We underestimate what God wants to do through us

Dann Spader March 7, 2019

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The beauty of Christ’s life is that He modeled how to live life in total dependence upon the Father. Jesus showed us how to live as humans: fully dependent, fully obedient, fully reliant upon the Word of God, Spirit of God and prayer. 

Ian Thomas, founder of Torchbearers International, used to say, “Jesus was man as God intended man to be.” Sure, Jesus was sinless and we are sinful. But as we mature, we should sin less. When in doubt, don’t ask WWJD (what would Jesus do). First study to see WDJD (what did Jesus do). Jesus showed us how to live in a sin-soaked world, and He did it perfectly. Our ultimate goal is to become like Him in every thought and deed.

Jesus is my model for life and ministry. He is alive and wants to lead us today! He leads us through the very model of His life written in His Word, the power of His resurrected life interceding for us and the very presence of His Holy Spirit indwelling us. Because of this resurrected power and His indwelling presence, we tend to underestimate what God wants to do through us.

On seven different occasions Jesus rebuked His disciples for their lack of faith (Matthew 6:30; 8:26; 13:58; 14:31; 16:8; 17:20; Mark 16:14). Twice He challenged them saying, “Are you still so dull?” (Matthew 15:16).

In Matthew 17, a man brings to Jesus his demon-possessed son. The man says that he had asked the disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not. Jesus, with grief in His heart, said: “You unbelieving and perverse generation … how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” …

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (vv. 17, 19–20)

I personally believe that the greatest grief we bring to the heart of Jesus is our lack of faith in what He wants to do in and then through us. We underestimate what God wants to do!

In the upper room on the night before He was crucified, Jesus’ last words to His disciples were peppered with a simple command: “ask.” Six different times Jesus tells His disciples to simply “ask” (John 14:13, 14, 16; 15:16; 16:23, 24)! We so often underestimate what God wants to do through us. And because of this, we look at the mission of Jesus as beyond our ability. 

This is a mistake. Grasping the greatness of the command to simply “ask,” we can now approach the mission Jesus has given us with great joy and anticipation, because we know now, like Jesus in His humanity, that the power is not within us, but within the resources that He has made available to us!

Empowered with these resources, we are ready to embark on His mission, motivated by His love, to make disciples according to His model.

This post is excerpted from 4 Chair Discipling © 2019 by Dann Spader. Used by permission from Moody Publishers.

Photo source: istock 

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Dann Spader has dedicated his life to disciple-making and teaching others how to take someone from a seeker to a reproducing disciple themselves, all by following the pattern Jesus laid out for us in scripture. More than 750,000 people in 90 plus countries have been trained to make disciples emulating the life of Christ through organizations and initiatives he has led. He is the Founder of Sonlife Ministries and currently serves as Founder and President of Global Youth Initiative (an alliance of organizations in 95 countries committed to "equipping leaders for movements of multiplication”). Learn More »

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