Power. The word expresses something you are either under or are endeavouring to wield. It is the cause, humanly speaking, of the rise and fall of nations and empires.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. ~President Abraham Lincoln
Power is the vehicle with which one forces or guides others to fulfil one's will—for good or for evil. It may seem strange then that the Apostle Paul includes power as part of the inheritance (now) for Christians.
Paul writes to the believers in Ephesus sharing his prayer for them. He says he wishes for them to know, amongst other things, "[God's] incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He"—don't miss this!—"exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand..." (1:19-20)
Napoleon didn't have power like that. Hitler didn't either. They could kill and destroy, but they had no power of resurrection and heavenly enthronement. Their empires came to an end. Christ's reign has barely begun—in the light of eternity.
The picture above is of windmills, which I pass on the way to my parents. What is significant about these sources of power is that they have no power in themselves. If their bolts were too tight so their arms would not spin, they would merely be towers of medal. Useless. But, as they yield to the strength of the wind, they pass along power to light homes, to milk cows, and to give comfort and help to those living around them.
As I mentioned in another post, my pastor has been preaching on (sin, but also) the fact that God created humans as dependent beings. In the fall, we chose a pseudo-independence thus cutting ourselves off from all that we need.
"When—Listen!—a necessarily dependent creature attempts to live independently, he cuts himself off from the very Source of true knowledge and experience, which can only come from God Himself...Man did not actually achieve independence when he sinned. Nothing changed in regard to that, b/c we are of necessity, by creation, dependent creatures. And so nothing has changed simply because we decided to go our own way...We simply cut ourselves off from the necessary and essential supply that we must have as dependent creatures. When a dependent creature tries to live independently it is a DISASTER." ~Dr. Rich Liverance
What does this have to do with power?
The point is this—we are like windmills. Unless we yield to the strength of the Spirit of Christ, we have no power on our own. As we realise our dependence—not a crutch, but full life-support—God pours His strength in us, turning on the light for whole communities—the SAME power that raised our Messiah from the dead.
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)
Once our dependence frees us to the "blowing" of the Spirit, we will experience this power at work in us. This is why the Apostle Paul gloried in his weakness.
And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)Why did Paul boast of his weaknesses? Because it was by them that he realised his dependence on God. When he put his dependence on God, then God had the freedom to flow His power through Paul. As my dad would say, Paul learned to "plug himself into the Source."
GETTING PERSONAL
What are the weaknesses with which you struggle? Do these weaknesses cause discouragement (like mine so often do to me)? Maybe that's because we are trying to be INDEPENDENT of God. Maybe we all need to realise—deep in the core of us—the truth we so glibly claim—our ONLY righteousness comes from Him.
PLUG INTO THE SOURCE
Let's lift our arms of dependence up to our Father and be moved by His power to change our world—one life at a time.
