OUR SUFFICIENCY IS OF GOD

OUR SUFFICIENCY IS OF GOD
II Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency [is] of God;
Will you allow me to take the above scripture out of its setting, and apply it another way? I know as well as you do that Paul was defending his Apostleship when he wrote this scripture.
However, it can also be applied to each of us in our Christian walk. We are not sufficient in ourselves to please a Holy God. Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure.
We Christians of America are a proud bunch of people. America has the highest standard of living to be found anywhere. We have the best form of government on the face of the globe. The words "best" and "most" will fit a lot of things in this wonderful land.
The sad part of the whole deal is that we Christians have imbibed that "best, most" attitude toward our religion. "No doubt about it, our religion is head and shoulders above the rest." We Charismatic Pentecostal folks have more than our share of the arrogance.
This is not to infer that what we have is NOT a "cut above the rest", for it may very well be so. It is the Pentecostal message which is "turning the world upside down" in the Third World today. It is a message with transforming power. It would be very easy to fall into the trap of pride. We surely do need to watch our attitude in this area all of the time.
It is the ARROGANCE that acts like the "wrench in the cogs" when we try to move the hand of God for our community.
A few months back, there was a strong move toward God in our valley. We had been told that prophetic utterances had pin-pointed the Yakima Valley as the starting place of a mighty move of God--indeed, maybe THE MOVE of God of the century. Special prayers were made, hatchets were buried, (at least temporarily). Pastors and Churches worked in harmony to see God move.
But to date (December 1, 1993), not much has taken place except for some folks to change from one church to another, and another, -- searching for more of God.
I believe that we Christians need to thoroughly repent of the arrogance which is possibly holding back what God really wants to do among us.
Wouldn't it have been a "feather in our cap" if God had sent His Spirit in deluge upon us as a result of what WE WERE DOING? Our pride would have known no bounds. "Look what WE DID!"
But God has straitly warned us that no flesh should glory in His Presence. I'm afraid we didn't have the right recipe for revival.
It may not be too late yet for us to repent of our tendency to pride and arrogance. It might be well if each one of us took on a burden for just one person, and prayed them through to a genuine repentance. I mean, "you pray for you, and I pray for me," until we each get "low" at His Feet.
Pride is such an insidious thing. It has many disguises to help it conceal its true identity. About the time we think we have it whipped, it shows up somewhere else.