Doing God’s Work by His Power (not our power) and For His Glory (not our glory)

In working for God and in doing anything for God’s interest on earth we need to allow God to be the initiator, we need to work by His power, and all the glory needs to be His.

Even when God initiates something and we join in to work together with Him, our work and the advance of the work must be by His power and strength. Don’t use “your own money”, your own zeal and strength, but use God’s money in God’s kingdom – do everything in His strength and power.

May we really see that God doesn’t just want to get things done so that He may accomplish something – He cares for the initiation of the work, the means of the work, and the goal of the work.

If we try like Abraham to “help God with our own strength”, we may lose His presence and His blessing, and the result will be death. The goal of our work must be spiritual – for God’s glory, not for our own glory, so that we may not boast before God or man (1 Cor. 1:29).

God doesn’t share His glory with anyone – His alone is the glory.

If we try to get some glory and appreciation for ourselves in God’s work, or if we work by our own strength and without the Lord, we will commit the iniquity of the sanctuary, something which offends God to the uttermost.

Lord, continue to shine on us that we may be exposed of our natural strength and efforts to work for You. Lord, cause us to turn to You and be one with You that we may work by Your strength and in Your power. Lord, may You gain all the glory in anything we do for You. Glory to God, and no glory to any man!

Carrying Out God’s Work by His Power

We may know God’s will and His desire to build up the church, and in our heart we want to help God to do this – but do we work for God in His power or by our natural strength and zeal?

Abraham received God’s promise that he will have a son, but he wanted to help God out and get a son sooner, so he had Hagar as his wife and had a son through her. God wanted Abraham to wait for His time and His way, but Abraham used his natural strength to fulfill God’s purpose “earlier”.

This resulted in Ishmael, who is the father of all the Arabic nations, who for no reason all throughout the ages have hated Israel and have been a thorn in their side. Also, God didn’t appear to Abraham for 13 years (see Gen. 16:15 – 17:1)!

When we use our own strength, capacity, zeal, or power to do the work of the Lord, not waiting for His timing and in His way, the Lord rejects our work and our way.

Even after we know God’s will, there is still the danger that we will try to carry it out by our own power, opinions, ideas, charisma, eloquence, or ability.

The end result does not justify the means. The goal must be spiritual, but the method and the means by which we reach God’s goal must also be spiritual – otherwise, we will commit the iniquity of the sanctuary by bringing the flesh, our natural endeavors, into God’s sanctuary (Num. 18:7).

We may see the need in the church life for this and that service to be done, and for many needs to be met – so we may right away jump into it and try to meet the need. But what if we would come to the Lord and ask Him,

Lord, what is Your timing, Your way, and Your means? Lord, I don’t want to initiate anything without You, and I don’t want to do anything according to my capacity. May my work for You be approved by You and pleasing to You. Lord, I open to You to do things one with You!

The Result of God’s Work is for God’s Glory

When we start working for God in a certain area, we may realize we are unable to do it and we really pray and depend on the Lord. This will result many times in successfully accomplishing something for the Lord, due to our dependence on Him moment by moment.

We may be very poor, weak, and unable when we start, but as soon as we render some help to some saints or bring some to salvation, we may begin to steal some of God’s glory. It is so easy to simply take some of God’s glory for yourself…

But God does not wish to see us getting the glory – He doesn’t share the glory with anyone, He alone has the glory! We can only enter into the Lord’s glory, but we cannot steal it to be our own.

This is why God chooses the weak ones, the seemingly foolish ones, the ones despised by the world, so that He may accomplish His work through them. It is so that no flesh may boast before God (1 Cor. 1:29). The weak ones don’t even dare to ask for glory.

As we do something for the Lord and He blesses it, we may steal God’s glory – and this is to commit the iniquity of the sanctuary.

God is willing to give us all the riches of His being, and He gives us even His Son – but He would never give us His glory, and stealing God’s glory is committing the iniquity of the sanctuary.

God Rejects and Resists the Proud

The more spiritual knowledge and experience we have, the more we are prone to be proud. It is not our failures or weaknesses that bring us down in our work for God but it is rather our success that can carry us away.

When we commit a failure or a mistake, this causes us to go the Lord and humble ourselves, and eventually He recovers us. But if you do something for the Lord and there is a success, you can become proud and this will disqualify you and destroy your usefulness.

We need to be more afraid of our success than of our failures. This doesn’t mean we need to seek to fail, but we need to tell the Lord honestly, Lord, I don’t want that my success would be the means for Satan to come in and have room in my heart!

God rejects the proud (doesn’t want to be associated with one and He doesn’t approve them, see 1 Sam. 15:23) and He resists the proud (Satan is the proud one, see 1 Pet. 5:5 and James 4:6-7).

There is nothing that is more abominable in God’s eyes and more evil in His work than pride. Satan is the proud one, and everyone who is proud is under Satan’s deception.

No matter how high the sacrifice is, if we are proud and self-confident in the Lord’s work we are disproved by Him and disqualified from working with God. Saul the king was rejected by God because of his pride, self-confidence, and disobedience to God because of pride.

We need the Lord’s mercy that He may shine on us and deliver us from pride and from desiring to have glory for ourselves from working for God!

This is a Serious Matter

Brother Nee speaks in a particular place concerning the iniquity of the sanctuary, and he concludes with,

Many sins offend God indirectly, but the iniquity of the sanctuary is a direct offense against God. This is because the sanctuary belongs to God and the iniquity of the sanctuary is an infringement on God’s glory and on God Himself. This is a very serious matter; I can only speak of it under the precious blood. I ask for the Lord’s forgiveness, and I also ask for the brothers’ forgiveness (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 42, page 366).

In our work for the Lord it is very serious to be proud, to be ambitious, or to seek for self-glorification. God is jealous for His sanctuary, and He doesn’t tolerate iniquities against His holiness.

He wants all the glory, and actually all the glory is His – we have nothing of ourselves unless He gave it to us.

May the Lord save us from any pride, any self-glorification, and any ambition, that He may gain all the glory as we work with Him and for Him!

Lord, have mercy on us. Forgive us, Lord, for doing things for You in our own strength and power. Cause us to pay attention to the source, the means, and the goal of our work for You. Lord, save us from pride. Shine on us and eradicate the desire to have glory and the pride from us. Lord, keep us one with You. We want to work by Your power and in Your strength for Your glory! May all glory be Yours!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from brother James Lee’s sharing in the message and portions in, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee (vol. 42, pp. 362-366), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Unique Work in the Lord’s Recovery, week 5 (entitled, The Iniquity of the Sanctuary versus Building with Gold, Silver, and Precious Stones).
• Hymns on this topic,
  # Glory be to God the Father, / And to Christ the Son, / Glory to the Holy Spirit— / Ever One.
  # Lord, transform us to Thine image / In emotion, mind, and will; / Saturate us with Thy Spirit, / All our being wholly fill.
  # Our work of faith must grow exceedingly, / The labor of our love increase abundantly, / His sanctifying work in us go on and on, / While in patience of hope we will watch till He come.