Compelled by…
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘You shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he shall let them go, and under compulsion he shall drive them out of his land.’”-Exodus 6:1
As human beings much of what we do is for someone else. We do a lot of things because we are forced to do them. We are under compulsion; we feel a certain amount of pressure. All the way from our childhood until we go in the grave we do things because we are forced to do them. The pressure that we feel to act in a certain way is not always negative. Parents do things to help their children out of compulsion, but that compulsion is because of the love they have for their children. Being compelled to do stuff can be a very good thing! In fact without pressure, whether it is internal or external pressure, nothing would ever get done.
Pharaoh felt compelled, he was under pressure, to do something that was totally against his nature. The Israelites had been in Egyptian bondage for 400 years, so his nature told him that he should keep them as slaves, but the pressure that he felt, contrary to his nature, told him to let them go. We are all compelled, at times, to do things that are contrary to our nature. It is contrary to our nature as human beings to let God control us, but we must do it if we are ever going to please Him. We cannot by our natural selves be pleasing to Him. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him…” Unless we have the faith that only He can give us we cannot satisfy His demands. There is nothing in our nature that can meet His requirements.
Letting go of ourselves, and surrendering all to Him is not a natural thing. Surrendering is not a natural thing to do because when we surrender we are saying that we are not good enough in ourselves to meet the demands that have been put on us. In Acts chapter 3 we read that a beggar came to the Apostle Peter, and was begging for money. Peter was unable to meet the man’s request because he did not have any money, but because Peter surrendered to God he was able to tell the man, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene-walk.” (Acts 3:6) Do you suppose this man who was a lame beggar would have preferred a few dollars over the ability to walk! HARDLY!!
As human beings, It is only natural for us to act like we’re all that and a bag of chips, but our natural self can never satisfy God. We must admit that we can do nothing without Him. Now, I’m not saying that we must degrade ourselves before Him, but we must admit that all power we have and everything that is good in us comes from Him. The Apostle Paul echoed these words in his letter to the church at Corinth. In II Corinthians 12:10 Paul writes, “Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses … for when I am weak then I am strong.” Praise God Paul was saying, No, I’m not perfect; I have faults, but through God I am an over comer. Romans 8:37 says, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” It’s not natural for us to say that we are weak, but our nature can never satisfy God!
Submitting has gotten a bad rap in recent times. Submitting is seen be most as an admission of weakness, but submitting unlike surrendering is not our admission that we cannot do something submitting is simply an admission that He can do it better. Jesus Christ gave us the eternal example of submitting when He said, “…yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:39) Jesus did not want the cross, but He submitted to the Father because He knew that God’s plan was best.
We should remember that, and when we have a choice before us we should be compelled by our love for Him to let go of ourselves, admit that we are too weak without Him; and submit our lives to His perfect plan.
Father, I thank You for loving me, and I ask that You always help me to remember that I should always follow Your compelling Spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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Yes, You Can Ministry 