Tag: God’s power

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Ephesians Devotionals

God’s power in us

Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us… (Ephesians 3:20)

I was thinking about that last phrase: “his power that works in us.”

So often, I thought of that as God’s power working through us to do his work, to touch others’ lives.

But today, it occurred to me that God’s power is at work in me to change me. And he is able to do in me above and beyond all that I could think or imagine.

Many times when I face problems, I ask God to take the problem away. To change my circumstances.

God in his grace sometimes does that.

But so often, he’s not so interested in changing our circumstances.

He’s interested in changing us, to make us like his Son. (Romans 8:28)

Sometimes, though, that seems impossible.

My pastor has been preaching recently about leading our hearts. (Proverbs 23:19)

That can be hard. Especially when it comes to forgiveness or other hurts we deal with in our lives.

We want others to apologize. We want them to change.

But all the while, we harbor doubt that our hearts can change if they don’t, if our circumstances don’t.

But God is able to do above all we ask or think. Why? Because his power, the power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us.

The question is, “Do we believe that?”

Father, root me in your love. Firmly establish me in it.

Help me to understand the length and width, height, and depth of your love so that the void in my heart may truly be filled with you and all my wounds healed.

I don’t ask that you change my circumstances or the people around me. I ask that you change me.

By your power, which can do more than all I could possibly ask or imagine, make me like your Son. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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2 Thessalonians Devotionals

That I might bear fruit

In view of this, we always pray for you that our God will make you worthy of his calling, and by his power fulfill your every desire to do good and your work produced by faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified by you, and you by him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12)

Father, I pray that you would make me worthy of your calling.

I fall short so often. I desire to do good, to bear much fruit for you, but so often fail to do so.

Jesus, you are the vine. I am the branch.

By your power fulfill my every desire to do good.

Not so that I will receive praise from others.

But so that your name, and your Father will be glorified in me.

And that I may hear your words of praise, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Thank you for your grace, Father.

You, who have called and chosen me, are faithful (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

And I believe that what you started in me, you will complete. (Philippians 1:6)

In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Acts Devotionals

What I need

Acts

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8)

Lord, I don’t need to know when you will return. For that matter, I don’t need to know when this Covid crisis will end. I don’t need to know when the Taliban will fall. 

These things are all set by your own authority. 

What I do need, Lord, is your Holy Spirit in me. I need you to fill me with your power so that I can touch the people around me who are hurting and need you. 

So Holy Spirit, fill me. Give me your power. Lead me. And show me what I can do to touch the people I love for you. 

In Jesus’ name, amen. 

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Matthew Devotionals

Ignorant of the scriptures

When the Sadducees asked Jesus an asinine question, he responded,

You are mistaken, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God. (Matthew 22:29)

Could Jesus say this of us?

How wrong is our worldview because we don’t really know the scriptures?

How often do we make foolish decisions because we really don’t know the scriptures?

And how often do we put God in a box, making him smaller than really is, because we don’t really know the scriptures?

May Jesus never say of us what he said of the Sadducees.

Instead, let us develop a love for God’s word, so that we may truly know him, and so that his way of thinking may shape ours.

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Job

To truly know God

Job

I had heard rumors about You, but now my eyes have seen You. (Job 42:5)

I’ve been thinking about these words of Job recently, as I’ve been reflecting on what it means to truly know God.

Paul prayed in Colossians 1:10 that we would grow in our knowledge of God. But what does that mean?

It’s certainly not just head knowledge, important as that is.

It’s actually seeing his work in our lives. It’s actually hearing his voice as we read his Word, as we pray, and as we live our daily lives.

It’s experiencing his love, grace, and power firsthand in our lives, not just hearing about these things in the lives of other people.

Is that you? Do you truly know God?

May we all be able to say like Job, “I had heard rumors about you, but now my eyes have seen you.”

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2 Corinthians

The problem of self-sufficiency

self-sufficency

I was raised by my parents to be pretty self-sufficient.

I remember one thing my dad told me after I had grown up and left the house was that the one thing he was happy about concerning my brother, my sister, and myself was that we never came back asking for money.

Self-sufficiency, in terms of independence from our parents, is a good thing. We all need to grow up and strike out on our own.

But self-sufficiency in terms of our relationship with God is never a good thing. There will never will be a time when we can truly claim independence from God. We will always need him.

We will always need his power and strength in our lives if we are to make it in this life. In our relationships. In our work. And definitely in ministry.

The problem with self-sufficiency is that it keeps God’s power from truly becoming complete in us.

Put another way, we will never have full access to the power of God in our lives as long as we are trying to be self-sufficient.

That’s what Paul learned and that’s what Paul tried to teach the Corinthians.

Paul had received an awesome spiritual experience, having seen heaven itself. And it would have been so easy for Paul to think, “I’ve made it. I don’t really need God anymore. I am so spiritual that I can live this life on my own strength now.”

And so God gave Paul a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him humble and reliant on God.

What that thorn in the flesh was is not clear.

But whatever it was, a physical ailment (many people think it was an eye problem), or a spiritual problem, or whatever it may have been, though Paul pleaded three times for God to take it away, God refused, saying,

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

In other words, “I don’t need to take this problem from you in order for you to live. My grace is enough for that. And my power is made perfect in your weakness.”

Why?

Because in our weakness we are forced to rely on God’s power and not our own. God’s power will never be made perfect in our lives as long as we are relying on ourselves.

And so Paul said,

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.

For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9b-10)

Why did Paul boast of his weaknesses?

Because it forced him to rely on God more, and in relying on God more, he knew more of the power of God in his life. And I have to believe that in the process, he was forced to draw closer to God as well.

How about you? Are you trying to make it on your own? To live by your own power and strength?

By doing so, you’re missing out on two things: the fullness of God’s power in your life and a closer relationship with him.

I don’t know about you, but I want both of those things in my life.

So let us not boast of our own self-sufficiency. Rather, let us live each day leaning on God’s power and strength.

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1 Corinthians

Speaking with power

1 Corinthians

This is a passage I’ve been thinking about recently whenever I’ve given messages at church. Honestly, it’s something I need to keep more in mind whenever I write these blogs as well.

Paul wrote,

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,

so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

If you do any kind of Bible teaching, whether as a Sunday school teacher, Bible study leader, pastor, or whatever, I think it would be worth your time to memorize this passage and meditate on it before every message you give.

I’d like to think that I’m a pretty good speaker. I’d like to think that my teaching is clear and simple for those who hear.

But the truth of the matter is that while I may impact people through my words and wisdom, the change I can effect is limited. Why? Because my wisdom and my powers of persuasion are limited.

More, I cannot infuse people with the power to change. People may hear what I say and agree.

“Yes, I should love my enemies. Yes, I should forgive those who hurt me. Yes, I need to take off sin and put on righteousness.”

And yet, unless God is working in them, nothing will change.

What Paul recognized is that there is only one thing that truly brings about change. The power of God through the message of the cross.

It is because of what Christ did on the cross that we can have a relationship with God.

It is because of what Christ did that our old nature died, and we have received a new nature.

It is because of what Christ did that we can put away our sinful past and find true life.

That’s why Paul said,

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2)

How about you? If you are simply a church member, what kind of messages are you hearing at your church? Can you say that the message of the cross is central at your church?

Or are the messages based on the wisdom of your pastor and the idea that you need to change yourself?

If you are a teacher, what is the focus of your message and preparation?

Entertaining your audience? Showing your wisdom and knowledge?

Or is it preaching Christ and him crucified?

Is it letting his power flow through you as you speak so that their faith rests, not on you, but on Christ?

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Romans

The gospel

Gospel and the Bible

In this passage, Paul talks about his longing to come to Rome that he might share the gospel with them as he had in so many other places.

Not to say that they didn’t know the gospel, as they had already come to faith. But all of us need reminders of what the gospel is, and not only that, to get grounded deeper into it and all its implications.

And that’s what Romans is really all about. Getting rooted deeper into the gospel.

Verses 14-15 strike me where Paul said,

I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.

That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. (Romans 1:14-15)

Obviously, Paul as an apostle called by Christ, had this obligation to share the gospel. But for him, it went beyond obligation. It wasn’t a drudgery that he had to force himself into. He was eager to do so.

The same should be said of us. We shouldn’t have to force ourselves into sharing the gospel with others. We should be eager to do so. Why so eager?

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. (Romans 1:16)

It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

I wonder sometimes if we truly understand what this means.

The gospel is God’s power to change lives. Not just so that people can go to heaven.

Salvation doesn’t simply mean a one-way ticket to heaven. It also means that people’s lives can be made whole here on earth.

Salvation means that their lives which have been broken by sin, can be made whole. That their hearts that have been wounded by the hurts of this world can be made whole.

It means that their marriages and relationships with others that have been torn apart can be made whole.

And most importantly, salvation means that their relationship with God which was broken by sin can be made whole.

That’s salvation. And the gospel is God’s power to bring that salvation.

More, the good news is for everyone. It was first brought to the Jew because God had originally chosen them to be his special people.

But after Jesus died on the cross and was raised again, it became possible for all people to approach God, both Jew and non-Jew. We who believe are all now accepted as God’s children.

How is this possible?

For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)

“Righteousness” has several nuances in scripture, but the idea here is that the gospel shows us how to come into a right relationship with God.

Our relationship with God was broken because of sin. How then do we come into a right relationship with God? Through faith.

When you think about it, it totally makes sense, because our relationship with God was broken.

How?

By not trusting God. By not believing that he is looking out for our best. By distrusting his motives. And as a result, we turned our backs on God and started living our own way.

How then does that relationship get repaired? By turning back to God and saying, “I will trust you.”

That starts with trusting in Jesus’ work on the cross to make us accepted by God. To say, “Jesus I believe that when you died, you took the punishment for my sin.”

When we do that, God not only forgives us, but gives us a new heart that can trust him, not only for salvation, but for everything in life.

And as we learn to trust him more each day, and as God works in our lives empowering us to do the things he asks, our actions start to change and we start becoming more like Jesus in everything we do.

The result? Our lives are totally transformed, and we are made whole. That’s salvation.

Do you know that salvation in your own life? And do you understand it so deeply that you are eager to share it with those around you?

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Psalms

Rejoicing in our King

Psalms

This is another psalm that rejoices in the greatness of our King.

The psalmist starts by shouting out,

The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.  (Psalm 97:1)

“Let the earth be glad.”

In a perfect world, all would rejoice in our King, and the fact that he reigns.

They would rejoice that he reigns in righteousness and justice (2).

They would rejoice in his power (3-5).

And they would rejoice in awesome glory (6).

But the truth is so many do not.  Instead, they cling to their idols, whether it’s literal ones, or the “gods” of money, possessions, sex, or whatever it may be.

And the day will come when they will be put to shame (7).

I suppose the question is what do we rejoice in?  Do we rejoice in the greatness of our King?  Or do we rejoice in that which ultimately brings shame?

If we truly rejoice in God, the psalmist tells us,

Let those who love the LORD hate evil.  (10)

It’s impossible to love the Lord and embrace evil at the same time.  And so if we really love God, we need to learn to hate what he hates, and to put what is evil away in our lives.

For those who do, the psalmist says,

[The Lord] guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart.  (10-11)

He then concludes,

Rejoice in the LORD, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name. (12)

What do you rejoice in?

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Psalms

The awesome God…who cares about you

Psalms

Many people in Japan think I’m strange, but I love thunderstorms.  I love hearing the lightning flash and the thunder roar.  Of course, this is much cooler indoors, than out.  🙂

I was looking at the Amplified Bible today, and it had an interesting note.

It said that this psalm was called the “Song of the Thunderstorm,” and was “sung during an earthshaking tempest which reminds the psalmist of the time of Noah and the deluge.”

And throughout Psalm 29, we see the awesomeness of God.

David starts with a call to worship,

Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. (Psalm 29:1-2)

I don’t know about you, but I don’t use the word “ascribe” very often, and it seems that every time I see this psalm, I have to think about what it means.

Basically, it’s saying, “Recognize the glory and strength of God.  Recognize the glory that is due to him.  And worship him for the beauty of his holiness.”

I wonder how often we think of the “splendor” or “beauty” of holiness.

But when we see what God is, and what we were originally created to be, there’s no other word we can use except, “beautiful.”

Right now we are but a marred figure of the image of God.  Yet even so, we can sometimes see glimpses of his beauty as we look at people.

How much more beautiful is the One who is unstained by sin.

David then talks about God in nature, the roar of his voice, and the power and majesty of it.

He describes the lightning that flashes and the thunder that shakes the earth, and how in the midst of the storm, even the mighty trees are broken, its branches made bare, and its pieces “dancing” in the wind.

Through all this, David imagines hearing other voices, the voices of angels in heaven’s temple calling out “Glory,” as they worship the King upon his throne.

But if there’s one thing that strikes me, it’s how David ends this psalm.

He sings,

The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.  (29:11)

What strikes me about this verse?  That the God who is awesome, the God who is holy, the God who is almighty…he cares for me.

He cares enough for me to give me strength when I am weak.  He cares enough to give my soul peace when I am anxious and fearful.

When I am weak, he is strong.  And as the Amplified Bible puts it,

 The Lord will give [unyielding and impenetrable] strength to His people.

Lord, you are awesome.  You are mighty.  You are holy.  And yet you love me. 

Thank you for that.  That though I am small and seemingly insignificant, yet to you, I am highly significant.  Enough so, that you came down to this earth to die for me. 

When I am weak, be my strength.  When I am in the storm and am fearful and anxious, grant me your peace.  I love you.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Categories
Genesis

The power and wisdom of God

Genesis

As I read Genesis 1, God’s power and wisdom really strike me. With a word, God created. “Let there be light,” and bang! There is light. “Let there be plants and animals,” and bang! They appear.

I kind of wonder how God revealed all of this to Moses. Did he just say, “Okay, Moses, on the first day, I created light. Then on the second day…”

Or did he give Moses a time lapse vision of the whole thing. That would’ve been awesome to see.

If God did give a vision to Moses of the creation events, it might give credence to the theory that the earth is very old. Moses saw everything happening in a very short time, but actually, it took millions of years.

I know, I know. There are some of you out there that are ready to shoot me now for even suggesting this.

But considering that neither you or I were actually there, we’re just going to have to wait until heaven to find out.

Honestly, I don’t know if creation was done in 7 literal days or not. All I’m saying is that IF…IF God gave Moses a time lapse vision of the whole thing, it COULD give credence to the 7 “time period” interpretation of Genesis 1.

Speaking of how God revealed all this to Moses, I wonder how God would have explained all this if he had been talking to modern day scientists?

I wonder if God did explain it all to the scientists, could they grasp it all even now?

We’d like to think we’re so advanced. We’d like to think that if God explained it all we could grasp it.

We certainly understand more about our world and our universe than Moses did. But if God explained it all, could we really grasp it? Maybe. Maybe not.

I think scientists will have a fascinating time talking with God about all this when they get to heaven.

“Oh! Is that how it worked? We were close to the answer, but we were a bit off.” Or “Wow! We were way off on that one!”

So what’s my point? Stand in awe of God’s power and wisdom.

Sometimes we look at this world and we question God. We look at the evil that is in this world and we question why? Why does God allow earthquakes? Why does God allow murder?

In my case, I sometimes ask, “Why do I have to have diabetes? Why do I have to have ulcers?” (I have to have a checkup for both next week. Ugh!)

Some answers are simple. “Bruce, you have diabetes because you drank too much Pepsi!” Other questions, though, are much more difficult. And we struggle with them.

But if we can’t grasp the scientific questions, how can we hope to grasp the philosophical questions of life?

God’s wisdom is so much greater than ours.

There are simply some things that we’ll never understand while we’re on this earth.

There are simply some answers God will never give us because we won’t be able to grasp them even if he does give them to us.

What he does ask us to do is to trust him.

Even if we don’t understand.

Even if we never get the answers this side of heaven.

Just trust him.

Trust that he knows what he’s doing. Trust that he’s good. And even more, trust that he still does love you and that he still does care for you despite your circumstances.

That’s the lesson of Job. God never did give Job any answers to his questions of why he suffered so much.

All he said was, “You’re not qualified to judge me and what I do. You have neither my power nor my wisdom.”

And Job fell to his knees and said:

I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

You asked, “Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?”

Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

You said, “Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.”

My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:2–6)

And as Job humbled himself before God, as he put his trust in God despite the circumstances, God worked to turn his situation completely around.

So whatever our situations, whatever our questions, whatever our struggles, let us stand in awe of the God who knows more than we can grasp.

More, let us trust that he does know best and has the power to transform our worst problems into something glorious.

As the apostle Paul wrote:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”

“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 11:33–36)