Divine Power
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and
godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and
goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises,
so that through them you may pate in the divine nature and escape the
corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
Accepting Christ, knowing Him personally, is the power that
we all need to make it day to day. Accepting Christ, opening the door to your
heart to allow Him to enter, is the power we need to accomplish the tasks that
He has set before us. Before I accepted Him, I floundered in this life and did
not know why. Oh, in the back of my mind I knew, but I was too blind and dumb
to admit it, my heart was not in place to accept what I needed to do. I walked
my life in a stupor. “But it is the spirit in a man, the breath
of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.” (Job 32:8). I lacked this “spirit” in me. The
“breath of the Almighty” had not filled me. I was only filled with the spirit
of self, and my breath came from my lungs as I searched for a better life. I
gathered “riches,” only to give them to others when I got incarcerated. My
home, car, and, for awhile my family, were taken from me. My spirit of self
could not help me, God had taken my breath away from me to teach me, so that I
could acquire the knowledge Jesus needed to show me so that I would be ready to
do His will upon my release. Ecclesiastes 2:26 reads; “To the man who
pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he
gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one
who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” How often have you felt that way? Do you work
hard, seeming to gather much, just to have to hand it over to someone? I did.
That is because my motives were centered on me, I looked to myself and my power
to get what I wanted. But what I gained was fleeting, just like the mist in the
morning, it all disappeared.
When I surrendered to Christ, I began to understand, and
see, the power of Him who created all things. I began to realize just how much
He loves me. I saw the power that came from His crucifixion. “If
the God we serve exists, then He can rescue us from the furnace of blazing
fire, and He can rescue us from the power of you, the king.” (Daniel 3:17).
This God does exist, and He is the one that saved me, and can save you too. The
squalor of your life is not too much for Christ to handle. No one’s life is
squeaky clean. God is aware of that. But He wants to come into your life
anyway, to rescue you from that squalor and filth and pain and sorrow that
makes up your life. No matter what you have heard others say, God wants to put
your feet on His path, because He knows that is the path that will lead to
happiness and prosperity. Of course, it will not look like what you think it
will be because we all look at it through a world set of eyes. But when you
accept Him, your view of happiness and prosperity changes from a worldly view
to a God view. “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I
will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”
Ezekiel. 11:19. “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts
to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him!” Luke 11:13.
Christ desires to give to each of us what we need, not what
we want, but what we need so that we are fully able to do His work here on
earth. Yes, the work is hard at times. We may be shunned, talked about,
ridiculed. But Christ does, and will, give us the courage and strength to carry
on, to get through those times. And upon exiting the other end, the riches of
His love for our obedience is there for us to take. “Do not be afraid of what you
are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to
test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to
the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. Revelation 2:10. Our
Father wants all to truly see the world for what it is, broken, sinful,
selfish. By having a relationship with Him, He takes our hearts and reshapes
them into Him, His ways, His way of thinking and acting. His desire is for us
to fully understand that this world leads us along its paths, its thinking. And
since this world is flawed, there can only be flaws in us as we follow its
path. The world’s path is wide and, we think, easy to get around on. God’s path
is narrow, at times it is difficult to walk. But unlike the world’s path, where
we walk alone, God guides and leads us on His path. He walks with us, so that
we are able to come to Him, in prayer, to get the right direction in which to go.
We are able to come to Him, through prayer, to ask for someone to walk with us.
On God’s path we are never alone, God does walk with us and many times He will
bring along side us other people of faith to walk with us. That is the love God
has for us. He desires that no one walk alone, in silence and despair. “And
[I pray] that the eyes of your heart [the very center and core of your being]
may be enlightened [flooded with light by the Holy Spirit], so that you will
know and cherish the hope [the divine guarantee, the confident expectation] to
which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints
(God’s people).” Ephesians 1:18.
Christ wants to open your eyes to see the world for what it
is. He wants to enter into your life and give you the riches that only He can
give to you. Some will be given here on earth, many, though, will be stored in
heaven where they can not be stolen. They will be forever yours. Take the step
of faith, take His hand and allow Him to take you out of your despair and
heartache. Accept Him as you Savior, and start to live the life He desires you
live. My prayer is for you.
