Power

“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes – the Jew first and also the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16 NLT)

What first comes to your mind when you think of power? Ashamedly, I must admit, the power of God wasn’t first to enter my mind, and I suspect, it wasn’t in yours. But why? The power we live by each day as a new creation in Christ should bear a powerful witness to us that God is on His throne and actively invested in His children, but, unfortunately, we too often forget the source of our real power and lean instead upon our own.

Power can be defined and evidenced in many ways. An Atom bomb displays great power, but not as much as one of God’s volcanoes. “Powerful” people hold office and weld “power” over the masses, yet a word from the Lord and all of man’s power is dissipated. The power of sin over a person is inescapable except at the whisper of a repentant heart.

Craig Groeschel’s powerful words spoke to me when he said: “You don’t always have the power of control, but you always have the power to surrender.” Can we even begin to count the times we’ve “lost” our temper, resulting in untold damage, but how grateful to know we can find grace and forgiveness as we surrender our failures to our Savior.

History has shown many times over the power of evil in the hands of unscrupulous men and women yet has too often failed to reveal the power of a faithful parent’s prayers for their children. While we can only begin to fathom the efficacy of our prayers, may we allow it to stimulate our heart and stir our spirit to pray more fervently for those in our spheres of influence.

Prayer matters! The power of prayer is incalculable! YOUR prayers matter! Life can be debilitating, discouraging, ravaging, so much so we can lose sight of the power of God at work in small ways. Even as I type these words my body is begging me to go to bed. I just don’t feel well, but there are things to me that are more important than how my body feels.

Some of you who faithfully read these words inspire and encourage me to keep fighting, keep moving forward. Your struggles and how you stand strong in the face of them, inspire and give me strength to keep fighting. What I’m facing is miniscule in comparison to what some of you have to deal with on a daily basis. I applaud you and thank the Lord for your faith and stamina in the face of great hardship, pain, and suffering.

Thank you for courageously displaying the power of God through your faithful perseverance. By God’s grace and by His might you will win! You are victorious in Christ your Savior, Lord, and Leader through this season of great difficulty. Thank you for displaying the peace of Christ in the presence of turmoil and conflict.

We can only guess at the vast power that resides within the earth, planted there by our Creator. But that pales in comparison to the reservoir of strength that God has planted in you, my faithful friend. The power for good that you possess is beyond description yet is being displayed every day in the way you live and love. Thank you for the faithfulness, kindness, goodness, mercy, and love that you allow the Lord to channel through your life. You are making a major difference.

That’s the power of God the world doesn’t see and cannot explain. That’s the power of the Gospel being put on display in and through His faith-filled people…like YOU!

Blessings, Ed 😊