Creflo Dollar - How To Live Completely Dependent on God - Part 2
Look at Psalms 102 and 13, Psalms 102 and 13. Just a couple of things. Don't let the timing of a thing cause you to become weak in depending on God. Okay? I was talking to one of my spiritual sons last week, and he was just like, you know, "How do you get these things? How do you get that to happen? How did you get that building? How did you get those members"? I said, "I think you got it all wrong". I said, "What you do is you commit to a vision and the vision will draw all the provision". I said, "Your problem is you're trying to get all the provision because, you know, that's pretty clear to people that you're blessed 'cause they see all the trimmings". No, no, no, no, no. You got the vision and God will only attract what the vision needs. Don't try to get what you see another minister have. Your vision will attract what you need for your assignment. I said, "So quit seeking provision and", look at the word provision.
Take vision out and you just got pro. Pro what? Pro nothing. You got vision first, vision first. And a lot of this time that you're waiting on stuff, you can build vision. You can build vision on the inside of you. Look what he says here. "Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favor her, yea, the set time," watch this, "is come". The set time to favor you in this age of grace has come. There's a timing even in the favor, and then there may be some favor in your life that haven't come yet. But, you know, there's a set time for favor to happen. There's a set time for certain things to happen in your life. You know, when I was in Uganda a few years ago, I don't know how long it's been. It's been a minute, there were 100,000 people in the stadium. I've never preached to 100,000 people in a stadium before. I was...in fact, I didn't know whether they were there for me.
I looked out the window and I said, "Excuse me. Who? Why? Was there a concert or something here today before I came"? He said, "No, no concert". I said, "Well, what are all these people doing here"? They said, "Oh, they're all here to hear you, pastor". I'm like, "Ooh, I got to go to the bathroom". I wasn't ready for that until that, until I was ready for that. I wasn't ready for that until I was ready for that. Okay? God knows when a certain thing needs to happen, and then there were certain things that happened in my life I still wasn't ready for. I wish I had another opportunity to do it and God's giving me another opportunity, but sometimes you rush stuff. Sometimes you think you ready for something and you're really not 'cause God wants to get your character and everything so you can handle it so it won't handle you.
Some people are being handled by their so-called answered prayers. You ain't ready yet. We need to learn humility. You know what humility is? You're not...you know how humility is perfectly demonstrated? It's demonstrated in the life of an individual who has committed himself to complete dependence upon God. That's all humility is. "I am completely dependent upon God". So now you see why you have to have a relationship. Now you see why Christianity is not just showing up at church and playing church and doing church games. Christianity is a personal relationship between you and the Father; where you're completely dependent on him and you have a relationship with him no matter what they're doing at church, you have a relationship with him on the way home, you have a relationship with him at the house, have a relationship with him on the job. You have a personal relationship with God. That's who you depend on, and he will never let you down. He will never let you down.
Look at Esther chapter 2 and verse 15. Esther 2:15, it just simply says here, I'm not going to read the whole thing. He says and when the time, when the turn of Esther came, when the turn of Esther came, that just simply says there's timing there. Say this out loud: "My turn is coming". My turn is coming. I'm not weak in depending on God. My turn is coming. There's never any need for you to look at somebody like, "Well, why you bless them and didn't bless me"? No. My turn is coming. And every time you know somebody and they're getting blessed, you ought to just shout and say, "The line is moving. The line is moving. Praise God. My turn", say that out loud, "My turn is coming". Amen.
I felt something on that thing a little bit. My turn is coming. Praise the Lord. I don't know what you believing for. I don't know what you're depending on God for. I don't know what you're relying on Jesus every day. Some people are just relying on Jesus, you know, to live a pain-free life for a day, and he comes through. Some people are relying on Jesus just to protect them throughout their day. There are lots of opportunities for people to come home, "Thank you, God, for what you did for me today. Thank you, Lord. I thank you for protecting my children today". Don't forget to count your blessings. While you're waiting on the big something, there are blessings happening every day in your life. So keep depending on him. Your turn is coming. I can sense that right now, boy. The line just got to moving just like that, boy. Aren't you glad you're not in a line that just stand still amen? This line moving just like this, boy. "My turn coming. My turn", "Next, next, next". 'Cause we living our life dependent on God. My turn is coming. Praise God, amen.
And then Ecclesiastes chapter 3; Ecclesiastes 3, verse 1. He says, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose". That's amazing to me. There's a time for every purpose under the heaven. See, I believe that you're being set up for a set time. See, all the stuff that you might be going through now is just a setup for a set time. Oh my God, say that. Say, "I'm being set up for a set time". And a lot of people just think the set time going to come without a setup. And some of the various stuff that you're tempted to complain about might be a setup for a set time; but I don't believe you're going to see the set time without seeing the setup, and you're being set up right now. You're being set up right now.
Somebody says, "Well, you know, I'm not making as much money as I used to". You're being set up right now. Why? 'Cause you're living a life in total dependence and complete dependence upon God. That is always going to be the key. You're living a life in complete and total dependence upon God. Now, I said all that to say this; that Abraham's faith was a dependence upon God to fulfill his promises. Abraham's faith was a dependence upon God to fulfill the promise. Now, I want to go through some real familiar Scripture not to beat up the stuff that you've learned but maybe just to reconsider how do you put in what I'm talking about tonight.
For example, Mark 11:22 and 23, Mark 11:22 and 23. And I can see this, but I want you to be careful not to go that way with it. Jesus had cursed the fig tree on his way in, and when they came back they saw that the fig tree was withered and they remembered that Jesus said, "No man should eat fruit of this tree hereafter". Because he saw a fig tree afar off and it had leaves on it, and anytime it has leaves on it it should have figs on it. But when he got close to it there were no figs on it, so he says, "Well, no man will eat fruit of thee hereafter". And when they came back approximately 24 hours, the tree had dried up from its roots and the disciples wanted to know, "All right, how did this happen? Tell us how to do this". "And Jesus answering," verse 22, "saith unto them, 'Have faith in God,'" or have complete dependence in God. That's how I look at it now. Have complete dependence in God.
All right, now, there is another translation. I believe it's the Moffatt Translation that says have the God kind of faith, or have the faith of God, or have the faith like God. Okay, so here's the deal and it's like, "Yeah, that's cool". It's like, "Okay. Well, have the faith like God". But then Galatians says that we no longer live by our faith, we live by the faith of Jesus Christ. Now I'm trying to show you got to rightly divide this because here's what it'll do. It goes from having faith in God to, "Wait a minute. I've got the God kind of faith". And then look at verse 23. He says, "For verily I say unto you, 'That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, 'Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea,' and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe those things that he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith.'"
And now all of a sudden you have now kind of crowned yourself as the one that now has this thing to do this. "Oh, now I'm going to say it, and now I'm going to believe it, and now I'm going to bring it to pass". It's like you forgot everything that... nothing happens without you depending on God. Nothing. Yeah, I can say with my mouth and believe in my heart and speak to mountains, but I know that it is only because of my dependence on him and not my dependence on me. I'm trying to make this distinction because I think somewhere in this it kind of gave us a license to start depending on ourselves more than we depend on God and then we spend more time saying, "I speak to this mountain. I speak to this mountain. I believe, I believe, I believe. I speak to this mountain. I speak to this mountain". And I'm thinking, "Whoa, what are you doing"? I've seen people do that. I used to do that. I'm like, "This is the formula now to release my faith".
Does everybody understand? I'm not trying to dog this out. I'm trying to say all of this is true, but you can't forget about the weightier matter here. And so the weightier matter here, if you look at John 15, and hold your place there. I'll go back there in a moment. John 15:5 and 8. I'm just trying to make this one point. The life of faith should not be self-sufficient and performance, based on what you do. It's about who you depend on. And here's what Jesus said; Jesus, the one who just spoke to the fig tree. He says, "I am the vine". He said, "You are the branches". Okay, so that's another issue. We are branches. We don't make no fruit. We just, the fruit just comes through us. You follow what I'm saying? He said, "He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth much fruit; for without me you can do nothing".
So imagine you saying it with your mouth and believing it in your heart, but you don't think you need to be with him. He says you can't do nothing. And I've seen so many Christians fail, leave the church 'cause they did this and nothing happened because they put more emphasis on the mechanics and divorced the essence of the relationship. Did you hear what I just said? Verse 6, "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they're burned". You know what he says? You're not useless. You're doing things without depending on him.
How do we get there? Abraham says, "I depend on God for everything". We say, "I depend on my faith". It's weird now. I ain't trying to start no fight. "If a man abide not in me, he is cast not...he is cast forth", look at the next verse, verse 7, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will. It shall be done unto you". Why? "'Cause you depend on me. And when you open your mouth, you're doing that because you depend on me. And when you believe in your heart, you do that 'cause you're depending on me". And ultimately the mountain being removed and ultimately the fruit that you're bearing comes because you're depending on him. I'm speaking to the mountain depending on God.
I'm believing in my heart depending on God. I'm allowing his Word to come into me and I'm... 'cause I depend on God. He says you can ask what you will and it shall be done unto you because you depend on God when you ask. The bottom line, the foundation of all of the faith release is founded on the foundation of complete dependence on God. If it ever moves from depending on God to depending on you, all right, now watch this. If it ever moves from... Abraham says, "He made the promise. He'll perform it". Now you say, "He made the promise. I'll perform it". You're going to be like these branches in a pile. Verse 8, "Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit". And you know how you glorify God? By depending on him, and when you depend on him you're going to bear much fruit. "So shall you be my disciple".
You see that? Verse 9, here in verse 9 he says, "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love". And that's another thing you can't forget about. My faith resides in the love of God. My faith, I say unto the mountain, "Be thou removed," and believe in my heart because I depend on God and I know this is going to happen because he loves me. You see, all this stuff, all of this is relational. This is not going and try to find the secret formula to how to get paid by Friday. "Why do you keep saying that? Why do you keep going around talking about the Lord going to give me my bag by Friday, the Lord is going to give me my bag by Friday, Lord going to give me my bag by Friday. I believe it, I believe it I believe it, I believe it".
See, that's self-effort. You're performing to try to get something to happen and you're going to be like them branches. You're going to be firewood. Y'all laughing because we have all done that like that. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4:13. I'm just saying all of the stuff that I've read so far is true, but in relationship this has all got to come together. See, you can tell when you're around religious church folks. They want to get you on every turn. "Yeah, but the Bible says this. That can't be right 'cause the Bible say that". You just got out of the water. You dripping water on the carpet and you're trying to correct somebody. Girl, shut up and get to know who Jesus is. Talking about, "The Lord told me". I said, "Well, I asked the Lord did he know you. He said he even ain't know who you are".
I told my grandson that. He said, "The Lord told me to", told him something, and I said, "That's interesting". He said, "What"? I said, "I was praying for you this morning. He said he didn't know who you were". He said, "No, he didn't," and I said, "No, Seriously, he said he had no idea who you are". I said, "You got to get to know him". "Well, he knows the hairs on my head". "No, he know the hair on my head. You ain't getting there on my coattail". "Well, pops, you said all I had to do is get born again". "You're right. Are you"? "Um, kind of". "You ain't getting in". 'Cause when you're saved, you ain't no kind of saved. Amen. Anyway, whatever. All right, watch this. "We have in the same spirit of faith, according as it is written," watch this, "I believed, and therefore I spoke; we also believe, and therefore we speak".
You know the number of people that are speaking but don't even believe what they say? I believe. What do I believe? I believe that God loves me, first of all. What do I believe? I believe that if he made the promise he's able to perform it. Look at the things we got to believe before you go to Mark 11 and start lecturing me on what faith is and how it works. Every one of you will be put in a situation where there's no other choice. You're going to have to fill in the blank, not the multiple choice, and the answer has got to be, "Lord, we depend on you".
So here's how I define faith for us to study. Faith in God is complete dependence upon God. And when you depend on God, it's an emptying of yourself. You empty yourself out. No self-will, no self-confidence, no self-effort. There's got to be something wrong with a life of faith that is full of self, and that's how I judge this. I'm thinking, "Lord, I lived faith in a lot of cases full of me trusting in how many times I could do this a day and trusting in all of the stuff that I could do and so, all the stuff I could say". But this faith life should be empty of self. And if you find that there's self-performance there and self-confidence there and self-will and all those things, you are not living the life of complete dependence upon God. And I can say it this way. You are not living godly 'cause godliness is a life that is empty of self and in total complete submission to him; and that's what we've got to begin to train in, train in our dependence on God.
So faith is more than just trusting God to do things, ask of him. It is trusting him to do whatever he in his infinite wisdom knows to be the best, even if it is a denial of the thing that we ask. That's okay. It's okay that I ask for something and you know, somebody says, "Well, it could be a delay". It could be a delay and it could be a denial, but I'm still going to trust that he knows what is best for me. Dependence upon God's wisdom is as important as depending upon God's power. I depend on God's power to give me what I ask. I depend on God's power to heal me when I ask. I depend on God's power to bring to pass all those things that he's made available. I depend on that. But if it doesn't happen, I depend on his wisdom just as much as I depend on his power. He knows what's best for me.
See, you can't do this without a relationship with him. He knows what's best for me. And so rather than me walking around disappointed. "And I don't want to talk to God. I ain't coming to church no more 'cause he didn't do what I asked". He's not some genie in the lamp. He's supposed to be your heavenly Father, your friend, somebody you have a relationship with. And I'm good with that. I've got myself to a point where I'm like, "Okay, I don't deny it. That doesn't bother me. Delays don't bother me. I trust you. I have to trust that you...there's one thing I know that you can't back off of, and that is your unrestricted infinite love for me. And I know you love me. And if something was denied, I know you love me enough to know that was the best for me. Yeah. If something was delayed, I know you love me enough to make that decision that was best for me".
So I've never really focused in on my confidence and trust in his wisdom. I just mostly did it depending on his power to give me the thing that I needed and I wanted, and now I see this thing, it's so much bigger than what I thought it was. It's this is gigantic life full of all these different pieces and God's like the master overseer of all of it, and he knows exactly where I need to be so that I can have impact in the call and the anointing that he put on my life for it to have. So I trust that. I'm good with that.