TUESDAY June 11th
Ephesians 1:19–20
‘. . .and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places’
Let me repeat where I left off previously, although re-worded, God has made his power available to us who have believed to enable us to live victoriously in this world.
HIS power, God knows we cannot do it in our own strength! Power to be able to live for Christ, power to live according to the Spirit and not the flesh, power to fight the good fight of the faith, power to stand firm, power to say no when the world demands us to conform, power to overcome the evil one, power to make it to the finishing line, our eyes firmly fixed upon Jesus.
And Paul uses as the example of what this power is like as being the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead—now, when Jesus died, he was placed into a tomb and a stone was placed in the opening to block it off and a seal was placed around it. But it didn’t stop or prevent the power of God, for in the darkness of the grave, Jesus the light of the world was raised back to life! No medical intervention, no magic, no! The power of God was at work, defying all the laws of nature, defying all the logic of men, defying the powers of darkness and demonstrating that without any shadow of doubt that God has power over all things.
Now, I am sure we have all seen some incredible things that would cause us to be astounded, but the resurrection of Jesus is the most astounding thing that has ever happened. Now, some would argue, ‘Ah but you didn’t witness it, you have only read about it’. That is true, but I believe it! And the Scripture says that the ones who are blessed are those who have not seen yet believe!
Paul wants us to know that this incredible power that was demonstrated in the tomb is being made available towards us who believe. Later in this same epistle, Paul encourages us to ‘be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might’, or as the NIV puts it ‘be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.’ (6:10)
I wonder if sometimes too often we live our lives as if we are running on low voltage batteries, or rechargeable batteries that are running low, rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to indwell us and to empower us, for to remind us again, it is not by our own might, nor by our own power—I can assure you that this way I would get absolutely nowhere—but it is by his power and his power alone we will live victoriously.