Philippians 3:8-9

"Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith" Philippians 3:8-9

One of the first things that the Holy Spirit will do in us is to wipe out those things that we rely on naturally. Paul argues this out in Philippians 3, in which he catalogs who he is and the things in which he might have confidence; "but," he says, "I deliberately renounce all these thing that I may gain Christ."

One of the biggest differences between Christianity and the occult is to simply examine their sense of power. An occult will claim that you can receive some special power to be used at your beckoning will, at your command, it is a sure sign that God is out of the loop, and you must reject all of it and run. Believe me, if you find that the slightest bit humorous, you are mistaken.

Let us get this understanding right up front, the only way any of us can ever be of service to God is when we are willing to renounce all natural abilities and determine to be weak in Him. Whenever we think we are of use to God, we hinder Him. We must form a habit of letting God carry on His work through us without obstruction or hindrance from our own determination to do good works apart from Him. Amen and Amen.