Power

​Power is the ability or capacity to effectively deliver. Many people believe that all religious roads have the means with which to bring us to God as long as a person is sincere in what he or she believes.  Such thinking directly contradicts the Bible’s teaching that it is not our sincerity of mind or effort that broker our salvation but only God’s redemptive power extended to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. 

If the eternal fate of our souls is our concern, we need assurance that whoever or whatever we place our faith in has the power to provide eternal life.  God said in Isaiah 45:22,“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth.For I am God, and there is no other.”  It is sobering to consider the hundreds of millions of people who entrust their well-being to the teaching of teachers opposed to God and His word.  “This is what the Lord says: “The man who trusts in mankind, who makes human flesh his strength and turns his heart from the Lord is cursed”(Jeremiah 17:5); “because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength”(1 Corinthians 1:25).

Consider those who worship idols, man-made objects a sledgehammer could crush.  What idol-represented spirit has ever demonstrated purity and brought men back to life?  God will not count as justified those who deny His existence or substitute worshiping Him to follow idols or men claiming to be gods.  As the Apostle Paul noted in Romans 1:20, “For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.”

Only one Man claimed the ability to provide salvation to His followers and supported His claim by sinless living and resurrection from the dead.  His power was real not imaginary.  Jesus was a visible demonstration of God’s power at work on earth specifically for our salvation.  “ For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost”(Luke 19:10).  If you know Jesus, you know what it means to have a changed life.  You know the power of assurance that no matter what happens to you on earth, you have a place with God in heaven.  “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved” (1 Co. 1:18).  “God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power” (1 Co. 6:14).

What makes Christianity unique is not simply its message of hope.  What religion doesn’t offer hope in some shape or form?  The distinctive quality of Christianity is what God has powerfully done for us! Every other belief system is based upon what we have done for God or more commonly, ourselves.  Only God could extend grace as credit to a morally bankrupt humanity.  Only He exerts might from a heart of immeasurable love!  Only He has the authority to condemn or save our souls. The Bible makes a compelling case for His incomparable supremacy.  “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to You. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all”(1 Chronicles 29:11).

Are you feeling weak?  Then consider “His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us byHis own glory and goodness”(2 Peter 1:3).

Do you recognize we don’t have to live insecure lives “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power”(1 Co. 4:20).

Do you know someone who is afraid?  Share “Indeed, God is my salvation;I will trust Him and not be afraid,for Yah, the Lord,is my strength and my song.He has become my salvation”(Isa. 12: 2).

Need a power bar? “God—He clothes me with strengthand makes my way perfect” (Psalm 18:32).
 
Meditation
Ephesians 1:18-23-- I pray that the perception of your mindmay be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength.  He demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens—far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put everything under His feetand appointed Him as head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.
 
Inspiration
No power can deceive a child of God who keeps in the light with God.  I am perfectly certain that the devil likes to deceive us and limit us in our practical belief as to what Jesus Christ can do.  There is no limit to what He can do—absolutely none . . . Jesus says that faith in Him is omnipotent.  God grant we may get hold of this truth.—Oswald Chambers inThe Servant as His Lord
 
©1998 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)