Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Ephesians 6:10
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints (Ephesians 6:18 NKJV)
Being strong in the Lord, and in His mighty power means that we put on the armor of God and pray. chapters 10 to 19 of Ephesians 6, actually tells us about the complete armor of God and to keep praying with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
Putting on the armor of God, prayer and walking in the Spirit will all enable us to be strong in the power of God.
May we constantly remember to put on the armor of God by always reading the Bible, hearing the voice and direction of the Holy Spirit, prayer, and being watchful.
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, Ephesians 3:16
Most people are confused about the Holy Spirit, the power of God, faith and the Word of God. Some people automatically assume that they are all the same or some of them are the same.
Power, mercy and life are the end result of union with the word of God, faith and walking and being led by the Holy Spirit. Jesus asked the Apostles to wait for power from on high.
To seek the face of God is to seek His power and to wait upon God is to wait upon the Lord for manifestation of His power. You seek and wait with faith, being led by the Holy Spirit and by union with the word of God. You also pray as the Holy Spirit leads you to pray.
Some people will tell you that it is your faith that heals you but in reality, it is the power of God that heals you. Your faith in the power of God will heal you. Your faith must rest on something but your faith should not rest on your own faith.
We must seek after God’s kingdom and His righteousness not a faith that does not encourage you to live in complete union with the will of God, rather that false faith leads you to seek mammon like pagans.
Somehow, people began to make faith into an idol or even the word of God into some form of idol that substitutes the power of God. Then people started chasing after faith or “the word” which they interpreted as a set of magical formulas that active power, wealth and money. Power without purity and prayer? – certainly not the true faith and the true word of God.
Note that those who practice those faith doctrines, do not emphasize complete obedience to the will of God, setting out time to pray, and being led by the voice and direction of the Holy Spirit. They also do not talk about the armor of God and crucifying the flesh by the Holy Spirit.
They preach another gospel, not the gospel that Jesus and Paul preached. In order to be a victorious Christian, you must test the false Apostle, false teachers, false prophets, false believers and false doctrines and find them to be false. You must test the spirits like the Berean believers.
That you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. Revelation 2:2
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11
Jesus and Paul practiced total commitment, dedication, consecration and surrender to the word and will of God by complete obedience and a life of praying without ceasing to constantly experience the power of God.
Faith is very good and very vital but it can never take the place of God or the power of God. The more you rely on, and depend on God, the more faith you have and the more you rely on and depend on your own faith, the less faith you have because you have ignored God and His power. You started depending of your self and that is self worship.
Jesus and Paul never taught that, and they never lived like that. They were able to differentiate between all those concepts – faith, Holy Spirit, the power of God and the word of God.
And they recognized and gave each one its proper place.
The Word Of God
You believe in the word of God and walk in the word of God to maintain a healthy active relationship with God. You walk in the word of God – both His written word and the voice of the Holy Spirit to be obedient, know God and pray effectively. Understanding of the word of God builds faith.
You eat and drink the word of God with your mind so as to grow to maturity and know how to pray for the power of God to manifest the way Jesus did.
Faith
Faith in the good news, law of Christ and the power of Christ makes you obey God, trust Him for His power to deliver and also makes you have confidence in your assurance of salvation.
Faith is one of the armor of God that you need to put it on in your spiritual battle, so as the defeat the enemy and experience the power of God. You wear faith like a shield to go into spiritual battle and prayer. You don’t wear faith to be idle and not pray. You also wear faith to obey God.
While praying, your faith makes you persist and persevere with patience. Faith makes you hold on, press in and never give up. But you are pressing on, for something – power. Faith is not the end, manifestation of God’s power, glory, and presence is the end.
Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is our helper, comforter, guide, teacher and Lord. He is inside us and constantly helps us in our battle, prayer and worship of God. He gives us the word of God as a shield and speaks to us constantly. Listening to Him, and obeying Him will make us pray effectively, obey God and experience the power and glory of God. He is a person and power is what comes out of Him from the throne of God.
Power
The power of God is the raw manifest presence of God and the glory of God. That is what Jesus wore around Him like a garment and by the power of the Holy Spirit He raised the dead and healed the sick. Power is what gives us ability as Christians and we need the power of God everyday. Man’s power can never enable man to live like Jesus and do the works of Jesus
Jesus knew the word of God, the Holy Spirit, faith and the power of God. He never confused or substituted one concept for the other. A is not B, and B is not A. A is A and B is B. That is just how it is spiritually.
This is just a summary, and of course, it does not contain everything that I need to explain but it is enough to elucidate the points I have mentioned above.
God’s power is the only thing that can strengthen the inner man. God strengthens the inner man with power through the Holy Spirit that lives in us. Power or the glory of God increases in our inner man but the Holy Spirit is a person and He lives in us as a complete person, not as a person that increases or decreases.
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
Everything was created through Christ and for Christ. This means that there is no need for us to fear powers that are against us. Every power is inferior and subject to Christ.
All things are inferior and subject to Christ and all things were created through Christ and for Christ
Instead of fear, we should always think of response and change. God can change and defeat every power for us. Response is about right focus and how we change because God cannot change. This means that we are the ones to change.
Maybe God wants us to pray more and persevere in prayer to defeat our enemies. It is also possible that we need to repent of something in our lives that are against God’s will and His plan for our lives.
God is in control of all things and not even a strand of hair can fall from our head without God’s permission. He is in perfect control but sin has shielded His glory and power from the eyes of man.
God’s sovereignty rules over all, but unfortunately, most people don’t believe that. They think that there are many gods and that somehow, God lost control.
Do not focus on negative circumstances, do not focus on idol worshippers and the wicked that are extremely prosperous. If you do that you will be frustrated, become discouraged and loose faith.
Focus on why God has permitted certain undesirable things in your life and how He wants you to respond in other to change those undesirable things. Focus on being led by the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to lead you out of every valley and wilderness of life.
That is why God gave Him to us as a precious gift. He is the comforter, guide and helper not the tormentor. The Holy Spirt is available to help us out of sin, temptation and judgement because God does not delight in judgement but will decree justice and judgement as the just God that He is.
Every power is under God including the powers of lying deceptive idols. Focus on goodness, solution and change and walking with the Holy Spirit to escape judgement and experience constant mercy.
Mercy triumphs over judgement but judgement will be given to us if we don’t cooperate with God. I have experienced judgement and I know what it feels like. God does not enjoy it but will permit it.
God is the only lawgiver and judge. He alone can save and destroy. There is only one God not many gods. All other so called gods are delusions and deceptions of the devil to destroy man. Everything was created through Christ and for Christ. He alone is worthy of admiration, praise and worship.
Do not cling to toxic relationships. Do not cling to relationships that drain you and destroy you. Let go of bad relationships and learn to be friends with people that love you and support you.
This word might seem very obvious but it is not obvious to a lot of people. It is only the Holy Spirit that has the ability to adequately interpret the word of God. He is the author of the word of God and only Him can make the word of God make sense and have meaning.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Mathew 16:17
Think about what I am saying. The Lord will help you understand all these things.2 Timothy 2:7
The Holy Spirit is the one that gives knowledge and understanding. Remember that Jesus was filled with grace, truth and wisdom. These only come by divine enablement.
The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about. Luke 18:34
The devil hides and steals the word of God and it’s meaning from us and the Holy Spirit reveals the word and it’s meaning to us.
Trying to figure out the word of God with our own flesh and power without depending on the Holy Spirit, meditation and prayer will always lead to errors and false doctrines.
All false doctrines originate from the proud heart of man that has refused to pray for truth. Spiritual truth is not discovered – it is given by God!
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. James 1:5
We need to pray for wisdom and it is only God that gives wisdom by His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of wisdom.
In summary,
You need to read and hear the word of God
You need to think and meditate on the word that you have read and heard.
You need to pray to God for the Spirit of wisdom, revelation and understanding in the knowledge of Him and His word.
The Lord will then give you the ability to understand by His Holy Spirit.
Broken people who were in fact broken by others need to heal. The Lord can heal all psychological and emotional wounds including the deepest and darkest.
If you are broken, give yourself time to heal before rushing into another relationship. If you do not do that, you might in fact be creating a soup that can boil others. You might break others without even wanting to. The reason is that you were not emotionally healthy or whole enough to trust, sacrifice and love again.
If you meet a broken person who wants a relationship with you, be very careful. It will be wise if you can recognize the red flags and signs of emotional unavailability and draw back. Give him or her a chance to heal and grow before embarking on a fruitless journey.
Guard your hearts jealousy – there are so many damaged and broken people out there and they were all damaged and broken by humans not aliens! Don’t be a victim.
Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience. Colossians 1:11
Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy (Colossians 1:11 NKJV)
Colossians 1:11-12 GNT May you be made strong with all the strength which comes from his glorious power, so that you may be able to endure everything with patience. And with joy give thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to have your share of what God has reserved for his people in the kingdom of light.
The power of God strengthens us with power for us to have great endurance and patience. Strength comes from the glorious power of the Lord and when His power is released into our inner man, struggles and frustrations cease. Ability meets us and helps us.
We are able to endure and persevere with joy and long suffering by the power of the Lord.
Glory to God for such wonderful and glorious grace. May God fill us with grace to be patient and endure in Jesus name.
Because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 1 Thessalonians 1:5
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him– the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD– Isaiah 11:2 NIV
The Spirit of the LORD will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and power, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the LORD. Isaiah 11:2 ISV
Isaiah 11:2 clearly separates power from understanding and wisdom. Jesus himself separated knowing the Scriptures from knowing the power of God.
Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. Matthew 22:29
Power is the manifest presence of God that causes a change. When the power of God is present, lives are transformed. It was power that left Jesus and healed the woman with the issue of blood. Also there was a time that the Bible said that the power of God was present for Jesus to heal the sick.
Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Luke 5:17
Jesus preached with power and Paul preached with power not just words. We should not be discouraged if we are not yet preaching with power but we should desire and pray for it. We should not make excuses and tell people to rely on their own faith.
Besides, people should rely on the power of God not on their own faith. The Bible said that the sick should go to the elders of the Church for prayer to be healed and Jesus told the apostles that they could not cast out a stubborn demon because of their lack of faith that was caused by not enough fasting and waiting upon the Lord.
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Mathew 17:21
“But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Mathew 17:21
Remember that Jesus Himself, constantly went to lonely places to pray, and spent whole nights in prayer, to have the power of God upon Him for ministry,
Ultimately, it is good for everybody to get to Christian maturity, and manifest great faith but those who are coming to Christianity for the first time, need help and healing.
Jesus and the Apostles were both winning souls and healing them at the same time. A new believer can never have that giant faith that will manifest the power of God. We need to be very practical and stop deceiving ourselves.
As ministers, we should seek more and not be complacent. The gospel should be preached not just with words but also with power.
With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 2 Thessalonians 1:11
It is by God’s power and grace that we can be good. Sometimes, we find that we are doing the wrongs things that we hate. We gossip, backbite, insult and use our tongues loosely. Some of us even detest those things yet do them. This shows that knowing is not enough.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:24-25
We should know that those things are bad. Desire change and pray for power, grace and help from God. It is only God that can tame and crucify the flesh by His Holy Spirit. Man’s power is of no use at all.
Goodness comes through God’s power so we should recognize that, and cooperate with God, to manifest goodness, righteousness and holiness in and through us.
