Introduction
My friend, Mike, knows something of power. He is a 43-year-old executive with a brokerage firm in downtown Chicago with a $300,000 annual income. The tools of his trade are stocks and bonds, buyouts and leverages. His workshop includes such places a corporate boardrooms and corporate jets. His power is measured by the size and location of his office - which is huge and with a panoramic view of the skyline and Lake Michigan, only two floors from the top.
Yet with each move upward and another bonus in his checking account his life outside of work is unraveling. His marriage is stormy and his kids are unruly. He lives on antacid medicine and sedatives. For Mike, power is everything. But he often wonders why he feels so powerful at the office and so powerless everywhere else in his life.
Mike needs power. He wants power. But the kind of power that he is looking for is not found in the size of one's paycheck or the location of one's office or one's job title. The kind of power that Mike is looking for is found in the source of all power - God himself.
One of the most outrageous attributes of God is that although he is undeniably powerful, he also chooses to be a power-sharing God. The Almighty cares enough about us to willingly infuse us with his strength - if we tap into it appropriately. In short, God gives power as power is needed.
The word power, found 57 times in the New Testament, is a word employed to describe God - the most powerful force in the universe. It is a word used to describe the most powerful event that ever happened - an event that separated A.D. from B.C. - the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And, it can be a word used to describe God's people.
Here's the point: o God is a power sharing God. And that's a good thing. He wants us to discover peace when we are panicky, we wants us to experience endurance when we are empty, he wants us to embrace courage when we are cowardly, he wants us to embody power when we are powerless. "For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment" (2 Tim. 1:7).
What an outrageous claim from an outlandishly strong God!
I. Who needs power?
Who doesn't need power like that in their life? Who wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of God's generous offer to infuse us with his supernatural strength?
William Speidel writing in Reader's Digest said, "My wife, Donna, is the spark plug who makes sure the kids are up on time to eat and then catch the school bus. One day she had an early meeting and left while the rest of us were sleeping. By the time the kids and I dragged ourselves out of bed and through our morning routine, we were late. My daughter and son wanted notes for their teachers, excusing their tardiness. 'Okay,' I said, 'but what's the reason?' After some discussion we settled on: 'Please excuse this lateness. Our power went out early this morning.'"
For many of us our power has gone out. We don't seem to have the energy to face the demands of life. We don't seem to have the wisdom to handle the course of life. We don't seem to have the will power to avoid the temptations of life. We don't seem to have the hope to face the tragedies of life. We don't seem to have the resolve to do the right things in life.
What are we to do? Part of the answer is illustrated in a story about a lady who had a small house on the seashore of Ireland at the turn of the century. She was quite wealthy but also quite frugal. The people were surprised, then, when she decided to be among the first to have electricity in her home.
Several weeks after the installation, a meter reader appeared at her door. He asked if her electricity was working well, and she assured him it was. "I'm wondering if you can explain something to me," he said. "Your meter shows scarcely any usage. Are you using your power?"
"Certainly," she answered. "Each evening when the sun sets, I turn on my lights just long enough to light my candles; then I turn them off."
She's tapped into the power but doesn't use it. Her house is connected but not altered. Don't we make the same mistake? We, too - with our souls saved but our lives unchanged - are connected but not altered. Trusting Christ for salvation but resisting transformation. We occasionally flip the switch, but most of the time we settle for shadows.
II. How to plug into the power
What would happen if we left the light on? What would happen if we stayed plugged into the power source? What if we learned to share in God's power? Like my friend Mike, we all want God's power, but how do we get it? How do we tap into God's awesome supply of power?
Tapping into the power of God isn't a matter of pushing the right buttons, chanting the right words, and then suddenly being transformed. The following steps will assist you in sharing in the incredible power of God.
A. Admit that you need God's power (2 Cor. 12:9)
There has been a myth that has circulated for years. The myth states: God helps those who help themselves. And in our macho age we are prone to believe that statement. We are educated. We have toiled hard to reach a level of prosperity and affluence. We have found ourselves in tight spots before only to work our way out through our own ingenuity. But, for taping into God's power, nothing could be farther from the truth.
Here's the truth: God helps those who realize they need help. We are filled with God's power by first emptying ourselves of the pretense that we can get by on our own.
Until we admit the obvious - that we are ultimately powerless by ourselves - we will be like a car stuck in the mud - the wheels are spinning, a lot of noise can be heard, even the splattering of mud can be felt, but no progress is being made.
B. Affirm God's presence (1 Chron. 16:11-12)
Once we come face-to-face with the reality of our own weakness, then we need to remind ourselves that we follow an all powerful God who has an uncanny track record of infusing his followers with strength.
The Bible says we need to keep that truth at the forefront of our mind.
In other words, if you want to share in God's power spend time dwelling on how God empowered his people. God empowered Moses in leading the stubborn Jews out of Egypt; strengthened David in his battle with Goliath; undergirded Daniel as he stood for his convictions in the midst of hungry lions; emboldened Peter as he forged the early church; and supported Paul throughout his trials through fire. Recall time after time how God has proven himself to be trustworthy.
C. Align with God's will (John 15:5)
Remember the country-western song that said, "Looking for love in all the wrong places"? The truth is that sometimes we're looking for God's strength for all the wrong reasons. We want God's power so we can accomplish our agenda. But, God gives his strength so we can accomplish his plan and purposes through our lives.
"'I am the vine; you are the branches,'" Jesus said. That means you and I need to be intimately connected with God and his purposes. He goes on to say, "'The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit'" In other words, it's when we're working in concert and harmony with God that he's willing to give us the power to accomplish great things. The verse concludes with this stark but appropriate reminder: "'because you can do nothing without Me'" (John 15:5). When we're independently pursing our own agenda, we shouldn't have the expectation that God will necessarily contribute to it. But when we are in line with his plans and purposes for our lives, God can't help but to infuse us with his power.
D. Ask God for his power (James 4:2)
Too often we want God's intervention in our lives, but we beat around the bush and never ask God for it. The Bible says, "You do not have, because you do not ask God". We need to come right out and ask God for his power.
Often we are like the boy helping his Dad bring in wood for the fireplace. The boy was struggling under the weight of the log. The Dad said, "Son, why don't you use all of your strength?" "But, Dad," the boy said, "I've got both arms under the log." "I know, Son, but you haven't asked me to help."
God lovingly and willfully wants to give us his strength, if we will but ask.
E. Act out of obedience to God (Heb. 11:6)
There will be times when we do not feel empowered after we have admitted our need, affirmed God's presence, aligned with God's will, and asked for God's power. Then, we take action by obediently proceeding down the road that God wants us to walk, knowing that he will give the power as power is needed.
When we walk down the road of obedience toward God even when we are not feeling empowered we are demonstrating faith. Faith is not just believing something. It is belief and behavior. It is believing something and taking action in accordance with what we believe. Faith has been defined as "belief gone courageous." The Bible says, "Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him" (Heb. 11:6).
So there you have it. The way to plug into the power of our omnipotent God.
III. Do you have the power?
Let me tell you about someone who was plugged into his power. Her name is Mabel. John Ortberg writes of her in his book, The Life You've Always Wanted. If, my friend Mike, the executive of the brokerage firm, was at one end of the spectrum of humanity, then I suppose Mabel would be at the other end. Mabel lived in a state-run convalescent hospital. She had been bedridden, blind, nearly deaf, and alone, for twenty-five years. Tom Schmidt, a pastoral counselor, visited Mabel one Mother's Day. As he saw her in the hallway, he put a flower in her hand and said, "Here is a flower for you. Happy Mother's Day." She held the flower up to her face and tried to smell it, and then spoke. "Thank you. It's lovely. But can I give it to someone else? I can't see it, you know, I'm blind."
Tom said, "Of course." He pushed her in her chair back down the hallway to another patient. Mabel held out the flower and said, "Here, this is from Jesus."
Tom realized that this was not an ordinary human being.
For the next several years Tom visited Mabel two or three times a week. He would read from the Bible to her and sing hymns with her. She would always offer him a piece of hard candy.
The question that occurred to Tom was, "What does Mabel have to think about - hour after hour, day after day, week after week, not even able to know if it's day or night?" So Tom asked her, "Mabel, what do you think about when you lie here?"
And she said, "I think about my Jesus."
Tom sat there, and thought for a moment about the difficulty, for him, of thinking about Jesus for even five minutes, and he asked, "What do you think about Jesus?" She replied slowly and deliberately:
I think about how good he's been to me. He's been awfully good to me in my life, you know. . . . I'm one of those kind who's mostly satisfied. . . . Lots of folks wouldn't care much for what I think. Lots of folks would think I'm kind of old-fashioned. But I don't care. I'd rather have Jesus. He's all the world to me.
And then Mabel began to sing an old hymn:
Jesus is all the world to me,My life, my joy, my all.He is my strength from day to day,Without him I would fall.When I am sad, to him I go,No other one can cheer me so.When I am sad he makes me glad.He's my friend.
How could she live like this, incredible as it seems? How could she be so positive in such a depressing situation? How could she be so giving when the world had taken so much away? How could she be so cheerful when the laughter had died around her years ago? How could she be so faithful when others were so faithless? The answer, I think, is that Mabel had something that you and I don't have much of. She had power. Lying there in that bed, unable to move, unable to see, unable to hear, unable to talk to anyone, she had incredible power.
Here was an ordinary human being who received supernatural power to do extraordinary things. She was infused with supernatural strength. The omnipotent God had shared with her his incredible power.
What God had done for Mabel, he could do for Mike. And he can do for you.