Zechariah 4:6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.
This is such a well-known and quoted verse and yet I find myself asking the question “Do we REALLY understand its meaning?” God was trying to show Zerubbabel that all he needed to do was to Trust, Believe and move forward on the given instructions. The Lord Himself will see to it that all works out according to plan.
In the New Testament we have a phrase for this kind of God/Man working relationship, and that phrase would be “By Grace through Faith”. The Grace of God is everything that “HAS” been completed on the cross and Faith is my trusting, believing that it is already done and acting upon it as if this is so. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Well, as simple as it sounds, it is still one of the greatest challenges that we can face. That challenge is to not do God’s part and stick to the part given us. You see in reality everything has already been done, God has already done everything that He is going to do and it is now time for us to believe that it is done and act on it as if it is so. If we could only understand the completed work of Christ, then we would start to see as He sees and the completed would start to manifest.
I have found this true in my own journey, for years I tried to build people into men and women of God. My motives were pure and my heart was steadfast yet many times I found myself frustrated with the results. I had forgotten that it is His work and not my work and that He is the one that transforms the hearts of men. You see as a pastor and as a leader it is my job to oversee and guide people to that reality, it is the job of the Holy Spirit to reveal the reality to the individual. Thankfully I am able to learn and change, the result being that as I take my hands off the situations, I find the Hand of God on the situations and people grow, people change. If I will focus on believing in the finished work and help others to see that finished work then we together can experience that finished work.
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