Do you have power in your Christian walk? Do you have power over your sin? Are you able to do things beyond yourself for the sake of Christ? The Christian life should be defined by power. The greek word power in the bible is "dunamis", which comes from the derivative "dunamai" and is where we get the word dynamite. The former means ability, excellence of soul, strength, performing of miracles, moral power and the latter refers to capable, strong, ability. Without power the christian will find themselves continually working out of their own strength, which will lead to uneccesary worry, burden, and sorrow. The Bible would describe this as death, spiritual separation from the life and joy found in Jesus and His Spirit.
"For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Romans 8:6-8
In light of wanting to write a devotion on our power as it is revealed in scripture, I have come to understand that this is the exact reason that Tiffany is unable to continue in Belize. We have talked and she is ok with me relating this study to her experience here in Belize as it pertains to being powerless and operating out of the flesh. There are four main things that I find in the Bible that are revealed to us regarding the power that is necessary to live a life in accordance with the Spirit and not the flesh. We as christians will find our power in the filling of the Holy Spirit, in the sole worship of Jesus, in our faith and obedience, and in our weakness.
“He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Acts 1:7-8
I don’t think there is a hierarchy of where we receive our power from, but if there is one that encompasses the four of them it would be derived from the filling of the Holy Spirit. As true born again believers we are all regenerated by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit actually indwells our being and we receive a new nature. This new nature gives us the ability and power to live a life beyond ourselves and our sin, and it comes from the filling of the Holy Spirit. The reality of this new birth is that we are born behind enemy lines and our new nature in the Holy Spirit begins to wage war against old nature in the flesh (Gal 5:17). The bible describes that as Christians we should be life giving and preserving beings through the filling of the Holy Spirit, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:38-39. And Jesus taught that we must be persistent to seek and ask for the Holy Spirit, “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. "Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? "Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Luke 11:9-13. So we need to be a people who are continually being filled with the Holy Spirit, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit” Eph 5:18, and we will begin to find that we receive the ability, or power, to do things for the sake of Jesus.
“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14: 26-27
Without getting into a long study of being a disciple of Christ, we learn in the word of God that salvation is unconditional, but discipleship is conditional. Every disciple is a believer, but not every believer is a disciple. The word “cannot” in these verses is the word dunamai, which refers to power and ability. So in order to be Christs’ true follower you must have power, and you cannot have true power without true worship. Jesus must become the greatest affection in your life, before family, comfort, and possessions. The context of this whole section of scripture is the idea of a person counting the cost and paying the price to follow Jesus, before you sacrificially give your whole being for the sake of Jesus, that way you won’t diminish the name, power, and wisdom of Jesus. So its not that we aren’t allowed to follow Jesus, it is that we are without the necessary power to follow Jesus, and that power comes from true worship, putting Jesus’ business before anything else. Jesus teaches that a person is not fit for His Kingdom or to follow Him if they aren’t willing to give up comfort, riches/possessions, and friends/family for His sake (Luke 9:58-62). Worship is more that singing in a group, it is living a life completely for the sole purpose of identifying with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus (Php 3:10). “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” 2 Cor 5:14-15
“By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.” Heb 11:11
To seek, pray, and worship are all things that come from faith and obedience, but as we see here Sarah received the ability, or power, to conceive through her faith. Faith “is the assurance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.” Heb 11:1 So our faith is based on more than just a confidence; it is based on proof, but our faith is dead without obedience. “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works." James 2:14-18. So faith has no power without the declaration of works through our obedience to the word of God, the law of liberty. Jesus is faithfully working things into us through His Spirit and we derive power and ability through working those things out in our lives.
“And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” 2 Cor 12:9
Paul found that God’s power was perfected in his weakness. This verse is best understood when you look at the definitions of the words power, perfected, and weakness. The word power is dunamis, which we have determined to mean ability, excellence of soul, strength, performing of miracles, moral power. The word perfected is teleo, which means perform, execute, complete, to carry out or do the contents of a command. The word weakness is astheneia, which means a want of strength, want of capacity requisite, want to understand, want to do great things, want to restrain corrupt desires, or a want to bear trials and troubles. So in other words Paul discovered that the power of God was completed in Him when he had a desire for the will of God even though within himself it was not possible to carry it out.
In conclusion we find power through the Holy Spirit, worship, faith and obedience, and weakness. Without God’s power we find ourselves working things out in the flesh and not having true victory in the Lord. And when the house is not built in the Lord, the house is built in vain.
Which comes to the question, Why have we decided to come home? The answer is power. We believe that Tiffany does not have the power of the Lord working in her to persevere, be steadfast, immovable, and abound in the work of the Lord. This has resulted in a state of bitterness, anxiety, depression, hatred, and doubt, which in turn has lead to huge emotional struggles, panic attacks, and sleeplessness. As Paul discovered that the Lord’s power was truly completed in his desire to fulfill the Lord’s will; we have discovered that Tiffany is void of any desire to continue through the trials and pursue the ministry here in Belize. Without complete clarity on the Lords full purpose of our move here we have come to agree on some initial things, and it all surrounds the Lords desire for us to be sanctified. First, in regard to Tiffany we would compare it to the example of Paul and his call to Asia. During his second missionary journey scripture reveals to us that they were “…forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia;” Acts 16:6, and Paul further reveals that in Asia they “…were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead” 2 Cor 1:8-9. Just as Pauls ministry in Asia stopped we have agreed that our ministry in Belize has been stopped short for the purpose to reveal in Tiffany that her worship needs to mature in a continued trust in her God and Savior, Jesus Christ, and not in her own self will. The Bible teaches that pride comes before the fall, and Tiffany has realized that her identity to be “radical” for Christ was adopted more from her own self reliance and pride, rather than a reliance on Jesus and a boastfulness in his name. For me this situation has provided me the opportunity to ask and evaluate, how am I loving my wife? Do I love my wife as Christ loves the church? Am I pastoring my own family? Am I willing to die to desires that God has given to me for ministry, for the sake of love for my wife and our family? This situation gives me the opportunity to love my wife and do what is right for peace and joy within my family. I also know that next to my relationship with Jesus, my ability to love and pastor my wife and family is of great importance. One of the qualifications of a leader in the church is to manage his own family, and a family unmanaged would disqualify me from the ministry anyway, and to continue my work in Belize would simply be in the flesh and done in vain. Please pray for us, for our family, for our travels back to the United States, and our transition. Thanks again to everyone who has supported us physically, financially, and spiritually.
