Tapping Into Power

 

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

—Ephesians 3:20-21

Have you ever tried to use an electric tool or an electric appliance and found that it wouldn’t work? After checking it over and finding nothing awry, did you then notice that you forgot to plug it into the electrical outlet on the wall?

How often have you wondered why you had so little compassion, patience, peace, joy, forgiveness, and so forth, for the people in your life? Have you come to realize that your lack of these important qualities probably has something to do with the fact that you haven’t been “plugged in” to the fullness of the Holy Spirit? In our human nature, at times we can express those good human traits. But, they hold little power unless fed by that divine Power that accomplishes divine works.

To take the illustration further, we could also compare our powerlessness to the battery running low because we haven’t connected it to the battery charger. Without coming to the Source of our real Power at the beginning of our day, we will not have the divine ability to live in the way we want to for our Lord.

Jesus referred to this connectedness in His vine and branches illustration in John 15. In that passage of Scripture, Jesus was expressing that if His disciples, as the branches, were to bear fruit, they needed to “remain attached” to Him, the Vine.

When we pray, we plug into the Source and can rest in the knowledge that we will be able to do great things by His power. Puritan preacher, George Swinnock, put it this way: ¹

Every saint is God’s temple and may pray anywhere. Every house is a house of prayer. Prayer is pouring out the soul to God in the name of Christ, crying, “Abba, Father!” A prayer in a moment can fly to the highest heavens. It is a sweet savor to God, a terror to the devil, and a shelter to a Christian. Bernard calls it the conqueror of him who is invincible, and Luther says that it is omnipotent. By prayer fire has been quenched, water divided, the mouths of lions stopped, iron gates opened, the windows of heaven opened, the course of nature overturned, diseases removed, health restored, sin subdued, grace bestowed, kingdoms supported, enemies scattered, the blind restored, and devils cast out. Prayer is the midwife to bring mercies to the believer that were conceived in the womb of promise.

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1 From “Works” by George Swinnock, as quoted in Rushing, Richard, editor. Voices from the Past. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009. p. 315. Please note that in each case, whenever a citation of any Copyrighted material is made within a post on this blog, such a citation is made strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

 

Distilled

 

“For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.”

—Malachi 3:2

Definition of to “distill”: to purify or refine (a liquid) by vaporizing it, then condensing it by cooling the vapor, and collecting the resulting liquid: to extract the essential meaning or most important aspects of it.

It occurs to me that God is in the business of making things, situations, even people, “distilled.” He looks for a final product that He has boiled down, made sweet, and fashioned as useful. He wants to bring out the essence of His work in and through us. This process, stated in religious language, is called “sanctification.” It begins the moment we acknowledge that God has called us to Himself and redeemed us through Christ’s sacrifice. This process of sanctification only ends when our earthly life is over and we graduate to spend eternity in heaven.

As a teacher, I practiced the distilling process every time I presented a lesson to my students. I certainly never taught my second graders about thirds and fifths, and chord progressions—lessons I learned in college music theory class. I distilled what I knew down to “so-mi” patterns and “so-do” endings for them to use in their reading of simple songs.

Along the pathway of sanctification, God brings us through a rigorous distilling process. He guides us through fiery trials that help us see Him and His will more clearly. Each trial distills us, in order that we may live purer lives, and so that we may discard the foolish things we so long thought were important. The contaminants and impurities have to go, to allow us to become more like our Savior.

When we arrive at old age, God expects that we will pass the knowledge of His goodness and power on to the next generation. Psalm 71, a prayer from the heart of an older person, recalls youth and a lifelong knowledge of God’s ways.

• The Psalmist asks God for His ability to: “declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.”
  
  
• The Psalmist recalls the trials: “Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again.”
  
  
• The Psalmist promises to: “shout for joy” and to: “tell of [God’s] righteous acts all day long.”
  
  

When we reach a certain age, we have a lot to distill from the experiences of our lives. We should consider daily, the lessons we have learned through God’s distillation process. We should take note of what the fire has boiled away and what He has for us to share with others about His goodness to us.

We might find that keeping a journal would help us to recall God’s work in us, the Scripture passages that He has taught us through personal experience, the prayers He has answered and through which He has shown us His love and mercy.

Each day, we should ask ourselves: “What distilled product has God brought forth from me?”

 

 

Old and Flourishing

 

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in their old age, they will stay fresh and green.

—Psalm 92:12-14

Our culture has numerous ways of casting a different view of old age than the Psalmist did in the Scripture verse at the beginning of this blog post. Today, when choosing people for important work in the marketplace or church, more likely than not, the younger person gets the nod.

When even the older people view retirement, instead of hoping for a useful and productive time in their lives, they far too often gravitate toward filling their lives full-to-overflowing with “the good life”—the country club, the golf course, the garden, visits with family and friends, or a pleasureful season of constant cruises and perpetual vacations.

When we look into what the Bible has to say about this matter, we see that God used very old people to accomplish some of His most important work. For example:

• Abraham and Sarah, nearing 100 years of age, became parents of a son who would become a key individual in the birth line of the Messiah.
  
  
• King David wrote Psalms from the perspective of old age.
  
  
• Moses carried out his most impressive assignment after the age of 80.
  
  

After Moses had endured the Israelites’ wandering in the desert for forty years, he penned Psalm 90, which in verse 17, he asked God to “establish the work of our hands.” Even then, Moses didn’t “go into retirement” and quit. He asked God for something new to accomplish. He had seen what appeared as futile drifting by his people, and he wanted to warn them that life is short, and God had work for them to do.

When we study the young mind of Moses in the Book of Exodus, we quickly learn that, although God prepared him to some degree for the work ahead of him, God wanted a mature, seasoned man, who had experienced the sad disappointments of life. Eventually, these disappointments would prepare Moses for the task of leading an entire nation to a new home.

By that time, inspite of all the opportuities that God had given Moses to learn and become mature, he still felt very inadequate! Over the many years, Moses had gone from self-assured at forty (see Exodus 2:11-14) to a humble, cautious man, whom God could use at the age of eighty (see Exodus 3). Then, close to 40 years later, Moses penned Psalm 90, in which he was asking God to establish his, and the Israelites’ work for them!

When we feel as though God can no longer use us at 65, or 75, or 95, we need to take a look at His servants in Scripture. Read Psalm 71, a Psalm, probably by David, about old age. In verses 17 and 18, David prays:

Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.

Certainly, we can say that God used Moses in the very manner that Moses’ prayer had requested. In like manner—whether we are young, or middle aged, or old—God wants to use us, as well. Moses, the great intercessor for his people, shows us that even when physical limitations may persist and may hamper our efforts, God can do great things through our prayers.

 

 

Believe It!

 

When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

—Judges 6:12

How many times in Scripture has God proven that He makes the most out of the weakest people? Think of the virgin teen, Mary of Nazareth. Consider Sarah, Abraham’s wife at 90 years old. Remember Moses at age 80. Think about Ruth, a foreign barren widow. Ponder the life of David, a shepherd boy. In the lives of each one, God has elevated these individuals to places of significance in His Kingdom.

As yet another example, I would like to zoom in on the Bible character, Gideon. In those long ago days when Gideon lived, the Israelites had once again cried out to God because of the oppression of the Midianites.

One day, Gideon, the son of a farmer, was threshing wheat in a winepress for his father. He did this in order to hide the wheat from the enemy. As he worked, Gideon was visited by the angel of the Lord, who addressed Gideon as a mighty warrior! Gideon’s response definitely spoke of his lack of faith because, as recorded in Judges 6:13-15, Gideon replied:

“If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?” … The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel.” Gideon responded, “How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

Has anyone ever called you a “trooper,” or a “prayer warrior,” or some other name you know couldn’t possibly define you? Your first thought might be:

“Prove it! Show me in what way you can say that about me!”

Gideon just would not believe that God could do through him what God had asked. Gideon asked for signs, which God graciously gave him. But, as we read in Judges 6:27, even when Gideon obeyed God:

Because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

The story takes even more twists and turns. But, once Gideon had called all his men together, God whittled the army down even more. God did this so that His power might be seen in the outcome of this attack.

We read in Judges 7:12, that even against the Midianites with the Amalekites, who came:

… thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore …

Using Gideon’s small army of 300, God proved His power and defeated the enemy.

In dramatic terms, this narrative from Scripture teaches us that God loves to use the weak to do His greatest work. If we come to God with fear, with very little to offer, in weakness and need, but with a willing spirit, He can use us for mighty things.

In 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, the Apostle Paul expounds on the lesson:

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

If we desire for God to use us, let us please take heart. When we feel weak, God can use His strength in us. When we feel inadequate, God will make us adequate to do anything to which He calls us. Believe it! We can’t, but He can.