Text- Romans 8:28- “All things work together for good to them that love God, and to them that are called according to His purpose”
In the past few days, we have been talking about the operational forces of life. We have talked about the first four operational forces – wishes, opinion, influence and authority. We’ll go on today to talk about the fifth operational force of life – POWER.
I mentioned yesterday that authority gives orders, but that at times, orders can be disobeyed by rebels. I said to handle rebels sometimes require something more than just authority… That ‘something’ is POWER
There is a thin, yet remarkable difference between authority and power- You can rebel against authority but you dare not rebel against power; you can only resist power if you have a greater power.
Take for example, if you find a stranger in your house, you can exercise the authority of ownership by ordering the stranger to ‘get out!’ But if the stranger is more powerful than you or if he has a gun, he can order you around, or even throw you out of your own house!
When God said to Pharaoh ‘Let my people go’ (Exodus 9:1), that was the operational force of authority. Pharaoh however rebelled against God’s authority, so God brought His people out with great power and with a mighty hand.
Jeremiah 32:11 NET “You used your mighty power and your great strength to perform miracles and amazing deeds and to bring great terror on the Egyptians. By this means you brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt.”
1 Peter 5:11 says, “For all power (the glory and the dominion) belongs to God, now and forever. Amen.” It is interesting to know that not only does God possess ALL authority, He also possesses ALL Power.
Again Luke 9:1 says: “Then Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them POWER and AUTHORITY over all devils…” Now, this is so profound because God did not only give us authority, He also gave us power!
If you understand that all power and authority in heaven and on earth belongs to Jesus – implying that the devil has neither power nor authority – and that Jesus gave us power and authority over all devils, you’ll agree with me that the devil is in trouble!
Acts 10: 38 “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”
Beloved, God is with you, you have the Holy Ghost on your inside, and Jesus has given you power, so don’t permit the devil to have a free ride in your life or in your affairs. As you go about your day today, make sure you exercise the power that has been given to you.
PRAYERS
1. Lord, grant me the power of holiness and love so that I may be like you.
2. Father, please grant me an understanding of the magnitude of Your mighty power, so that I will properly represent You on earth.
3. Let the same mighty power, which seated Christ at the right hand of majesty, far above all spiritual powers be at work in me from today in Jesus’ Name.
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