Jesus had a secret, and He’s trying to teach it to me. Like everything about Him, it’s an Open Secret. He’s not trying to hide it from anyone. It’s as plain as can be in the Word of God.
“So Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” -John 5:19
If Jesus heard the Father saying something, He said it. If He saw the Father doing something, He did it. He never did anything just because it was a good idea. He never acted out of His own initiative.
If the Father was silent, Jesus would not open His mouth. Period.
Jesus did what He did, in each specific situation, because He was listening and watching His Father in Heaven. What He heard the Father saying, and what He saw the Father doing, is exactly what He did-nothing more and nothing less.
From what I can tell, He wants me to be just like that. He’s basically saying, “Now go, and do likewise.”
Opening my mouth to talk
“For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.” -John 12:49
Jesus didn’t even talk unless the Father told Him to!
Think about that!
Keeping my mouth shut when He wants it shut, opening it when He wants it open, saying what He wants me to say- but only in the way that He wants me to say it– this is the kind of stuff He’s been teaching me.
It’s not just my mouth He’s concerned with either. He’s even telling me what to do with my hands! He’s told me to lay hands on some people, and He’s told me not to with others.
Here’s where the testing comes- when Jesus starts telling me to say and do stuff, (or not to say or do something) do I obey?
Or do I just do what I think is right in my own eyes?
I must be a slow learner, because Jesus has been teaching me the same lesson, in multiple ways, for the last couple years!
The new way is not like the old way
You can’t read the Word of God without realizing that Jesus wasn’t stuck in a rut. He didn’t use a method, or a pattern. He wasn’t pushing mud in every blind man’s eyes. He told some people to repent, and other people He said nothing of the sort. He was very gentle with some, and very severe with others. What He said, and what He did, varied greatly. He wasn’t making wine at everyone’s wedding. Just because He did that miracle once didn’t mean He showed up at everyone’s wedding making free wine out of water!
The point is, the reason Jesus did things differently on different occasions was because He only said and did what He saw the Father doing. He wasn’t operating out of a religious mindset
Just because God did a certain thing in the past, does not mean He is going to do it the same way in the future.
What God is trying to teach His people is dependence.
Jesus was dependent upon his Father for every single thing He did.
Remember what He said about Himself?
“The Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it.” -John 5:19
Not only did Jesus say that about Himself, but He says it about me.
“Apart from me you can do nothing.” -John 15:5
If I go up to a blind person and put mud in their eyes, guess what’s going to happen?
NOTHING.
They’re not going to be healed, they’re just going to be standing there with mud in their eyes!
If Jesus would have put mud in somebody’s eyes and the Father didn’t tell Him to do it, guess what would have happened?
NOTHING.
They would have remained blind with mud dripping out of their eyes!
Now, if the Father, tells you, me, Jesus, or somebody else to put mud in a blind person’s eyes so they can be healed, guess what’s going to happen?
They’re going to be healed because the Father said to do it!
It’s really that simple. Jesus could do nothing apart from the Father, and we can do nothing apart from Jesus.
If Jesus depended on the Father for everything He did, who are we to think that we don’t have to?
Depending on God means we don’t act out of our own initiative, ideas, or plans. It means we have to listen to His voice and stay close to Him. It means letting go of the religious ideas that float around in the community of people we run around with, and deciding at all costs we’re going to be obedient to Jesus.
Some people have the idea they can do whatever they want to and expect God to respond.
Even Jesus did not operate that way!
His success in ministering to others was based on the fact that He listened to what the Father was telling Him to do, He wasn’t out there blazing His own path. He was the very Son of God but He submitted Himself to the Father.
Jesus didn’t learn how to heal, prophesy, or anything else. He didn’t go to school for it. He didn’t attend a seminar. He spent time listening to His Father on a moment by moment basis and was completely obedient to everything His Father told Him to do- that was His secret!
It’s also the secret of great men and women of God throughout the pages of scripture.
“David inquired of the LORD” -1 Samuel 30:8
Inquiring of the LORD was something that marked the life of David. If you look at the life of King Saul, and you look at the life of David, the great contrast is Saul did what was right in his own eyes and disobeyed the Lord, but David had a habit of inquiring of the Lord and obeying Him.
“David inquired of the LORD- “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?” “Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.” -1 Samuel 30:8
Success comes, not by doing our own thing, but in doing the will of God.
God doesn’t want me acting out of myself or my own ability. It’s only when I realize that I can do nothing apart from Him that I’m poised to actually be used by the Lord.
The fact that I can do nothing apart from Jesus, drives me into an intimate relationship of dependency upon Him, and that’s exactly where God wants me.