God’s power has been something that has intrigued me for a while now. This week as I preached I asked the question: How Should We Respond to God’s Power? There were several things I thought through this week that I did not include in the sermon. One being the fact that Jesus demonstrates incredible power in His life. Have you ever thought about His power?
Luke 4:14 14Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.
So Jesus power was the power of the Spirit. That is interesting because we have the Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13 13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
That is a lot of power.
Ephesians 1:18-20 18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
So the same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work within us?
Ephesians 3:20 20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
This power is apparently pretty popular because you can go to the Christian bookstore and find aisles full of books with titles like: Your Pathway to God’s Power, Power for Living, Practicing the Power Within (I made these up, but you get the idea). Most books you will read will talk about how to harness God’s power and control it so that you can do what you desire to do with His power. The problem is that is not God’s intention with His power. Instead that is us trying to force His hand rather than following His lead. God calls us to follow Him, not to lead Him. His desire is to do a work in us, changing us from the inside out. This work in us is a work of making us more and more like His Son Jesus Christ, so that He can do a work through us. The work God desires to do through us is not about us harnessing His power it is about Him bringing Himself glory through us. Now that takes power to use people like us to bring God glory.