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Are you Plugged In?

I’ve been posting about the power of God at work in us. How far are you willing to go to walk in the power of the Spirit? Experience tells me that we would rather talk a good game and make excuses, than to put forth the effort to see the real thing.

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
John 15:7-8

This is the last verse I looked at in my previous post. It deals specifically with the power available to those who remain in Christ. It says that they can ask what they wish and it will be done.

Think about the trust God places in that kind of believer. I personally wouldn’t give that kind of power to most Christians that I know. It would be dangerous.

The fact is that in this fifteenth chapter of John, the Lord referred to us remaining in Him 8 times in 4 verses. I think He’s trying to make a point. It’s required that we remain in Him if we want Him to manifest His power in us.

I asked a question four posts ago – in the first of this series (Power and Authority – The Difference). I asked which form of power – AC or DC – was better?

You probably answered the question as most people do. They say that they prefer DC batteries because they can go where they want. They can take their device with them when they leave the house. When you have to plug it in the wall, you’re confined to stay at home to use it.

This is the big problem in the body of Christ today. We want to be able to leave the house. If your goal is to go in and out of the house, then batteries are better.

If you intend on doing that in the spirit – living for Christ sometimes and living for self at other times, then the power of the law is better than no power at all. Christians of this generation have a real problem with remaining in the spiritual “house.”

There are two forms of power. The greater of these requires you to remain in Christ. Our goal seems to be to live with one foot in the world, and one with Christ. You can’t do that and use the power of the Spirit to any great extent.

We need to take an honest, hard look at our walk with God to see where we fit into this picture. We must then be willing to make the changes necessary to remain in Christ.

Question: What will it cost you to remain in Christ? Are you willing to pay the price?

Do You Know the Enemy’s Power Source?

22 Mar

In my last post I talked about power and authority. Power is the ability to produce change. Authority is the permission to use power.

Jesus told us that we had authority over all the power of the enemy. This causes me to question our current church experience. If what the Lord said is true, then why does the enemy seem to be winning?

To understand this you must realize that just like electricity, there are two forms of spiritual power.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8

These were some of the last words of Jesus before He was taken up into Heaven. We must realize that our power comes from God Himself through the Holy Spirit in us. This means that the two sources of spiritual power are the Holy Spirit and sin.

This is a very important fact to know if we’re to grow in our spiritual walk. Our goal should be to only receive our power from the Holy Spirit.

We must be certain that we’re not powered by the same thing that powers the enemy’s kingdom. To have this assurance, we need to ask a very important question. If sin is a power source, then what is the power of sin?

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:56-57

That should be an eye opener. Most Christians have no idea that the power of sin is the law. We seem to have missed this fact even though it’s plainly taught in the Scripture. This means that without the law, sin would have no power.

As a matter of fact, Satan’s power is derived totally from sin. So if there were no law, then the enemy would have no power. Everything that Satan is able to do is powered by the law. Whether you realize this or not, every accusation and attack that he makes is all based upon the law. The problem we have is that just knowing this truth isn’t enough to defeat him.

Like AC and DC, both forms are very powerful. AC is the type of electricity that powers your house. DC is the type that starts your car in the morning as well as supplying power for the lightning we see in a thunderstorm. In the same way, the two forms of spiritual power can be very potent.

We, as believers, need to understand the differences so that we’ll not fall into the trap of trying to use the enemy’s power to defeat sin in our lives.

Question: How do we sometimes try to use our sinful nature to defeat sin in our lives?

The Spirit and the Word

Tag Archives: the law

Are you Plugged In?

Do You Know the Enemy’s Power Source?

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