Your Enemy is Self-Sufficiency
Confidence Series (Part 1)
Gerry White

Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. [2] The Lord said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, [3] announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.' " So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

[4] But the Lord said to Gideon, "There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go; but if I say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go."

[5] So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink." [6] Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

[7] The Lord said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place." [8] So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

Judges 7:1-8 (NIV)

Self-sufficiency is an enemy when it causes us to believe we can always do what needs to be done in our own strength. To prevent this attitude among Gideon's soldiers, God reduced their number from 32,000 to 300. With an army this small, there could be no doubt that victory was from God. The men could not take the credit.

From his throne in heaven the Lord laughs and mocks their feeble plans.

Psalm 2:4 (TEV)

The men could not take the credit. Like Gideon, we must recognize the danger of fighting in our own strength. You can be confident of victory only if you put your confidence in God and not yourself.

All of God lives in Christ's body, [10] and God has made you complete in Christ. Christ is in charge of every ruler and authority.

Colossians 2:9-10 (GW)

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

2 Peter 1:3 (NIV)

My Sufficiency in Christ

1. In Christ I have wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

You are partners with Christ Jesus because of God. Jesus has become our wisdom sent from God, our righteousness, our holiness, and our ransom from sin.

1 Corinthians 1:30 (GW)

2. In Christ I have grace sufficient for every situation.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)

3. In Christ I am blessed with every spiritual blessing.

How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every blessing in heaven because we belong to Christ.

Ephesians 1:3 (Living)

4. In Christ I am perfected forever.

For by that one offering he perfected forever all those whom he is making holy.

Hebrews 10:14 (NLT)

To have a relationship with Christ is to have every spiritual resource.

All wisdom, strength, comfort, joy, peace, meaning, value, purpose, hope, and fulfillment in life now and forever is bound up in Christ.

Christianity is an all-sufficient relationship with an all-sufficient Christ. There's no reason anyone who believes God's Word should struggle with such a self-evident truth.

Lacking confidence in Christ sufficiency threatens your belief as inadequate to meet your needs.

You have in Christ everything you will ever need to meet any trial, any craving, any difficulty you might ever encounter in life.

Every Christian is a self-contained treasury of divinely bestowed spiritual affluence.

However, I'm afraid that as the snake deceived Eve by its tricks, so your minds may somehow be lured away from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:3 (GW)

I have a Rich Legacy to Enjoy

For this reason Christ brings a new agreement from God to his people. Those who are called by God can now receive the blessings he has promised, blessings that will last forever. They can have those things because Christ died so that the people who lived under the first agreement could be set free from sin.

Hebrews 9:15 (NCV)

1. I was chosen for Adoption into God's own family.

That is, in Christ, he chose us before the world was made so that we would be his holy people - people without blame before him. [5] Because of his love, God had already decided to make us his own children through Jesus Christ. That was what he wanted and what pleased him.

Ephesians 1:4-5 (NCV)

Your adoption came with all the rights and privileges of family membership.

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

Colossians 1:12 (NIV)

2. I was chosen to comprehend Christ's wisdom.

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. [18] I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, [19] and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength.

Ephesians 1:17-19 (NIV)

Commitment

  1. I commit to put my sufficiency in Christ every day.
  2. I commit to use all the rights and privileges of family membership in Christ.
  3. I commit to ask God daily for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation of Jesus to know Christ better, his hope for me, his riches and incomparable great power.