Sometimes we preach to warn, or correct, at other times we comfort and exhort, sometimes we inform and teach, today I believe the Holy Spirit wants to release faith for the impossible! To challenge us and convince us to accept and walk in all that He has destined for us.
In a conversation with a friend this week, he disclosed: “Most believers have faith for salvation, but do not know the power of salvation!” Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. (Matthew 22:29)
People need power to survive. Some draw power from chemical substances, others from nature. Others seek power obtained in possessions, material wealth, status and popularity. Extremists establish their power through dominance and fear. The question to be asked, and evidenced to be weighed is: What is the sustainable good outcome of these powers? Power obtained by the sword needs to be maintained by the sword. Muscles obtained through chemicals need to be maintained by chemicals, and increasingly so.
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was. (2 Tim 3:1-9)
The gospel of the kingdom is not just in word – it is power! (1 Cor 4:20)
Convenience is the anti-Christ of our time! The gospel of obedience is no longer convenient, nor profitable for man, who is seeking instant pleasure and satisfaction. Missing out on the most wonderful POWER of the gospel!
For us to survive and triumph through difficult times, we need supernatural power and grace!
- Power to forgive – Mat 9:1-8
- Power towards godliness – 2 Pet 1:30
- Power to live the Jesus life – Phil 4:13
- Power to heal the sick – Luk 5:17, Acts 10:46.
- Power over evil – Luk 10:19
- Power of an endless life – Heb 7:16
- Power over death – Rom 8:11
- Power in weakness – 2 Cor 12:9
- Power over lust of the flesh – Rom 8:3-5
- Power of creative words – Prov 18:21
- Power over the law of sin – Rom 8:2
- Power of right living – Rom 5:17; 2 Cor 5:21
- Power to gain wealth – Exo 8:18
- Power to save – Rom 1:16
- Power of the cross – 1 Cor 1:18; Mat 16:24; Gal 5:24
Rightwiseness is power. Eventually by doing what is right, you are established by you righteousness. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.” (Exo 15:25-26)
Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. (Gen 6:9)
Prof Nick Binedell encouraged me this week to study the difference between northern and southern Italy. The northern part prospers, making the best and fastest cars known to man like Ferrari, Maserati, Pagani and Lamborghini versus the southern part who are poor, always fighting. Prof Nick suggests I should study the social fibre of the North. There is the hidden social fibre of integrity, your word is your honour. People still shake a hand on making a contract. Dishonouring your word will certainly lead to becoming socially an outcast. The most prominent leaders know each other and trust each other. This rightness in word and deed upholds a sustainable mutually flourishing social contract. In South Africa the social fibre is non-existing! We have absolutely no trust in our leaders, government, parents, and even the church! There is no trust! For a society to flourish it has to be interlaced tightly into one another like a carpet. This only happens through the majority’s right living!!
