Power of God

Eph 1:19

¹⁹ And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

This verse in its context is a prayer Paul prays for the church at Ephesus so that they would have spirit of wisdom and understanding of Jesus and his Power. This states that our understanding of the Power of God is also not complete and we need wisdom and understanding from God for our minds to digest that.

1.       God’s Power displayed at the Cross

Rom 1:16 and 1 Cor 1:18 clearly points to the fact that the Gospel is the power of God. The Gospel essentially is the event at the Cross which brought us salvation. We also see that it is mentioned as “power of God” instead of “power from God”.  The latter points to the Holy Spirit in many verses (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8).

But the term “power of God” gives me a different understanding. This is the display of God’s power on the Cross. We always see Jesus as a weak person who has given himself to death at the cross. But we fail to realize how powerful Jesus was at the cross.

                Christians normally see God’s power in action only in events like red sea. But God does not use the term “Almighty” here. In Exodus 14:15, God asks Moses “Wherefore criest thou unto me?”.  The sentence is like “why do you come to me for these silly matters…” Similarly, there are many such problems we take to God and think that God has to powerfully demonstrate so that we would receive support from Him.

                But, in Exodus 3:18 God does not easily command Pharoah to let His people away, but ask for permission to sacrifice in the desert for three days. We can see God taking a lot of trouble (Ex 4:8) to convince His own people.  There are many events which clearly point to the fact that the most troublesome thing to God is not Satan or any other evil spirit but the free-will God has given us. This freewill is the reason why Jesus has to come to this earth. God seeks our willing Love (Prov 23:26).

                Many verses like Ex 13:9, Deut 7:8, Deut 9:26 all point to the display of God’s power in the event of deliverance from Egypt and not the red sea. God took the longer path of convincing Pharoah to set His people free.

This is the reason why Jesus had to come to earth. God could have easily shown His power in many ways to convince us. But that will be fearful obedience from us and not loving obedience. God really seeks our love and not our fear. Fear is just a start of our relationship with God. But He really desires love from us. We were like the Pharoah, but God melted us through his Power (Cross).

So, in human history, the maximum (for full, but the largest) display of God’s power was at the cross where God chose to suffer.

2.       Our Power = Holy Spirit

In Acts 1:8 the actual greek word used is martyr and this word means witness. But, being a witness today is not equal to being a witness in those days. A witness would stand up to his faith and belief however badly he would be persecuted or killed. God gives us the power to stand up to be that kind of witness.

We can see this displayed in the life of Gandhi where he displayed his disobedience towards the English by receiving or embracing punishments. We received this power (Holy Spirit) because of His power (Cross).

2 Cor 4:7 “Treasures in Earthly Vessels”. God gives power to us earthly vessels so that everybody understands that the power is of Him. The winning element should be the gospel in us. We are just containers of the gospel and the purpose of our living is the gospel. It simply points to the fact that we should receive persecution so that the gospel wins. This is the purpose God gave us power. This power helps us suffer.

2 Cor 12:9 “for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” This verse does not explain that God gives his strength during our weakness, but it is developed or perfected during our weakness. That is only when we are weak; the strength of God is used and it develops. When we receive all blessings and perfect answers to all our problems, our strength.. i.e., the Holy Spirit is not in use.

Rom 8:36, 37 “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”  Even when we are submitted to persecution or even death, we still are counted as more than conquerors because of the power of the Holy Spirit. We actually only enjoy the authority but fail to accept persecution.

            1 Thes 3:3 says “that we are destined for afflictions”. The strength God gives (Holy Spirit) is to give us comfort, encouragement and power to suffer these afflictions and not escape them.

            Eph 3:16 “Inner Man”. The strength is to help the inner man and not the physical person for the material world.

             So, as a conclusion we should be able to understand how hard we are and how God had to use a lot of trouble in saving us. And how expensive our salvation is (treasure) and how we should use this power from God to safeguard and proclaim the salvation in spite of anything. The greatness of his power to us (Holy Spirit) is according to the power God has expressed in the persecution and resurrection of Jesus Christ.