If there is ever a counter-cultural idea that we have looked into with this series, it is this one. Most of our culture highlights the importance of being reliant completely upon oneself. We are expected to be strong and taught to look out for number one. Those who have walked with God and been successful and useful in His hands have been those who have surrendered this cultural right to self-sufficiency and chosen instead to submit themselves into the ever capable hands of God as their only source. This is a constant tug-of-war in our lives. Galatians 2:20 says “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me…” One morning we feel full of faith and strongly give ourselves to God as our only source and then by the afternoon real life circumstances have come in and our hearts are dry and fearful and we’ve taken our lives back into our own hands. We are also prone to give God’s primary role of being our source to other people, grieving the heart of God. As Message Bearers serving God in cultures very different from our own, it will be very tempting to stray from the fundamental truth that God is quite serious about being our source in every area that we face physically, emotionally, financially and in ministry.

We know what the Bible has to say about the fiery emotion of jealousy that God possesses. It is His never-ending ambition to get us to a place where there is absolutely nothing that we look to fill the places within us that have been created by Him alone to fill. He will take us through all kinds of situations and even painful circumstances to knock down every false security and every source in yourself that is not in Him. He is extremely serious about this. Why? Because He knows that unless these things are uprooted and exposed as items which separate us from Him, we will never come into the fullness of relationship that He has ordained and paid for on the cross. There is a greater spiritual level that God desires each of us to attain in Him. This process is helped along as He highlights an area where we’ve allowed something else to be our source and convicts us of this sin. Then as we recognize our idolatry in that particular area and confess it to Him as sin, asking for His grace, strength and power to restore the Father in His role as our only source, relationship is enhanced and wisdom, understanding, and revelation come flowing forth. A dangerous, but extremely effective prayer along these lines is, “Lord, be ruthless with me. Break down everything that keeps me from full surrender to you as my source in every area.”

There are multitudes of examples surrounding this concept of God alone being our source and areas where this is a struggle. Maybe we are looking for emotional support in inappropriate or unhealthy ways. God alone wants to be a literal father to us and He will fight for that role in our lives. Maybe we have an unhealthy desire to get married. God wants to fill that void of love and be your spouse. He desires for you not to longingly look for that until He is ready to provide it in His way and in His timing. Maybe you are trying to maintain some reputation for yourself before others based on low self-esteem. You might be seeking to heighten your self-esteem through how you look, what skills you possess, your GPA. God wants you to rest in Him as the only place where your reputation is secure. When any of these other things are in competition with finding your identity in God, He will be relentless in seeking to knock it down for your own good and if we resist long enough, He will use painful circumstances to awaken us to the reality of allowing something that He never intended become our source. It is His love and goodness that motivates Him. Again, it is that call to be crucified with Him. Trusting God for finances might be that place of struggle. Whether or not we live by faith financially, God alone is to be our source of finances. Though you might receive a salary from your employer it is still God who is your ultimate source, for all things come from Him. Do we view our finances like this? If we are seeing our employer as our source, we have misplaced our focus and God desires to reclaim that place regarding your finances. This brings a financial freedom when we recognize that we are not bound to an employer as if we somehow needed them, but we are bound in reliance upon the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

This whole idea of our source being in God alone primarily surrounds where we place our identity. Do we see everything in life as an outflow from our spiritual position as sons and daughters of God or do we place our trust in items that are in competition with the role God desires to have in our lives? Once we catch a revelation that God really is who He says He is and that He really is wholeheartedly a good God who is for us, we begin to trust Him in ways we never thought possible. We begin to transfer our allegiance from something tangible in the natural realm to a God who is invisible, but who’s love meets every deep need of the human heart. This is when we begin to see supernatural things take place around us. When we transcend the natural and enter into a whole new realm of experiencing God and watching Him move in our midst. This is a necessity for those who will serve God among various cultures who have no understanding of Jesus Christ.

Prayer: “Jesus, I surrender myself to you. I recognize that I have allowed natural things in this world to replace the role that you hunger for in my life…that of being my ultimate source for everything. I confess this as sin and I receive your grace and forgiveness. I choose now to walk differently. I choose to allow you to be my source for emotional comfort, for companionship, for leading in my life, in my identity, in my outlook on finances, and when I stumble and go back to my old ways I ask that you would check me by the Holy Spirit. Thank you that you are so committed to me and my well-being that you don’t want my trust to be in anything but you. Help me to recognize the varying ways I find my source in other things or people.”

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