Becoming as a Child

If we put our trust in man we will fail. I have said for a while that I didn’t believe God would give us the victory over our enemies without us first being weak for God's power is made perfect through weakness. He wants us to put our trust in Him as a little child so He can show His power to the World to save us from this beast. He is showing us our inability to save ourselves so we can receive this salvation by grace and not by men’s power. Little David refused Saul’s armor and weapon to fight with Goliath because he had not proved them. He killed the lion and bear by the power of God not men. Goliath had all the weapons of man. David said, ‘You come to me with a sword and a spear but I come to you in the name of the Lord.’ I would, that our leaders in the physical world would proclaim His name before the enemy.

David chose 5 smooth stones but used only one to take down Goliath. The senses are these stones that were polished in the water of God’s Word. David chose a stone which he sent on ahead to take down Goliath. In the New Testament we find that Jesus is the rock which the builder rejected. The stone that followed the Israelites was Jesus. When does His power come like this to a little child? The child is weak but trusts in his father. It is our faith that counts, the world and the worldly Church doesn’t have any. Their faith is in President Trump but He needs our childlike faith for His power.

The thing about grownups is they’re self-confident, self-sufficient, self-dependent. All of those traits the world thinks of as being positive, but in the Kingdom they’re not considered that way by God. The Lord says the only way you can enter into the Kingdom is to be a child. Jesus said, “suffer the little children to come unto me; forbid them not: for to such belongeth the kingdom of God (Mar.10:14). Forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God, is what it said in the original. Of such is the kingdom of God. (15) Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein. (16) And he took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands upon them.” We each need to become as a child so we can walk with the Lord.

We’re entering into the Kingdom here on earth and in reality, the Kingdom is every place in your life. The kingdom of God is within you (Luk.17:21), Jesus said. The Kingdom is every place in your life where God is able to rule. God is not able to rule until you’re in agreement with Him. To be a child is to be confident in your Father, not self-confident. It’s to be dependent upon your Father, not self-dependent. This is valuable to God. As He said, “my righteous one shall live by (“from” in the Numeric) faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him” (Heb.10:38).

What pleases God is that we live from faith, not in our self-confidence, or our self-sufficiency, or our own ability, or the strength of the arm of the flesh, but that we put our trust in God and walk with Him like a little child walks with his father. We must give up being grownups. We must become as children in the Kingdom in order for God to be able to rule everywhere in our lives. (Mat.18:1) In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? (2) And he called to him a little child, and set him in the midst of them, (3) and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. And these were His disciples that He was telling this to.

These were not the lost Pharisees; these were the disciples of Jesus who were learning and following Him. He said you will not enter in unless you turn and become as little children. The process of the Christian life is turning and becoming as little children and becoming God-dependent, God-sufficient and God-confident. (Mat.18:4) Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (5) And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. You see, Jesus was a little child. That’s Who He was. He says, if you receive one of these little children, you receive Me. I.e. That’s somebody who’s in My likeness; you receive Me. He was a child. He really was. He wasn’t a grownup in the ways of the world, in the ways of confidence in the world, the strength of the world.

Grownups are known for making their own way, making their own living, being self-sufficient, being great providers, but the Lord wants to wash all that out of us. He wants us to put all of our confidence and our trust in Him and become as little children. If you receive one such little child, you receive Jesus. He was confident in His Father. I’ll tell you, the best way we can help ourselves is by walking by faith in God’s Word. You’ve probably heard the old saying that, “God helps those who help themselves,” but that’s not found in the Bible. That saying is credited to Benjamin Franklin in his Poor Richard’s Almanac.

No, the best way to help yourself is walking in faith in God’s Word. (Rom.14:22) The faith which thou hast, have thou to thyself before God… You can help yourself to everything that God has for you through faith in His Word. (Luk.10:21) In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: yea, Father; for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight. So, the disciples had just come back from being sent out by the Lord to take authority over the works of the devil. They came back rejoicing that God had given them authority over the power of the devil and that they had done the works of Jesus, and they saw that the spirits were subject unto them. Jesus called them babes because it’s babes who received this revelation of the authority of Jesus and this revelation of how to use the authority of Jesus.

Let’s back up a little in this chapter. (Luk.10:3) Go your ways; behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves. (4) Carry no purse, no wallet, no shoes; and salute no man on the way. So, they were babes because Jesus sent them out totally dependent upon the Lord. (5) And into whatsoever house ye shall enter, first say, Peace [be] to this house. (6) And if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall turn to you again. He said, “salute no man on the way” because you really don’t know people but you find out later who people are. We’re going to find out before the end of the tribulation who people really are and who His children are. God sent these disciples out as children, as totally dependent upon the Lord, not self-sufficient, not able to take care of themselves. He deliberately took away their ability to take care of themselves when He sent them by not letting them take any kind of insurance with them.

The only thing they took was His assurance because He said, “the laborer is worthy of his hire” (Luk.10:7), meaning, if you just go, God will always pay His workers. You don’t have to worry about it. God is that way. He wants us to go without our own sufficiency or our own insurance so that we can see His provision on the way. I really truthfully believe that Jesus never changed this way of sending out people. Many times, if God says, “Go,” you may go. It doesn’t matter if you have the wherewithal to do this. If God says, “Go,” you may go. He will never fail you. He will meet you on the way. He’s done it many, many times with me when He said, “Go,” and I’ve noticed, “But, God, I don’t have this” or “I don’t have gas” or “I don’t have money.” But God doesn’t take “no” for an answer. If He says, “Go,” you can go because He will be there.

He’ll put gas in your car. He’s done it to me several times. Or He’ll make it run without gas. He’s done that, too. Or He’ll put money in your pocket somehow or another. He’ll do it. Or He’ll make your money stretch. He can surely multiply it. He can do all things. He’ll have you meet-up with people whom He has put there specifically to supply your needs, if you go by faith and be obedient to Him. If you go as a child, just trusting in your Father. In America, Christians seem grown-up and have insulated themselves against anything that could happen, as though they don’t believe in a sovereign God. The Bible says, “A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven” (Joh.3:27). God, Who is Sovereign, will make sure that He blesses you, if you go by faith in Him.

Believe me, the time is coming when everybody is going to have to go by faith in God because He’s going to take away all the things that people have insured and insulated themselves with from the things that might happen in the world. But God never goes to sleep. He’s never fallen off the throne. He’s there always. He is going to make sure that His Word comes true. And we can be just like little children. We can cast ourselves on His mercy. Children never even think about where the next meal is going to come from; they just know that it’s Momma and Daddy’s responsibility; they’ll take care of that. And you know, that’s the way God is with us. He wants that kind of relationship with us. God’s not happy with anything less. (Heb.10:38) My righteous one shall live from faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him.

God doesn’t have pleasure in self-sufficient people. He has pleasure in people who walk by faith, talk by faith, live by faith. And it is a pleasure to live by faith. I don’t yet know all of what living by faith is; God’s only shown me the little parts that He’s shown me, but I would love to live by faith in every direction. Some directions I’ve never even thought about and other people will come and say, “Oh, did you try this?” For example, a sister in the Lord once told me that she and some other people just picked up some instruments and started playing them by faith and pretty soon they got better and better at it. They were surprised at how God blessed them. Well, that led us to pray over our children, Nathan and Jennifer, by faith, and God answered that prayer. I tell you, it was just the very next week after that when they started playing music, picking it up quite naturally, by ear.

There is nothing that God can’t do and won’t do for those who put their trust in Him. I believe this is the reason that He said He revealed these things unto babes. God reveals the authority of God and the power of His name to people who will become children, people who will cast care to the wind and put themselves in His Hands, just trusting in Him, believing in Him. (Eph.3:20) God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. God loves it when we are weak but we don’t see it that way. But as I said, we do our best to insulate ourselves from any possible mishap, but that doesn’t please God when we put our trust in the gods of this world to save us.

The apostle Paul learned that lesson. He was caught up to paradise and he said, “On behalf of such a one (the man who was caught up to paradise) will I glory: but on mine own behalf I will not glory, save in my weaknesses” (2Co.12:5). The King James Version translates that word “weaknesses” there as “infirmities” because they had the idea that the apostle Paul had some kind of sickness or infirmities, but a closer look at this reveals that’s not the case at all. Those translators believed the apostle Paul had an eye disease or something like that and that God said, “my grace is sufficient for thee” (2Co.12:9), meaning, “You just keep that because you need to overcome that; or you need that to humble you.” But obviously that would be contrary to a lot of rest of the Word. The Bible says, “by whose stripes ye were healed” (1Pe.2:24). So we were healed all the time.

Let’s read on. (2Co.12:6) For if I should desire to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I shall speak the truth: but I forebear, lest any man should account of me above that which he seeth me [to be,] or heareth from me. (7) And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch. So he said “thorn in the flesh” was a messenger of Satan, an angelos. The Greek word there is angelos, which is translated 181 times in the New Testament as “angel” and the other few times as “messenger,” but it means the same thing. Here was an angel of Satan that was sent to buffet Paul so that he wouldn’t be proud.

By the way, to “buffet” is not just one blow. It means to beat over and over and over. It’s many blows. But a thorn in the flesh, in this case, was an angel of Satan that was sent to buffet Paul. In the Old Testament, for every verse that talks about a thorn in the flesh, never, not once, is it ever a sickness. It was always referring to the enemies of God’s people that came against them and in this case it’s the same thing. An angel of Satan was sent to buffet Paul so he wouldn’t “be exalted overmuch.” (2Co.12:8) Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. (9) And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for [my] power is made perfect in weakness. The King James here has that this word is “weakness,” but this word and the word up in verse five are the same Greek word, so one of them can’t be “infirmity” and the other one “weakness.”

They have to both be the same thing and they are because they’re using the same Greek word in talking about Jesus, the Bible says, “for he was crucified through weakness” (2Co.13:4). Now, nobody would have put “infirmity” there. Jesus wasn’t crucified through infirmity, so they had to put the truth there and the King James did use “weakness” in that case. (4) For he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him through the power of God toward you. See, when you are weak in Christ, or be a child in Christ, you’re going to live through the power of God. It’s when you are not able; being weak in ability to save yourself, weak in ability to deliver yourself, weak in ability to heal yourself. He says when you’re in that condition, then God’s power is going to be with you.

If we will refuse to be strong and we will put our trust in God, we will see His power there every time. It reminds me of a vision I had years ago, in which Mary and I were sitting in some lawn chairs in front of our house in Louisiana. While we were sitting there, we saw this power line hanging from pole to pole. The strange thing about it, as we were looking at this and studying this, was that the power line was almost touching the ground in the middle because it was sagging so bad. And while we were watching that, a tornado came over that power line and sucked us up out of our chairs. Then the vision changed and I felt like we were over in Florida and the Lord was showing us something about our ministry over there.

But what He showed me about that always stuck with me. As we were sitting there, ceasing from our works and resting in lawn chairs, watching the power of man come to an end (that’s the power lines), then the power of God took over. Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. God’s not ready to move until we do cease from our works because we have faith. Every time you have faith, you can stop and cease from your work, cease from your struggling, cease from trying to save yourself because the Bible says you are saved. God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.

Paul said, “most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses (not “infirmities” because it’s the exact same Greek word), that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2Co.12:9). We are to glory in our weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon us. A child has all the power of Daddy because he is the provider, he is the deliverer, he is the savior. He takes care of it all and they don’t think it should be any other way and we should be that way, too. We’ve been trained to think otherwise, to be grownups, but you know, God wants us to think like His children. Well, I think that we can see by now that the ‘verse,’ “God helps those who help themselves,” is not Godly at all; it’s antichrist. It will never allow you to enter into the power of God or the power of Christ to rest upon you.

Paul says he glories in his weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon him. (2Co.12:10) … I take pleasure in weaknesses…. King James says “infirmities.” Nobody takes pleasure in infirmities. That’s ridiculous. The word here is the same Greek word again. It’s “weakness.” Yes, we take pleasure in weaknesses. It’s great to be weak and not have the ability to deliver yourself because then you get to see the miracle of God. And he went on to say, in “injuries,” or actually the word there is “insults,” according to the ancient manuscripts and the Received Text and several others; it’s “insults,” not necessarily “injuries.” You don’t take pleasure in injuries, but “in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2Co.12:10).

Now, what was this buffeting that this angel of Satan sent his way? Some people say there are no such things as angels of Satan. The Bible says the demons are the angels of Satan, so just forget about what anyone else says because it’s wrong. Michael and his angels fought with Satan and his angels (Revelation 12:7). Demons are all fallen angels. That’s where they came from.

So what is this buffeting? What are these many different blows that the angel of Satan brought Paul’s way in order to make him weak? Or put him into a position of weakness? Well, Paul gives a list of them. (2Co.11:21) I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet whereinsoever any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also. (22) Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. (23) Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft.

He’s talking about the places where he was weak to save himself. You know, when we get into places where we don’t see any possibility of saving ourselves, that’s wonderful because we get to see the power of God. If we walk by faith in those places, then we get to see the miracles of God. That’s what God wants to teach us. Remember, God was the One Who sent this angel of Satan to humble Paul and we need humbling because we’re grownups who need to become children. We need to not be self-sufficient; we need to be God-sufficient. We need to be trusting in our Lord’s promises to save us in all these situations. So God brings us into these places and Satan’s angel brings us into these places where we’re weak, where we need the power of God.

Let’s continue reading Paul’s list. (2Co.11:24) Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one. (25) Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; (26) [in] journeyings often, [in] perils of rivers, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils from [my] countrymen, [in] perils from the Gentiles, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren; (27) [in] labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

God put Paul in those places in order for him to be weak so that he could see the power of God. Being weak is not a time to be anxious or worried; this is a time when you should expect to see the power of God. It’s God’s purpose and His plan to bring us to weakness in order for us to see His power. Don’t ever be cast down because of what you see because what you see are these places that make you weak to save yourself. He wants you to trust in Him and see His power. This is the place where God’s power rests upon you.

Paul went on, “besides those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches (2Co.11:28). (29) Who is weak (that’s the word “weak”), and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not? (30) If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness.” That’s another place that the King James calls it “infirmity” but it’s the same word! In the same text, if a word is translated one way in one part of the text and another way in another part of the text, that is dishonest and deceiving. It either has to be one or the other. Thank God for the places that He brings us to where we’re weak! That’s the only place we ever see miracles. Do you realize that?

That is the place we’re most tempted to throw up our hands and be anxious or worried or troubled. All miracles are given right there, in a place of weakness, the place where you’re unable. Now, if you have the mind of a child and you get in that place, you just expect Father to take over from then on. This is something that He normally does. God normally supplies your need, like in the teaching Jesus gave about the birds and the flowers. He said they don’t labor and they don’t toil to clothe and to feed themselves (Matthew 6:26,28). You mean, the Lord is saying you don’t have to work to bring about this clothing and feeding? That’s exactly what He said. Go back and read it. It’s so clear.

He knew that you’d get yourself in a situation and He even ordained these situations to come, where you wouldn’t be able to provide for yourself. And He said, “are not two sparrows sold for a penny? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father (Mat.10:29). (30) But the very hairs on your head are all numbered. (31) Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Look, not even a hair falls out of your head, can you imagine, that God doesn’t know it! He knows us so intimately that not one hair can fall out of your head without Him knowing it. I mean, your hairs are always falling out and growing back. That is an intimate God Who can number the hairs of your head. He knows a lot, so how could we possibly get into a situation that He doesn’t know about and hasn’t planned for? He is our Jehovah-jireh, the Lord our Provider. (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

God can do anything. Think about some of the things that God has done in the Scriptures and He really did do them. He stopped the solar system for a day so Joshua could defeat his enemies. And, you know what? The great thing about it is He’s “the same yesterday, and to-day, [yea] and forever” (Heb.13:8). He is the same. He will still do anything to meet your needs, if you will be weak and have faith.

Now, the time when you ought to have faith is when you’re weak because God doesn’t need to meet your needs when you don’t have needs. You don’t need a miracle until you need a miracle. Don’t think that you can avoid a trial of your faith by receiving the miracle before you need it. No. God tries your faith. The miracle doesn’t come till the miracle’s needed. Trust in Him between here and there because He will be there. He will do what you need. Be confident in Him. Be children in Him. This is what we need to learn and it’s not an easy lesson.

It demands the death of self, but religion has trained us up with the mind of the beast because religion has taught that God helps those who help themselves and it trains us to take care of these situations. Religion trains us to trust in the arm of the flesh. They even changed God into a god which He has never been so that they can trust in the arm of the flesh. “Now God does it this way,” they say, as if Jesus doesn’t heal the same way He always healed, by laying hands on the sick or by speaking the word of faith. That’s the same way He’s always healed and He still does it that way.

You can run out and get the strength of the world, make your alliances with the world, get your insurance from the world. They’ll change God and go to any extent to let the flesh live. But we have to become as a child, otherwise, Jesus says, you’re not entering into the Kingdom of Heaven (Luke 18:17). The Kingdom of Heaven is where God rules, God reigns, God saves, God delivers. He hasn’t changed. We have attempted to change Him. God put us here in this weak position. He planned for us always to be in a weak position, so that He could be our Savior.

Back to Paul in (2Co.4:7) But we have this treasure (the treasure is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God) in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves. God put this treasure, this knowledge of God, in such a weak vessel so that when anything happened, it would have to bring glory to Him and not to us. He could have put us in a very knowledgeable, very wise, very strong, and very healthy vessel and we wouldn’t have needed His help. He wouldn’t have needed to be God, would He? We would have been our own gods.

God didn’t choose us because we are able. He chose us because we’re not able. He wanted to give us freely His ability through grace and that’s unmerited. You can’t earn it and you can’t pay for it. When you get yourself in an impossible situation, think about it. God put you there and He put you there so that you could see how great He is.

So God put this wonderful treasure in an earthen vessel, a very weak vessel. (2Co.4:8) We are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; (9) pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed; (10) always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus (which is the death of self), so that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. God wants Jesus to live through us, but we have to be weak for Him to do that. The power of Christ will rest upon those who are weak. We’re powerful only because we have faith in God. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13) but He doesn’t strengthen until you’re weak, you see. We have to cease before He will start. We have to keep the Sabbath and cease from our works and enter into His works through faith.

God not only put us in a world that was bigger than us and with an enemy that was a lot bigger than us, He put us in a vessel that was weak to begin with, so that when the salvation came, we would know it was from Him and not from ourselves. We think we’re so great and we’ve been trained to be self-sufficient. Mommas and daddies train-up their children to be self-sufficient. That’s not what God wants. He wants a child. Never has He chosen the strong and this gives you hope that when you get in impossible situations, God planned for you to be there so that He could show you His power, so that He could show you His deliverance and His salvation. This is God’s plan. It’s been His plan from the beginning and He’s done it over and over.

We read in (Deu.7:6) For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. God has chosen you above all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth. Did you know that? If He chose you, He chose you above someone else, but He didn’t choose you because you’re wiser or smarter or more able or mighty because “not many mighty, not many noble, [are called]” (1Co.1:26). God chose the weak. (Deu.7:7) The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all peoples. And it’s still that way.

Why did God choose “the fewest of all peoples?” Certainly, if He was fighting battles with all the Canaanites, He would want the greatest number, wouldn’t He? No, because when the battle was won, He didn’t want anybody to say, “Look what we did!” And when the battle is won in our lives, He doesn’t want anybody to be able to say, “Look what we did!” “Look how powerful we are!” “Look how wise we are!” Or, “Oh, we were smart enough to follow God.” You know, all these things that people could say.

We never need to count on our own strength. David did that and brought a curse on Israel (2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21). He counted the people of Israel and brought a curse on them because God sent a pestilence that killed 70,000 men, just so David couldn’t count on his own strength (2 Samuel 24:15; 1 Chronicles 21:14). When you count on your strength, look out because you have trouble coming. God’s going to humble you. God’s in the humbling process with us. He wants to deliver us from trusting in the arm of the flesh.

You know, we can be as a child. We are unable in so many things. Sometimes we’re forced into a position of being unable. But I tell you that what Jesus wants for us is not that we be forced into a position of weakness, but that we walk in that position of our own free will, refusing to be strong. This is the great thing. If we will learn to refuse to be strong, we will see the miracles of God now. Exercise faith for a miracle from God so everyone knows He is the Saviour.

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