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PART THREE

Attaining Effectiveness—

Summary and Conclusions

(Christian Effectiveness In A Nutshell)

      In reading the biographies of many Christians, I noted the attitudes and actions which seemed to contribute to their effectiveness.  One thing they did not have in common was their theological beliefs.  Probably there are some core beliefs upon which they could have agreed, but it would be difficult to define them.

      There is one attribute, however, that they all shared: an attitude of surrender.  It was this attitude that enabled them to have a close relationship with God.  Surrender has been characterized as “letting go and letting God.”  It implies a willingness to crucify the self-life within us.  It is not important who we are.  What is important is whether or not God guides us.  A disconnected wire is one thing; the same piece of wire hooked up to a source of electric power is quite another thing!

      God has a plan for each of us, but before we can be used, He must mold us into the kind of person He would have us become.  The process of molding is called discipleship, the essence of which is surrender to the divine will.  Mother Teresa gave us a simple truth: “God calls us to faithfulness, not success.”  “Faithfulness” and “surrender” have a similar spiritual meaning.

      Hudson Taylor, legendary for his missionary work in China during the late 19^th century, said that it took him a long time to learn that God wants us to allow Him to work through us.  At one point in his life, he was extremely discouraged and felt depleted.  He was having little success in bringing the Chinese to Christ.  He prayed, fasted, read the Bible and made resolutions—all to no avail.  Then while in a depressed state of mind, he received a letter from a good friend.  The last paragraph struck him like a bolt out of the blue: “Not striving to have faith, but looking to the Faithful One seems to be all we need—an abiding in the Loved One entirely.”

      Taylor was amazed that he had been “blind” for so long.  He resolved to strive no more.  Taylor wrote, “He has promised to abide in me.  I am part of Him.  Each one of us is a limb of His body, a branch of His vine.” 

      What Taylor discovered was that our effectiveness stems from our relationship with God.  After that day, his life changed.  He radiated a magnetism of love and joy.  He no longer struggled; he allowed God to operate through him.  In effect, he “let go and let God.”  Later, he said that too often we attempt to work for God to the limit of our competency, rather than letting Him work through us to His limitless omnipotence.

      It should be obvious that our surrender is always a question of degree; it is never total.  Only Jesus was totally surrendered to the will of the Father.  The fact that it is impossible to achieve perfect surrender simply adds to the challenge, because it means there will always be room for improvement.  The aim of every Christian should be spiritual progress.  Whatever the degree of our surrender today, we can be more surrendered tomorrow.  Spiritual progress is not only attainable—it is sustainable.

 THE KEY TO AN EVER-GROWING

PARTNERSHIP WITH GOD

IS AN ATTITUDE OF SURRENDER

 How Can We Develop an Attitude of Surrender?

      The effective Christians whose lives I studied had a strong desire to be and do what God wanted.  They refused to allow the world to squeeze them into its mold.  They were listening to a different drummer.  Communicating with God through prayer was a high priority in their lives.

      Isn’t prayer the key—the one essential thing—to a surrendered attitude?  How can we establish an ever-growing partnership with God—how can we know what God would have us be and do—unless we are in continual communication with Him?  How important is the word ”continual!”  It implies habit.  Isn’t it true that our lives are largely controlled by our habits?

      Many years ago I read a small booklet entitled, The Common Denominator of Success, written by a business executive.  The author said that it dawned on him one day that although he was supervising the efforts of a large number of men who were trying to achieve success, he didn’t know what the secret of success really was.  He had been brought up on the popular belief that the secret was hard work, and yet he had seen many men succeed without working hard.  He knew this was not the secret.  So he set out on a voyage of discovery in which he read everything he could about success.  At the outset, he determined that the secret he was trying to discover would have to apply to everyone who had ever been successful.  He finally concluded that “the successful person had formed the habit of doing the things that failures don’t like to do.”

      I am convinced that effective Christians have formed the habit of doing the things that less-effective[1] Christians don’t like to do—praying, for example.  Praying takes time, and when things are going well, we feel no urgency to pray.  Couple this with the fact that prayer—real prayer—is not easy; it requires the energy and discipline associated with reflection and self-examination.  We tend to follow the path of self-reliance until some crisis forces us to our knees.  The evangelist, Charles G. Finney, was of the opinion that “nothing in Christianity is so rarely attained as a praying heart.”

      Isn’t the habit of prayer the key to a surrendered attitude?  It is through prayer that God unrelentingly confronts us with His requirement for unconditional surrender.  Forty-seven times in the Gospel of John, it is recorded that Jesus tells His listeners that He is acting under the Authority of His Father, and that He never does anything other than what the Father commands.  Through prayer, Jesus was continually in tune with His invisible companion.  It is through prayer that we can know what God expects of us.  It is through prayer that we get the courage and strength to act on our prayers, and to endure the hardship and suffering that almost inevitably come into our lives.

THE KEY TO A

SURRENDERED ATTITUDE

IS THE HABIT OF PRAYER

 Prayer Must Be Combined with Action

      In his letter to “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations,” the Apostle James wrote:

      Brothers, what’s the use of saying you have faith if you aren’t proving it by helping others?  If you have a friend who is in need of food and clothing, and you say, “Well, good bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat hearty,” what good does that do?  Faith that doesn’t show itself by good works is no faith at all—it is dead.  

—James 2:14-17 (The Living Bible)

In essence, the apostle is saying, “What good are your prayers unless you are willing to act on them?”

      Again and again, Jesus said that our actions must match our words if our prayers are to be effective.  In other words, if we are not willing to act on our prayers—if we are not willing to be our brothers’ keepers—then our prayers are only a formal gesture, and not true prayers at all.  When I lived in the mountains of Western North Carolina, a certain pastor’s name often came up in conversation with some of the older people.  In his lifetime, this man had been the pastor of a number of churches in the area.  The comments about him mainly concerned his preaching—how powerful his sermons were.  However, an anecdote suggests another reason he was held in such high esteem.  It seems that at a prayer meeting someone requested prayer for a family that was in dire straits.  When the meeting was over, the pastor was reminded that he had forgotten to pray for the needy family.  He said he was not ready to pray for them yet.  During the following week, he visited the family to find out their needs.  He then organized some practical things that met their needs.  At the next prayer meeting, he prayed for the family.

      The point of the above story is that the pastor combined prayer with action.  We can imagine that his public prayer was preceded by private prayer for guidance in knowing how best to help this family.

      Not every Christian is called to preach, but Scripture tells us that every Christian is called to pray—and to act on his prayers.  Dwight L. Moody said, “When I pray, I pray like it all depends on God.  But when I get through praying, I get up and work like it all depends on me.”  Could it be that our willingness to act on our prayers is our best assurance that they will get above the ceiling?

      When we read the four Gospel accounts, we get the impression that although Jesus spent much time in prayer, his mission was action-oriented.  The thrust of his mission was in providing tangible evidence of His love for everyone—especially the down-and-outers—those who were physically, mentally or spiritually sick.  Jesus was a doer, as well as a teacher.  His modus operandi could be characterized as the “habit of prayer-guided action.”  This should also be our method.

THE MODUS OPERANDI

OF AN EFFECTIVE CHRISTIAN
IS THE HABIT OF

PRAYER-GUIDED ACTION

 Catalysts

      It can be seen that attaining our primary goal is a process—a process of ever-increasing surrender.  In chemical processes, catalysts are often used to speed up the reaction.  In the process of becoming a more effective Christian, there are at least two catalysts which can enhance the process:

·        Adopting role models

·        Making Christ our Constant Companion.

      We all have our heroes—people who inspire us—and consciously or unconsciously, our heroes become our role models.  These role models may be people we know personally or they may be people whom we can know only through their biographies.

      Role models influence us in a way similar to electrical magnetism.  When a piece of iron is placed in an electrical field, it becomes magnetized, and will attract other pieces of iron.  An influential person causes a similar effect: we are attracted to, and have a tendency to become like, a person whom we habitually admire.

      Making Christ our Constant Companion is a powerful catalyst.  It means that in situations in which we are uncertain as to our attitudes and actions, we ask Jesus what He would do.

CHRISTIAN EFFECTIVENESS IN A NUTSHELL

THE PRIMARY GOAL OF A CHRISTIAN:

      An ever-growing partnership with God, in order that He can use us for his purposes.  The partnership is also for our good.

THE PROCESS FOR ATTAINING THE PRIMARY GOAL:

      An ever-increasing surrender to the Divine Will.  More specifically, it means reliance on the Holy Spirit—through the habit of prayer—for guidance.  It also means acting on our prayers.

THE PROCESS RESULT:

      An ever-growing partnership with God—which is the primary goal of a Christian, and which is equivalent to ever-increasing effectiveness.

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