We Labor With All of His Strength

While talking with a friend the other night and doing some prayer-counseling, we got completely off-topic and began to discuss something I think people often mistake and/or misunderstand—the issue of co-laboring with God to do Kingdom work on the earth. There is this concern that some people have that if we say we are healing the sick or performing miracles than we are taking credit or stealing glory from God, which then bleeds into this false-humility thing where the moment God does something through us we start denying any involvement and weirdly start repeating an “It’s only Jesus, not me” mantra that comes off quite disingenuously. In reality, co-laboring is as it sounds—a partnering together with one another.

The Apostle Paul seemed to be acquainted with this issue to at least a small degree, and I think he did a good job of expressing how this works in Colossians 1:28-29 where he said, “He [Jesus] is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” Another way it is translated is “I labor with all of His strength.” Partnering with God is all about us stepping out in faith to do the works He commanded us to do, but relying on His power, grace, and strength to complete that work, not our own.

I think we need to get a few facts clear. First, if we do not pray for the sick, the sick do not get healed. Second, if we do pray for the sick and they get healed, it was because we prayed for them. And third, when they get healed it was not because of any power we possess outside of the Spirit of God within us, but was the power of God flowing through us to make that healing occur. Thus, it is accurate when healing or performing miracles to say that both “I healed so and so” and “God healed so and so.” It would be most accurate to say “God healed so and so through me” or “God and I healed so and so,” but a lot of people seem to really struggle with this issue as though it weren’t true that our involvement played a huge part.

Signs, wonders, miracles, healings, and the like rarely happen without us, and they also don’t happen without Him. If we claim it had nothing to do with us then we aren’t being humble because it isn’t true—we are displaying false humility. If we act like we did it all on our own then we are displaying pride. Neither is healthy and both are lies, but in the bid to avoid pride, we tend toward false humility, as though one error is better than the other. Both are equally false.

The Bible has much to say about us growing up to become mature sons and daughters of God who are faithful with all that God has given us and who know how to rightly use the power and authority God has granted us (I cover the subject of power and authority as mature sons in my book Faith To Raise The Dead). When Jesus walked the earth doing ministry, He sent his disciples out in pairs (Matthew 10, Luke 10), giving them both power and authority to perform the works He had commanded them to do. When they came back excited about it, Jesus didn’t even tell them they were wrong—He simply told them there was a higher benefit they should be pleased about over and above performing miracles and casting out demons.

In the same way that Jesus reminded the disciples there is a higher benefit and gave them a mental reset after they performed wonders in His name, I think we need our own mental re-set. God is looking for those who will be faithful to co-labor with Him! God is looking for those who grow into maturity and can rightly discern what God is doing in a situation and co-labor with him in it! God is looking . . . for you!

I believe it is time we stopped living in fear that we are going to upset someone. There is far less risk of us stealing God’s glory (which has always been His anyway, and it’s not like Satan has succeeded in his attempts yet either) than there is of us living small because we are afraid we will either offend God by partnering with Him or offend people with religious mindsets when they see us doing it. We have been given the divine commission to do the good works that, get this, God has already prepared in advance for us to do!! That doesn’t sound like someone who is concerned about glory at all!! Let’s develop right mindsets about how this works so we can continue to labor to an even greater degree with all of God’s mighty power and strength to the glory of Jesus Christ!