The Conquest

Deny the Power? Friday, January 7, 2011

Reading: II Timothy 3:1-5, 1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

Although Paul lists quite a few things in these verses as characteristics of the last days, one of the most predominate problem in our churches today amongst this list is the last one, “having a form of godliness but denying its power”. Come on, men, the same God that created the entire universe, brought down fire from heaven and consumed Elijah’s burnt offering, parted the Red Sea so Israel could cross on dry ground, brought plagues upon Egypt, flooded the entire earth , did I mention, created the entire universe?, stopped the mouths of lions, stopped fire from consuming three faithful followers, did I mention, created the entire universe?, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, cast out demons, do we need to continue? And, this fantastic God, has given us His spirit to live within us; who, mind you, happened to do some pretty amazing things, like heal the sick, give sight to the blind, speak in foreign languages, cast out demons, through some fishermen, a tax collector, a physician. You can study the Bible pretty thoroughly in the Hebrew and Greek, you will not find that these men went and got their theology or doctor of divinity degrees. They were plain, ordinary men, who had an extraordinary faith that the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. The only boundary for His power in your life is your faith. But, with our nice, little comfort zone, we like the “controllable” box that we’ve placed Him in and in doing so we have a form of godliness but deny its power. Why do we think that nothing is impossible for God, unless it’s something that He could be doing through us?

What can you do today to stretch your faith and experience the power of God in your life?

REVIEW

What were you able to do today to stretch your faith and experience the power of God?

How did this impact you, your faith and your perception of God working through you in powerful ways?