CO-LABOURING WITH GOD

Recently I had been thinking about this notion about co-labouring with God. I was trying to distinguish between what blessings (like our salvation, deliverance and healing) coming to us freely because of the finished work in Christ and what blessings we need to co-labour with God. I believe God is making it more clear to me in the last few years.  

Now it occurred to me that there are things we have to co-labour with God. You may have heard this saying: without God we cannot, without us He will not. I believe one of the things we have to cooperate with Him is in the area of our divine destiny. This isn’t something that will just drop unto our laps by chance. Do you know why?

 

It is because the enemy will work overtime to stop you from walking in your calling. He will put up a fight. He will try relentlessly to take you out or make you ineffective. The enemy is fighting against the timing of God and the manifestation of His promises in your life. The enemy is terrified of you stepping into that territory and the realm of increase. That is why some people lose faith in prophetic words. They think that once the word is given, things will just fall into place. 

 

What they don’t know is that there is usually a season of contending for the prophecy. They have to war against the enemy’s opposition and stand their ground. Fight the good fight of faith. So the next question is why does God allow such a time of testing and contending? Why can’t He just deliver us from the enemy instead of letting us face the giants? Why can’t He just wipe out the giants at a snap of His finger?

 

Well, just like He told the Israelites that the land had already been given to them but they still had to physically take it. God didn’t remove all the giants at once. Instead He was teaching them to rely on Him every step of the way as He guided them in combat strategy to take the land. Unlike the deliverance from Egypt, where God knew the children of Israel would not have the power to stand up against their Egyptian taskmasters. 

 

Hence He performed mighty works to deliver them and destroyed the Egyptian armies in the Red Sea. Yet that wasn’t His best for them. He needed His people to grow strong. Even if He killed all the giants in the promised land, there would still be wild animals that the children of Israel had to contend with. He had to cause them to take the land little by little because the population of the Israelites wasn’t populous enough to occupy all the land.

 

You see, that is why the Lord had to build our faith little by little in order to grow us to the level of maturity to take our own promised land. Because if our character wasn’t strong enough, the success might only be temporary. We might take the land only to have it stolen by the enemy again. In the book of Joshua, it said that when the Israelites took the land but didn’t occupy it, very soon the giants came back to dwell on it like Mount Hebron. 

 

I have learnt that though this earth belongs to God, the title deed was given to the enemy because of Adam’s high treason. Adam gave over the right of this earth to Satan. But thank God that Jesus took it back for us. Yet in the natural there are portions of this world that still belonged to Satan’s dominion so we have to cooperate with Christ to take it back. So even though we already have an inheritance in Christ, we still need to co-labour with God to take back that inheritance. There is still a part for us to do. 

 

Well then some may ask: isn’t it all a finished work at the cross? Why then do we still have to play a part? Isn’t that considered works? Not that isn’t works or our flesh. That is the part about working out our salvation in Christ. (Philippians 2:12) We are not working for our salvation but working it out. Just like all authority has been given to us by Jesus but how many of us are walking in that authority? How many of us are exercising that dominion? 

 

The grace of God is not passive. It isn’t us sitting there doing nothing. It is us actively obeying and working hand in hand to establish His kingdom on earth. To see His will being done on earth as it is in heaven. Some people may say: Well, I am not cut out to be a soldier. I cannot fight. I am not combat ready. I am a civilian. Well, let me tell you this. You will have to learn to fight whether you like it or not. 

 

The enemy would not let you off even if you are not a soldier. He hates you because you are a child of God. As long as he can see the threat of your calling or destiny in Christ, he will take you out before you get to walk in that calling. And everyone of us has a calling, be it big or small. Everyone of us has a part to play in the body of Christ. So I exhort you to go and ask God to show your role in the body of Christ. 

 

So why it is so necessary for God to train you to a place of overcoming faith? Why is that so important? Because once you obtain victory in this area where you had been constantly bullied, God will bring you on to greater exploits in His kingdom. You can then show others how to obtain victory in the area of their bondage. You will have a breaker anointing. He is doing a hidden work of refining your faith which is far more precious than gold. 

 

Like how God has proven me time and again that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. All I had to do is to cooperate with His Spirit and success is guaranteed. God is patient with me...He can take as long as is required for this work to be completed in my life. This is more crucial than the manifestation of the promise because then I would be truly set free from the age old strongholds.