Woo Him Not

Praying for the unsaved. – “We can invite the Holy Spirit to work in a person’s life so as to make them more receptive and responsive to the Gospel.” ~ Elmer Towns
 
“There are two kinds of means requisite to promote a revival: the one to influence God, the other to influence men.” ~ Charles G. Finney
 
I was horrified when I read these two quotes in the same article by Elmer Towns. The implications of these quotes are stating that we serve a God who needs man’s support, influence, invitation, wooing, and free will in order for Him to act.  God doesn’t need man to say, “Ok God, we are ready for You here. Charge on!” Our sovereign Lord is not dependent on man. People seem to forget that man is a created, inferior being. On top of that, we are depraved. We are a little lower than the angels. And not even the angels try to influence God to action. If I serve a God that I must encourage and invite to work in someone’s life, then I serve a weak God. I pray that He will, but my prayers do not open the door for God to move in. My prayers are stating, “Lord, I can’t soften their hearts to Your Word, but You can. Please, convict them.” Instead, Towns and Finney are saying, “Lord, I’ve planted the seed and tilled the ground for You. Now hop to it.” Don’t mentally make God subjective to your will. Realize Who is in control and Who is sovereign. It’s Christ the Lord, not us. Beg for His action. A lost man has a spiritual door with a knob on only one side. God is on the side with the knob. 

This entry was posted on August 3, 2007 at 8:39 am and is filed under Biblical Thoughts, Doctrine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.