THE POWER TO UTILIZE

Our God is a God of power and a God of victory. This theme of power and victory for God’s people, when they are engaged seriously in His work, is a theme that runs throughout the New Testament. Have you ever noticed the theme of power in just one New Testament letter alone, the letter of Ephesians? It is amazing how the theme of power crops into every chapter in this short six-chapter book of Ephesians. In Ephesians 1 Paul begins by saying that he has been praying for the Ephesian Christians; he has been praying that they will know something. He wants them to know, in verse 19, God’s great power for us who believe. Paul says, “I have been praying that you will understand how powerful your God really is. I’m praying that your eyes will be opened and that you can see. I’m praying that you will see God’s incomparably great power for us who believe.”

Then Paul goes on in the latter part of verses 19 and 20 and says, “According to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places.” In Ephesians 3 is a second prayer of Paul. Again he talks about this power that is so much on his mind. He says in Ephesians 3:14-16, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man.” Then Paul in this same chapter says in verses 20 and 21, “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

Finally, in the closing chapter of the book, chapter 6, he mentions the power again. He just cannot let this book close without coming to that theme once more. He says in verse 10 to be strong in the Lord. That is where we have to be strong. Do not be strong in your own efforts. That will not do it. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.” Open your eyes that you may see the power that God has available for His people. I wonder if we really understand what all is being promised us in these great power passages that punctuate the whole New Testament, especially the book of Ephesians.

We Christians want to accomplish so many things in our world. Judged by our own numerical and material strength, the goals that we cherish in our hearts are unattainable. We don’t have the numbers to do it. We don’t have the material wealth and strength that it takes to do it. Judged by that standard, the goals that we have elected to achieve are impossible of achievement. But there is a little verse in 1 John 4 that turns those impossibilities completely around. That verse says, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Because this is true, God and His people together make the majority. We have access to the spiritual weapons, the spiritual strategies, and the spiritual power that the world in its numbers, strength, and clout cannot begin to defeat. That is the reason we have these great victory passages in the New Testament: “But thanks be unto God who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:14); “But thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christî (1 Corinthians 15:57); “In spite of all [the power and strength of the world], overwhelming victory is ours through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

We need to pray: Lord, open our eyes that we may see the power that is available to us. The need in your life and mine is the need for power, isn’t it? We need power to cope with life and its crises, power to overcome and resist Satan, power to overcome the world and achieve that final victory of the crown of life in heaven. God is a God of victory and power. He can give you that power in a very practical and wonderful way if you will give yourself wholeheartedly and unreservedly to Him. In that power is your only hope of making it successfully through this life and your only hope of eternity with God in heaven.

Word Affirmation: “ That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him." - Ephesians 1:17 (Don't just say it, mean it!)

“ Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. "

MIND THIS