greater things happen. When you get to the end of you and you trust God.
And he says, ah, I'll show you how to be a person of the way. Which way? Jesus way, not the way of Moses That was, and not the way of the world, which are two systems to control things the way of the spirit. And it's completely counter culture.
When you're like this. 'cause when you're in the way, you start to hear things like, oh man. That employee, they're unbelievable. That is the best employer I have ever had. Or that boss man. That boss is amazing. It's amazing. I wouldn't wanna work anywhere else other than be around him. You become the best mom, the best dad, the best father.
Everything changes, not because you are trying to make a change, but because you've come to the end of you and saying, God, you gotta work in me and through me, in me, and through me. I long for us to become more of a church that rather than when we get frustrated, come up with the sentence that says, Hey, we need to work harder.
And this is hard for me because I'm a process kind, and it's hard for Ruth too, wherever she's, suddenly things don't work it. So we need to process, we need to do this, we need to do this, and we need to make people do that. And rah, it's no. Now we're trying to take the promised land in our own strength.
It's not right. I long for the day when the, all we do right here is go, Hey, wow, I wonder what God's gonna do next. And we'd be comfortable with that. I stopped long ago with five year, 10 year, 15 year goals because you miss all the greater thing moments of God. 'cause they all happen in times when it's really inconvenient.
So you let all that go. This world needs to see genuine servant hearted followers of the way. That's what it needs to see. If I tomorrow went back to the ME centered way and said, you know what? I'm gonna start charging the church for all the extra hours I do.
Would I be wrong to say that I deserve those hours? No. Is it coming from a right heart and right spirit? No. When you start to think like that I'm not doing that extra bit of time. If I'm not paid for it, I'm not doing it. Okay. That's a sign, that's a heart issue. Now, I'm not talking about if you've got a boss that abuses you or something like that, but we are extra mile people.
We're extra mile people. We don't just do the basics, but we do it not because we're working for a boss, because the one who dwells within us has a more excellent way. Of doing greater things and I joyfully do whatever he asks me to do. That's the greater things, and that's where we need to go. We need to be a people more like that so that you're the best husband, your friends, that you are building relationships, living mission.
They should be envious of you or your spouse because of the way you work. It's man, I wish my spouse was like that. Why? What's different about them? They're not actually doing stuff in their own strength. God is working through them. It's a greater thing. It's a greater thing. It's a greater witness.
Best staff mean you should be the best employees. Before COVID, I used to hear on a regular basis. About all that's going on. These guys, they've come from our church and this, and they've got such great hearts and values and things like that. I don't hear that anymore. And I'm not saying that it's not happening, but I'm saying that COVID did something to make us very me-centric and secure.
But in all of that, we've lost something. We've lost some things, and I think Jesus wants us to get back to remembering. Go deeper into the freedom that I've got for you. Allow my spirit to be in you. Let me be Lord. We pray a prayer. Oh, I'm you my Lord. You're my savior. You are my king.
Could you do that? No. Am I your Lord's savior and king, or aren't I? On Sunday you are, but the rest of the week, that's all about me. This is what this is about. Greater things is about helping us. Get to that point where every day you wake and say, okay, God, there's things I have to do as a dad.
There's things I have to do as a husband and a provider. But what's on your heart today? Who's on the path that you want to encourage, that you want to bless? And if it's inconvenient, that's okay. I can always get to that a bit later. It's that kind of people, and I think that is the greater thing that God is trying to get us to.
He's trying to get us to the revelation. If you live from imbalance, love me with all your heart, mind, soul, strength, everything. If you do that, everything else in life will fall into perfect balance. Because you stay who you are consistently. You're not trying to please your boss. One minute, oh, I gotta please my family over here.
And, but then you meet them at different times and you think, are you even the same person? But it's no, this is who I am. This is who I am. This is who God created to me to be in. And I'm just walking in step with him as best I can to love him and then to love others out of it. And when you stop.
That trying to balance everything and control everything and surrender. That's the point where greater things really begin to take place. I think this is gonna be a really great series. Let's pray. Father, I just thank you, Lord. I just thank you the way you continually lead us. And just remind us of things of our journey.
And Lord, help us to realize that living out of imbalance in our relationship with you, we actually puts us in perfect balance with the whole world around us. It enables me to love my family the way that you love them. 'cause you're welcome them through me. Enables me to treat my boss the way that happens.
And for me to treat the employees and for my fellows people that I'm playing sport with or whatever. It's 'cause I treat them well because it's you that's working through me and you love them more than I love them. So father, I just pray you would help us to do realize that all we gotta do is to love you with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and choose to let go of self-governance.
And just live from a place of self-surrender. Lord, we want to see you do greater things in and through us. And that only happens when we reach the end of ourselves, when we actually get the revelation that Tanner had. I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me.
And the life I live in. This flesh, I live by faith in the son of God, the one who died for me. Really, the greater things Lord, we're talking about is learning to die, to self die, to self-governance. We don't wanna make the same mistake that Eve made in Adam made. Thinking we can do this thing and run this thing all by ourselves.
'cause we're smarter and we're wiser and we are not. Help us to just say, Lord, you be king, you be savior, you be Lord, you lead and I'll follow. So Lord, I pray that you would lead us in to these greater things. And I know that as we make these adjustments and shifts, things will shift in the world around us.
You'll show up 'cause your promise was that as we go on mission, you'll be there, you'll show up and you'll work in and through us. Lord, I thank you for this calling us back to being all in. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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