What are some practical ways to depend on God?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

We depend on God for everything. This is both a reality and a practice that we must cultivate. Living in dependence on God involves committing our ways to Him and trusting in Him. We can foster our dependence on God by trusting Him to provide our needs, surrendering our worries and cares to Him, and trusting in Him to forgive us our sins. We cultivate our dependence on God by knowing Him more through His Word and praying to Him for direction. It is also important for us to show our dependence on God by applying what God’s Word says to our lives and relying on the Holy Spirit’s knowledge and power (instead of our own). Ultimately, we cannot rely on ourselves to produce any good work apart from our Heavenly Father. We must embrace humility as we let go of our self-dependance and pursue absolute dependence on God.

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

• We are told in Psalm 37:5: “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” We depend on God to carry us through life’s trials, hard decisions, emotional burdens, and so on. We depend on God as we trust Him to help us through.
• Proverbs 3:5-6 says: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Trusting in God when it comes to even the small things in life is a good daily discipline to practice.
• In Jeremiah 17:7-8, we read, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." Trust is a huge part of dependence on God. Little ways we can build trust and dependence on God may look like continually praying to Him about our life circumstances instead of trying to handle them on our own, or reminding ourselves of Scriptures that bring to mind God’s providence and our need for His influence in our daily lives.

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

• We depend on God for our very existence (Acts 17:28).
• We depend on God for our salvation (Ephesians 2:8–9).
• We can seek God for everyday things—similar to a child depending on a good father to provide for his needs (Matthew 6:11; 31-33). When we resist worry and trust that God will be faithful to His promises, we are practicing dependence on Him.
• Living dependent on God from a practical standpoint looks like abiding by the “more of Him, less of me” principle on a day-to-day basis. John the Baptist exemplified this as he lived by the principle of: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
• We are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) and live for Christ.
• We must depend on the Holy Spirit as we seek to exhibit His fruits (Galatians 5:22–23). This involves intentionally surrendering to and living out the ways of God
• As we respond to the Bible—reading, studying, and obeying it—we can pursue dependence on God as we trust in His Word (2 Timothy 3:16–17).
• We can seek wisdom through prayer, thus depending on God to direct our path (James 1:5).
• When we give things over to God to handle (1 Peter 5:7), we can pursue dependance on Him as we learn to trust Him (1 Peter 5:7).
• When we confess our sins, we depend on God’s grace and forgiveness (1 John 1:9).
• The more we obey God, the more we may be challenged to depend on Him to fulfill our needs rather than depend on ourselves. Jesus says that when we obey Him, we are showing our love for Him (1 John 5:2).

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

We depend on God for our very existence—for everything. Yet on a day-to-day basis, we sometimes depend on our own strength or worldly wisdom. Depending on God involves making use of the practical tools with which He has provided us. For example, it is not wrong to go to a doctor; we can make use of the gift of medicine while still knowing that healing ultimately comes from God. We do not want to rush ahead of God in self-dependence but neither are we to test Him (Matthew 4:5–7). We are not to presume upon God but rather seek His wisdom. We can thank Him for the things He has provided and make use of them in God-honoring ways, knowing that any good gift ultimately has its source in God: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). Practicing dependence on God may feel intimidating as it means letting go of our perceived sense of control—but as we do, we can seek to grow in our understanding of God as our trustworthy and nurturing Heavenly Father.

UNDERSTAND

• We depend on God for everything.
• We depend on God as we trust Him for decisions, difficulties, worries, and other such concerns.
• We depend on God as we seek to decrease and have Him increase in our lives.

REFLECT

• Reflecting on your actions, what do they reveal about dependence on God or dependence on self?
• What are some ways that you remind yourself about your dependence on God for everything?
• Where do you need to more fully depend on God?

ENGAGE

• Why is our sense of control an illusion that needs to be surrendered to God?
• How is our dependence on God as believers countercultural?
• How can we encourage each other to more fully depend on God both individually and communally?