Become Like A Baby to Enter God’s Kingdom — Zac Poonen

I'd like you to turn to Matthew Chapter 18, Matthew's Gospel in Chapter 18, and you read from verse one onwards, Matthew 18, and verse one onwards. So we read here, at that time, the disciples came to Jesus and said, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

So that is a question that many people have in Christendom, who is the greatest, and even in a church, we can have those questions, who is more important and who is the greatest, can be there among the brothers, it can be there among the sisters, who is respected the most, and who is the most gifted, who is most respected, do people respect me, value me?

Becoming Like a Child to Enter the Kingdom

It's a very common question, it's out in the world, and the world has plenty of it, but it's there in Christendom too, unfortunately, plenty of it, and I've seen that through the years. And so those disciples had it, and Jesus recognized it, and so he called a child to himself in verse two and said in verse three, truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now you see most Christians have accepted Christ sometime on the other born again Christians, they feel they've got a ticket to heaven already, yeah, I'm going there, I've already accepted Christ on such and such a date, and I'm going to heaven, fine, but listen to these words of Jesus, unless you are converted, and when you are converted, Jesus called conversion equal to becoming like children, that means like little babies, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now I want to take that seriously, because Jesus is the one who came from heaven, and he's the one who knows how you can reach there, and there's no one who can explain it better to us than Jesus himself, and this is what he said.

So sometimes we go to the epistles and take verses from there, and we misunderstand what believing in Christ is, we misunderstand what faith is, but there's no contradiction between what Jesus said, and what it says, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll be saved, there's no contradiction.

Humility as Helpless Dependence

So what I conclude from that is, real faith, real faith will make a person come to God like a little child, and I say that to myself, and I say that to all of you, if your faith, whatever it is, has not made you come to God like a little child, that's not real faith, so it's good to wake up, because Jesus said the way to enter God's kingdom is, you will not enter the kingdom if you don't become like little children, and the primary characteristic that he pointed out in these little children, now when you think about little children, humility is what he mentioned in verse four, but you know that a three-year-old child can be very proud and arrogant, sure, even a two-year-old, so I believe he's referring to little babies, they came with little babies to him, and I think he took one of those, and so he's referring not to a two or three-year-old who can be pretty proud, but to a little baby who's lying in a cradle, not able to speak, and completely helpless, dependent on the mother for everything, you can't do a single thing for itself, that's another thing that Jesus once said, you know, I've often spoken about that from John 15, as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, apart from being in the vine or the tree, you can do nothing apart from me, to me that's one of the greatest truths, I've begun to understand, I don't know whether I've understood it fully, but I've sought to understand it, John 15 verse 5, apart from Christ, I can do nothing, and whatever you think you can do apart from Christ, you'll finally discover in the final day it is zero, and the sooner you discover it, the better it is, and that's what a little baby in a cradle, if it could speak, you ask that baby, the baby says, I can do nothing, I'm dependent on my mother for every single thing, absolutely nothing, I can't feed myself, I can't do anything, I'm dependent all the time, so that I understand is the meaning of humility, because humility is a word which is, so many you can go to a dictionary definition and get it wrong, but Jesus defined it here in verse 4 as, whoever humbles himself as this baby, as this baby in a cradle, that is humility, and humility has the greatest value in God's kingdom, not gift, not how well you can preach, or how much you know the bible, or how smart you think you are, all those things, I mean a baby doesn't have all those things in his mind, so dear brothers and sisters, I've seen through the years, that it's very easy to forget this, this is not the first time I'm speaking on this, I've spoken on it many times, and I've seen through the years, that we need to hear it again, and again, and again, and again, because we easily tend to forget, forget it, there's a, there's a poison that came into us through Adam, remember that Adam and Eve, how they sinned, if you turn to Genesis, just look at that for a moment, Genesis in chapter 3, what did the, what did the devil tell him, in Genesis 3, the serpent, it says came and tempted the woman, and told her in verse 5, when you eat this, middle of verse 5, your eyes will be open, and you will be like God, you will be like God, I've seen lots and lots of believers, who act like God to other people, who think they are God, that means everybody must bow down to me, and respect me, treat me with respect and kindness, that's being like God, who do you think you are, that everybody should bow down to you, and that's the thing that the devil puts into many people's minds, and that was what he had in his own mind, that's what made him the devil, I've never got tired of repeating to all believers, how did sin come into this universe, the first sin was not murder, not adultery, not lusting after women, not even anger, we speak a lot about anger, and lusting with the eyes, and all that, yes, there's a great sin, but those are not the first ones, those are the fruit, which came out of the first sin, and the first sin was pride, that's what Lucifer the angel, whatever his name was, we don't know his name, the first highest angel, he wanted to be like God, he wanted other people to respect him, and look up to him, and that same poison, you will be like God, verse 5, which he had in his own mind, he has put into Eve, and she thought it would happen, and she was deceived, and throughout the centuries in the history of man, we've had so many people who wanted to act like God to other people, political leaders, and religious leaders, and all types of people, who try to tell other people what is God's will for their life, whom they should marry, where they should go, so many pastors, and preachers, who claim to tell people what God is wanting to tell them in their personal life, in this new covenant age, while you can seek advice from any godly person, remember concerning your own personal life, God wants to lead you by the Holy Spirit, and if you're a young Christian, then of course, it's good to seek godly advice from older people, but ultimately, you take a decision yourself, nobody can be God in your life, Christ reserves that place exclusively for himself, so please bear that in mind, and I want to turn also to Matthew chapter 11, Matthew and chapter 11, let's turn there, and there again, Jesus speaks about being like a little child, and he says, here he's using the word infants in verse 25, Matthew 11 and verse 25, he was praying, he says, father, I praise you, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent, or those who imagine themselves to be wise and intelligent, it's usually like that, a lot of people think they're very wise and intelligent, and smarter than everybody else, and revealed them to little infants, so there again, God's greatest truths are not revealed to clever people, not revealed by going to a Bible school, not even revealed by studying the Bible, yes, we need to study the Bible, but if you want revelation on the scriptures, you have to come to the scriptures like a little baby, saying, Lord, I may be able to understand the meaning of this, but I won't get revelation, the word here used is revelation, revealed, revealed, there's a world of difference between revelation and understanding, I said that many times, understanding is an old testament word, you don't need the Holy Spirit for understanding, in the Old Testament, they did not have the Holy Spirit, up till the day of Pentecost, no human being had the Holy Spirit, Jesus was the only person who walked on the earth with the Holy Spirit, right from the time of Adam, till the day of Pentecost, no other human being ever had the Holy Spirit within him, so they didn't have revelation, they had understanding, it's only when Jesus came and, you know, revelation began to come to some of his disciples, when he asked them, who do you say that I am?

Peter said, you're the Christ, and Jesus said, the Holy Spirit has revealed, my father has revealed, given you revelation, began only then, there was no revelation before that, it's very important when you come to read the Bible, that you must ask God to give you revelation, and that's given only, remember here, it's only given to babies, it's given to those who will come like a baby, so the kingdom of heaven we saw belongs to babies, and revelation also belongs to babies, now there are many things in scripture which we need to understand with our mind, and I want to give you a balanced understanding of that, so let me show you this verse also, 1 corinthians 14, 1 corinthians 14 and verse 20, so we get the balanced understanding, 1 corinthians 14 and verse 20, it says, brethren, don't be children in your understanding, in your thinking, in evil, be like a baby, a baby is completely incapable of doing evil, but in your thinking, you must not be a child, you must be mature, so that's the balance that God wants us to be mature in our thinking, but in our attitude towards people, we must be like helpless babies who will not do harm to anybody, who don't have any high thoughts about ourselves, and that is, that's how it's going to be in the final kingdom of God as well, you know, when there's a day coming when Jesus will return to this earth, and we read that the lion will lie down with the lamb, all evil would have gone away, and all the, you know, like it was in Eden before Adam sinned, where wild animals and all, there was no wild animals, let me show you a verse about that in Isaiah chapter 11, it speaks about the day when Jesus comes to establish his kingdom on earth, turn with me to Isaiah 11 and verse 6, in that day the wolf will lie down, will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with a young goat, and the calf and the young lion will feed together, and who's going to be the leader?

A little child, you know how it's going to be in God's kingdom, the leader will not be some great man, a little child, this is how it's going to be in God's kingdom, when all of creation comes back to pre-Adam's sin days, before that, when the way Adam, Eden was before Adam sinned, the animals and the horns and thistles disappear, the leader is going to be the one who's like a little child, so there God is describing what his kingdom is like, so there are certain aspects of a child that we can think about, because Jesus told us to become like little children, to enter the kingdom of heaven, so one of the things about little children is that they don't claim to have any cleverness or ability or knowledge, they're not trying to impress people, I've often said that, that I've meditated on babies lying in a cradle, and I see there that there is absolutely no desire to impress anyone with our knowledge or our ability or gift or anything, now when you hear that brothers and sisters, don't just take it as a little thought, what I do when I think about that quality in a child, I ask myself, is there any of that in me, is there a smell of that in you, of wanting to impress people with how clever you are or how smart you are or what a lot of ability you have or knowledge, good to have ability, but there's a lot of difference between that and trying to impress people with your ability and knowledge, in a child that is zero, meditate much on a baby lying in a cradle and even if you've heard this message a hundred times, if you still are trying to impress people, then you need to hear this message again, this is especially for you, when you hear a message, don't just say I heard it before but ask yourself whether you're still suffering from that lack of being like a baby, then the Lord wants you to hear it again, absolutely no desire to impress people that I'm clever or capable or knowledgeable or any such thing, that's what it means to be like a baby and those are the ones Jesus said are going to enter God's kingdom, yeah and then another thing that I have thought about a baby is, which is very common in human beings and even among Christians, a baby has lying down there is not judging anyone in the room, there's absolutely zero judgment of others, no opinions, that is the attitude, now if, now don't misunderstand me, if God gives you a responsibility in a situation, then you need to have an opinion that comes through divine discernment, for example, if you're a father in a home, you can't afford to say I have no opinion about my children, you must have an opinion about your children, how are they, are they growing spiritually, are there one of them troubling the other, is one of them arrogant, definitely, so don't misunderstand me, but my point is in relation to other people in the church, a child is not, our attitude must be, I don't want to judge anybody, God is the only judge, but if you have responsibility, for example, if you're a father or if you're an elder in a church, you're a useless elder, if you don't have any opinion about all the people in your church, you must have an opinion about every single person in your church, if you're an elder, because an elder is a father, it's like you must, if you're a father and you've got 10 children, you must have an opinion about every one of those children, if you're a good father, you must know what is the condition of my oldest son, what's the condition of my daughter, what is the condition of this one, what is the condition of this one, if you don't have an opinion about your children, you're a useless father, you won't be able to help them, so don't misunderstand when I say being like a child, we become, we are like a child before God, but when God gives us a responsibility in a family or in a church, we need discernment, we need to have an opinion, so don't misunderstand me, otherwise, apart from that, we are like a child, for example, what is the condition of that guy in that other church, I couldn't care less, I'm not interested, God has not given me any authority over that person in that church, why do I need to have an opinion, I don't need to, for any person whom God has not given me any responsibility over, there is no need for me to have an opinion, unless I have some dealing with him, then I need to have discernment, so often you find Christians having an opinion about every Tom, Dick and Harry, what is the need of that, you only define yourself, you must have a discernment and opinion about all the people committed to your charge, whether you're a father or for example, you're a boss in an office, of course, you must know the quality of all the workers who work under you, otherwise, you're a useless CEO or a boss, you must have an opinion, so don't misunderstand what I'm saying here, we're talking about our attitude towards God and recognizing what is the sphere in which God has given me responsibility, there I need to have an opinion but apart from that, outside of that, I'm going to be like a child, I want to live before God, then I won't defile myself with 101 opinions I have about so many other people in the world, I don't need to have an opinion about that but you ask yourself, you'll find your mind is so full of opinions of so many people, we have no need to and it defines you and I believe having all those opinions hinders us from hearing what God is trying to say to us, see if I have any attitude in my mind which is contrary to God's nature that blocks my ability to hear God's voice, okay and let me mention another thing that I've thought about in relation to children and that is a baby cannot stand up for its rights, you know the world is full of people who stand up for their rights, I deserve this, this is my right, a baby has no rights, it does not stand up for its rights, if its rights are taken away, it just needs with God to deal with it and the classic example is Jesus, he lived on earth even though he was almighty God who ran the universe, when he came to earth as a man, he did not stand on any rights he had, people could insult him and you know how finally they would spit on him and all that and he didn't stand up for his rights at all and he was never offended with anything that people said or did to him, never, I've often said that getting offended is that kindergarten lesson that we all have to learn, overcoming getting offended, it's one of the first lessons I found in the Christian life we need to learn is overcome getting offended, then we can move on to first grade and second grade and all which is overcoming anger and sexual lust and 101 other things but don't try to jump to first second grade before you pass the kindergarten, so some people are trying to concentrate on second third grade lessons when they haven't passed the kindergarten lesson, the kindergarten lesson is stop getting offended, begin there, that is much easier than overcoming anger, anger is a little more difficult to overcome, lusting with the eyes is a little more difficult to overcome but the kindergarten lesson is I want to learn how never to get offended with anything that people say to me or don't say to me, anything that people do to me or don't do to me, if somebody ignores me or or treats me in some odd way, I'm not going to get offended and my dear brothers and sisters, let me tell you this from many years of experience that that is the kindergarten lesson and if you're still getting offended, say to yourself you are in the kindergarten, you better move on and get over it because the whole Christian life of pressing on to perfection is beyond that.

Freedom from Stored Anger

Then let me mention one more thing that I've seen as a characteristic of children which can be found in adults, in the mind of a child there's no stored up anger, it's good to ask yourself whether right now is there any stored up anger against someone who didn't do things the way you wanted him to do it, you know even husbands and wives can have stored up anger, we should not even have it for a moment, I'm not talking about keeping it for a long time, there must be no stored up anger against people in our place of work or anywhere, we may disagree with them, you may disagree with your boss, he may treat you badly but if you store up anger in your heart even against your boss, you are not destroying him, you're destroying yourself.

Christlike Dependence and the Way of the Cross

A little baby lying in a cradle has got zero stored up anger, I'm telling you things I meditated on because when the Lord says you've got to be like a little child and I read it years ago, I said Lord I want to meditate on what does it mean to be like a little baby in a cradle because you said the kingdom of heaven belongs to such people and I want the kingdom of heaven and I want to enter into God's kingdom and I want to take it seriously, I want to see if my faith is genuine or just an intellectual thing, by intellectually I believe in Christ and it is not living faith, if it's living faith it takes me into God's kingdom and to make me like a child, that's what it means to follow Jesus and Jesus life, you know leave aside what Jesus said about who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is like a little child, today if you go to heaven and ask an angel who is the greatest in heaven today, the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the greatest and yet when he was on earth he said the greatest in heaven is like a little child which means that Jesus had all those qualities of a little baby, not that he had no opinions and that's then we get a balanced understanding of what he meant by saying be like a little child, these are the two things I kept in my mind, the greatest person in heaven without a doubt is the Lord Jesus Christ and yet he said that the greatest person in heaven would be a little child, so therefore I have to see in the Lord Jesus in his life on earth the qualities of a little child, if he had an opinion it was what was given to him by God the father, then he could say so his life was so dependent on the father that it's a wonderful way to live, very few people live like this I'll tell you that who seek to know Lord what is your opinion about this situation, what is your opinion about this person, I want to have that, that's a little child, Lord I don't have an opinion about this situation, I don't have an opinion about this person but because I'm your child please show me because in certain situations I need to have an opinion, for example in my case as I'm an elder I need to have an opinion about lots of people who God has put under me as I'm responsible for like a spiritual father, I need to have an opinion, if you're a physical father you need to have an opinion about your children and God can help you to have that but Jesus lived you know he expressed his opinion about many people he called Herod a fox, he said go and tell that fox Herod and he had an opinion about Peter when Peter tried to advise him not to go to the cross he said get behind me Satan, where did he get that from, children don't say get behind me Satan, how did Jesus say that, he had the attitude of a child towards his heavenly father and the heavenly father immediately showed him through the Holy Spirit this attitude that Peter has that's telling you not to go to the cross is satanic, it's the devil who doesn't want you to go to the cross, that's what I learned there because all that Peter said was Lord when Jesus said I'm going to go to the cross and die, Lord that will not happen to you, he said it in love but he was foolish, it was a foolish love and Jesus immediately turned around and said get behind me Satan, I remember years ago reading that in Matthew 16 and verse 23 and I realized that the voice at any time the voice that tells me don't die to yourself here is always the voice of the devil, where did I get that from, Matthew 16 verse 21 to 23, if you don't you're not familiar with it read it Matthew 16 21 Jesus said I'm going to go to the cross and I'm going to be killed and Peter took him aside and said Lord that'll never happen to you verse 22 you will not go to the cross and immediately Jesus said get behind me Satan, do you know there's only two times that Jesus used those words, one was when he was in the wilderness and he was confronting the devil himself directly he said get when the devil said come and worship me and I'll give you the kingdoms of the world he said get behind me Satan and the second time he was speaking to Peter, looking at Peter and saying you get behind me Satan, you're a stumbling block to me because your mind is not set on God's interest but on man's interest, so what I learned from that was a voice that tells me in any situation don't go to the cross here, don't die to yourself and in many many situations you hear that voice in your mind now don't die assert yourself here, don't die to yourself, if you can recognize that voice as the voice of the devil and the Lord saying to you your mind is not set on God's interest now, your mind is set on your own selfish interest and you're not going to qualify to get into God's kingdom that way, don't say so many years ago I accepted Christ as my savior, well you're not on your way to heaven right now if you have an interest to assert yourself and to avoid the way of the cross, Jesus said you're a stumbling block to me, how many stumbling blocks there are in those who call themselves Christians because they avoid the way of the cross, they avoid the way of death to self, the moment they hear of death to self say no I don't want to go that way, the devil says don't go that way, stand up for your rights, so there is something that we must understand properly, a child is one who listens to his father and Jesus listened to his father and said you must die, Jesus said sure I'll go that way, so let me say one more thing, I told you that the child has got no stored up anger against anyone, the child also has no memory of evil that other people did to it, one more thing is when I think of a child, baby in a cradle, he doesn't have great plans and ambitions for the future, now again you've got to understand it properly, in understanding be mature, in evil be like a little child, that's what we read in 1 Corinthians 14, so we need to understand what this means in a balanced way, is it right to make plans for the future, absolutely, God has given us intelligence for our earthly life but a person who's a child of God will submit those plans to his heavenly father, that is how a child is, he goes to his dad and says dad this is what I'm planning to do, what do you think of it, Jesus lived like that continuously all through his life, he made plans but he would always consult his father, let me read this to you in Proverbs chapter 3, it's a great passage in chapter 3 where we have a promise where it says the Lord will direct your path, Proverbs chapter 3, if you want the Lord to direct your paths, that's been such a blessed experience for me to go to God and say Lord I have no plans for my future, you tell me what I should do and I'll do it, Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, that's what a child does, a helpless child will go to his daddy and say what shall I do next, what do you want me to do, it's a life of constant dependence and the Lord will make your paths absolutely straight, I don't want any crookedness in my paths, I want the way before me to be absolutely straight into God's kingdom and the Lord says if I acknowledge him in every situation, it's like a helpless child, daddy what to do next, a child who doesn't know anything, like when your father is explaining a mathematics problem to a child who doesn't even know how to do that arithmetic problem, he asks okay dad I've come to this land, what do I do next and then the dad says you must do this, okay he does that, what do I do next, next, that is how Jesus lived, it wasn't a conscious asking, it was a life of dependence where the Lord guided him almost unconsciously but it was a life of constant dependence, it's a very precious thing if you learn that way of life, very difficult for me to explain it to you but that's how Jesus lived and let me show that to you in John chapter 5, you'll see how Jesus was like a little child, John 5 and verse 19, it's an amazing verse, please turn to John chapter 5 verse 19, Jesus said truly, truly I say to you, the son that is he himself can do nothing out from himself, it's a very difficult standard to attain to, I have not got there, I'll tell you honestly, I'll tell you honestly, I want to get there because I know this is the truly Christ-like life when you can get to the place where you're so much in constant touch with God that you say I can do nothing out from myself unless I see the father doing it, unless I see the father prompting me to do it and when he has an opinion, it says in verse 30, I can do nothing on my own initiative, it's the same thing, I can do many things if I want, the world is full of people who can do all types of things but Jesus said no, I will not do, I'm waiting for the father to prompt me and lead me in everything, now you may say what a life that is, you mean all the time I have to ask God shall I do this, shall I do that, no, if you have that attitude, it's almost automatic, it's like rivers of living water flowing through you, it's not a struggle but it's a life of constant dependence, Jesus another time expressed like the branch in the tree but I believe in John 5 verse 19 and verse 30, you see the secret of Jesus life, he was like a child, a baby says, what did Jesus say in verse 19, I can do nothing, is that what a baby says in a cradle, again in verse 30, I can do nothing on my own, many Christians have not understood that this is the greatest height you can reach in the Christian life because we start off saying I can do a whole lot of things, I don't need to pray, I don't need to depend on God, I can do many many things and I've heard so many messages and I understand God's ways and I do it, yeah, yeah we understand God's ways but the life of constant dependence like a baby, Jesus has demonstrated it for us and we must pray that God will help us to come to that life of constant, I mean it's not a conscious saying what next, what next, no, no, no, Jesus wasn't living like that in attention, it was a life of constant dependence, recognizing deep down that whatever I do on my own initiative will ultimately amount to zero, I believe that without me you can do zero, so that constant dependence and no and there are no ambitions there of trying to achieve something, you know, in our earthly profession, yes, do your best but the life of the true Christian is one of constant dependence on the father, now this may look like a contradiction and say how in the world can we live like this but that's why I showed you that other words in 1 Corinthians 14 which says in evil be like children but in your thinking be mature, so in many things we are to behave like mature men but then must come out of a helpless dependence upon the father, I realize that I cannot explain this but the Holy Spirit can make it clear to you and one last thing I would say is that a baby's life is one of a child, a little child's life is because it is so helpless, it's a life of perfect trust in his mother, mummy will take care of that, daddy will take care of that, I covet that life, I'll tell you we're in every single moment of my life, in my planning my life, in my handling money, in deciding what to buy or what not to buy, how to spend my time, how to spend my money, these are the two very important decisions we make, how to spend my time, how to spend my money, every day we wonder how shall I spend my time today, how shall I spend my money today, to be dependent like a child on the father, it's a wonderful life, it will not come in one day but if you work on it and work on it and work on it over a period of time it'll be almost automatic but in the beginning we seek the Lord many times, Lord what shall I do here, what shall I do there, I don't know but that attitude is what delights the heart of God, that is what faith is, faith is actually a helpless dependence upon God, not an intellectual thing, unfortunately with many Christians is an intellectual thing, I believe Jesus died for my sins and I've asked him to come to my heart and so I'm on my way to heaven, many people say all that but look at the shallow useless defeated life they live and we can talk about new covenant and new covenant Christians and all that but I've seen that many people in CFC their life is not much different from the lives of other believers in other churches, but what are we glorying in, if we have not learned what it is to be like a little baby helplessly dependent on the father, like a branch helplessly dependent on the tree, we have not understood the most important thing in the Christian life, I can do nothing apart from the Lord and so when it says God gives his grace to the humble but he resists the proud, the reason why many people don't make spiritual progress, I'm absolutely convinced after seeing believers in many countries in the last 60 years, is only one reason, they are proud, pride is what makes a man fall away from the church and fall away from God, pride is what prevents a man from spiritual growth and pride is what finally destroys a person, pride is what sends people to hell, pride is what makes people fall away from the church, no matter how much they pretend to be humble, God resists the proud, he's always fighting against proud people but he gives abundant grace to the humble and the humble is the one who's like a child helplessly dependent on him saying Lord please, I need help from you all the time, I want to recognize that spiritually I can do nothing without you, worldly things in my profession and in my job I can do 101 things but when it comes to the Christian life I can do nothing apart from you, so you don't want to confuse, I'm not saying that you can't do anything in your profession, there are many ungodly people who are very brilliant and accomplish many many things, the great inventors who've invented so many things, people who invented the computers and the airplane and smartphones and all that, they didn't depend on Christ, they were clever, they used the intelligence God gave them and accomplished so many things on earth, people have become millionaires inventing and doing many things as far as worldly things that's true but when it comes to the Christian life, we're talking about the Christian life, it is impossible to please God if you don't come to him like a little child saying Lord, there's not a single thing I can do that will please you if I don't live independent on you all the time.

Balancing Maturity in the World with Dependence on God

Now, this balance between how to live as like a child before God and yet to live as a mature man out in the world in my secular profession and other things, that's the thing that we need to understand, this balance between the two, very often that attitude we have in the secular world of particularly we are capable of accomplishing many things and you're a very clever person, we can bring that unconsciously into the church and into our Christian life, that's where the damage comes, that's okay out there in the world but when it comes to the Christian life, that should be a completely different attitude of helpless dependence upon God.

Well, I've tried my best to explain it but many times when I speak on some very important topic, I come to the end of it and say Lord, I couldn't do it. I pray your Holy Spirit will explain to these dear brothers and sisters the reality of these amazing truths.

Thank you. God bless you all.