The Power of God
When was the last time you just sat down and thought about how very powerful God is? Most likely, if you are like me, the times when you think about it are the times when you realize your own weakness in some situation. I mean, mostly I think I can handle pretty much anything that comes my way. But then things begin to pile up; things start going wrong in your job, maybe in your church, possibly within your family, perhaps add on a personal health scare, and pretty soon the mountain just seems overwhelming, right?
Those are the times you have a choice: first, you can keep trying to push forward in your own strength. That may work for a while, but sooner or later you will recognize that your own strength is simply not equal to the task.
It is at this point that you may recall memorizing 2 Corinthians 10:9-10:
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ 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” (emphases added).
When we are dealing with problems that result from the actions or attitudes of those around us who deny our Savior, we may very well remember that John reminded us, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
But how do we know God is powerful enough to sustain us in those types of situations? Well, apart from a long list of verses telling us about God’s power (just do a Google search for “verses about God’s power”), about God’s protection, about God’s loving care for His own, God has given us an astonishing demonstration of exactly what He can do. Iain Duguid says this in his book, The Whole Armor of God:
…“the power with which we have been equipped for our struggle against sin and Satan is the very same power that brought Christ back from the dead. This is not just the power that would be required to raise someone like Lazarus from the dead (see John 11:1–44). Raising the physically dead is no big deal, comparatively speaking. Yet the power of God is great enough to raise Christ from the dead, Jesus Christ who was buried in death under the full weight of God’s wrath against sin—the sin of every one of his people throughout all ages, including you and me.”[1]
Next time you face what seems to be an impossible situation, you would do well to first turn your eyes toward your Heavenly Father, because “I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace]” (Philippians 4:13, Amplified Version).
Go Deeper
- Creator and the Cosmos
- Intelligent Design Collection
- The New Scientific Evidence that Points to the Existence of God – Package Offer
- Iain M. Duguid, The Whole Armor of God (Crossway. Kindle Edition), p. 14, emphasis added. ↑
