We Need Power
We Need Power
Introduction to Series
The purpose of this series is to reawaken us to the power of the Gospel, especially for the age we are living in today. We will mostly be looking at the spiritual blessings which Paul describes for us, in the book of Ephesians.
We Need Some Power
Today’s Issues
When we consider the time we live in, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. But this is not a time when we should cower down and hope it will all soon pass. On the contrary, we should be rising up.
Isaiah 60:1-2
“Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you.”
The astounding, life changing news is that God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ and as a result, life can be lived in a way that was never possible before. This means we have something incredible that we can enter, express, and of course, invite people to be a part of.
Discovering the Power
Ephesians 1:3 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
This is written in the past tense. It is something that has already taken place. We don’t have to call on God to provide these blessing because He has already done that. Our job is to lay hold of them and express them.
We must stay out of dualism here, which is the myth that we can separate the spiritual from the natural. These are not called spiritual blessings because they are not earthly. They are designed to be used in our everyday life on earth. They are called spiritual blessings because they come via the Holy Spirit and are available because we are in Christ.
There are seven clear blessings which we will consider during the next few teachings – but before going there we will quickly look at
Ephesians 1:18-20 – “ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
There are three important points here.
- Hope
He prays that we will see that there is hope (V18). This means that our future is secure in Christ and that we have a destiny. We belong to a kingdom which is part of our inheritance, we are put in a body with other brothers and sisters, and there is an eternal reward for us.
- Riches (V18).
What are these riches? Well, they are not money, they offer something that money can never buy. The Kingdom of God offers forgiveness of sins; the grace of the Lord to us; the power of healing; a purposeful and abundant life; that God will supply all our needs; and that He will watch over every aspect of our life. Nothing or no one else can offer us these blessings. Such a life can only be embraced by those who are in Christ.
- Power (V19)
This is immeasurably great power. It is way more powerful than anything found in the kingdom of darkness – it rules over all the principalities of evil, over sin, over any opposition the world brings against us, and finally over death and hell. It is also far greater than some of the power we see demonstrated through people in the Old Covenant.
In this verse Paul tells us that this power is in accordance with the strength of the might of God.It is the same power and strength that raised Christ from the dead!!
Before the resurrection of Christ, we can consider the power of God to be demonstrated through such amazing acts as Moses bringing water from the rock; as God separating the waters at the Red Sea; or the demonstrations made in front of Pharoah in Egypt. These are all amazing.
But the power we now have available in Christ far exceeds this. It is a power that frees people from a lost eternity; that is offered to everyone, in Christ, not just one nation; and is able to bring redemption to any aspect of life on earth.
Listen to the writer to the Hebrews on this, when talking about many of the amazing people of the Old Covenant.
Hebrews 11:13 – All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
He goes on to list an incredible number of miracles achieved by these people, but then goes on to say.
Hebrews 11:39-40 – And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.
It is limitless; it is irresistible; it takes command of the spiritual powers of darkness and wickedness; it can create something from nothing and remove bondages in one prayer.
The Guarding of this Power
Obviously, such power, in the wrong hands or used the wrong way would be incredibly dangerous, so God has set it up in a way that it cannot be used to do the will of man – it is only available to accomplish the will of God. It cannot be used just for our own pleasure, it must be used to bring about the pleasure of God.
But once we have discovered the will of God in any situation, this power is ours to use to do His will. The writer of Hebrews tells us that this power is not even offered to angels – it belongs only to those of us who believe!!
This resurrection power is in us right now. In Christ we can heal the sick, raise the dead, access all of God’s wisdom; overcome the powers of darkness and express the incredible attributes of the Kingdom of God.
Must Be Unlocked
These incredible treasures are only limited by the above conditions, but, they must be unlocked.
They Come Via Revelation
Paul is praying that our eyes and ears are opened, so that we might see that these are readily available to all those in Christ, now! It is not enough to know them or even understand them. They must go from the mind to the heart. Paul teaches in Romans 10:10 – “that it is with the heart that a true follower of Christ believes.” He emphasises this by saying that just believing written words is not enough – he writes the letter and then prays that God will reveal these things to his audience.
It is important that we don’t get overwhelmed by this because it comes to different people in different ways. How do we know that we have it? Because we will begin to own it – the lights will go on, we will suddenly feel that we are beginning to get it and we will believe it with all our heart. And of course, it will start to take hold in our life.
The goal in all of this, is that it will so become part of us that we will use it without even thinking. It will be a very natural response. The most powerful way is when we demonstrate this, is as a way of life that makes people come to us and demand that we tell them what it is that makes us so different from everyone else.
Jesus is not an event – He is the way, the truth, and the life and as a result we have something to bring to others that cannot be found anywhere else. We bring them to the King of Kings and His Kingdom and then transformation begins.
The main reason we have these blessings, is so that we can express the Kingdom of God in every aspect of life. This brings it all back to the great plan and purpose that God always had for creation.
So what are these seven blessings? Tune in next month and we will begin to explore them.
God bless you.
Bruce Billington