By "anything," they mean the act of submitting to God and resisting the devil, or doing God's will and refusing the devil's. This is an attempt in humility, according to Jesus' words, "Abide in me, and I in you. .. Apart from me you can do nothing." (See John 15)
The impression I've always gotten from this concept is that a miraculous power has to come over me, enable me to want to do God's will, and then make me do it. So if I was tempted by sin, I should pray, quote scriptures, and wait for "the power." According to those who hold such a belief, I should pray something like this, "I can't do it. God, do it through me." I should "let go and let God." After all, "it's not about trying, it's about trusting." And so the cliches go.
I understand the desire of those who believe this, having been one who was taught the same, and one who practiced "letting go and letting God." I know the desire to abide in Christ, to stay connected to Him in total dependence and total surrender, seeking His power. But there are two problems with this belief:
1. A Deception. The power never happened when I would wait for it to hit me. No matter how many prayers I prayed or scriptures I quoted, God never made me want to obey Him, and He never made me obey Him. No feeling came. No internal motivation to resist sin came. No internal supernatural ability came to say "no" to Satan and sin, and "yes" to God.
2. The reason is that God is not Satan or a demon. He does not partake in possession or domination in the ways of Satan and demons. With God there is the cooperation of free will submission.
Understand these two truths:
God does not do for us what He has given us the ability, responsibility, and authority to do.
God does not require of us what He does not give us the ability, responsibility, and authority to do.
For example, in Judges 6:11-14, when God called Gideon to save Israel from the Midians, the LORD said to Gideon, "Go in the strength that you have and save Israel from the Midanites. Am I not sending you?"
What is the difference between Gideon "going in the strength that he has" and "going in his own strength," according to the present day cliche? Nothing. These are two ways of saying the same thing. And it is actually very encouraging for God to say this to Gideon. It shows that all Gideon has to do is be as strong as he presently is at that moment. No more strength is required of him than what he has. I believe this is what happened in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and what happens today with God's children in their God given missions. We see this with Adam, Abraham, and Moses in the Old Testament. We see this with Jesus in relationship to His disciples. We'll discuss this in the coming blogs....
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