Tag: Power

Tempted In All Ways (4 of 4)

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Power over the Kingdoms of the Earth

The third temptation shows the deceiver trying to take God’s glory for Himself, which is what caused him to be cast from heaven. Our Savior again goes to God’s Word to defeat the temptations on satan: You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve (Deuteronomy 6:13) This is one of the most important truths for us to live by. We should look to God before all things. That includes wealth, power, fame, people, position, etc. One of the other temptation we can see is how this could have also pertained to Jesus. The deceiver was offering Jesus a shortcut around the suffering He was going to endure at the cross. The deceiver was offering the opportunity to bypass the will of God to gain His kingship by and easier way. He was offering the power without the process, the position without rejection, the easy route without the required work. We may not have the chance to sit on a thrown but this says much more. Many times, we are tempted to take a lesser reward under our own strength than the gift God desires through our obedience to His process. Jesus could have taken an earthly thrown but resisted the temptation to avoid the pain and rejection to receive the Heavenly thrown at the right hand of the Father. If we walk a path that God has not designated for us we take the risk of settling for a life that cannot compare to what God designed us for. We will live a life of emptiness, discomfort, loneliness, and fear that might have come easier and faster under our power; but is a shadow of the life we were made to flourish in. Don’t fall into the temptation to bypass God’s light and end up in a darkness fueled by the void where God desires to place Himself in your life. Jesus resisted all of these temptations and made the meaning of Hebrews 4:15-16 come to life in our spirit. He has been tempted in every way and can now sympathize with us, allowing us to draw near to the thrown if grace. How amazing is the Savior we have the opportunity to place in Lordship over our lives? Let Jesus have your heart and guide your steps. He knows your temptations and wants to walk with you in them as you bypass the snares of the deceiver. Walk in communion with the Lord and know what He resisted so that He could hold your hand and guide you to the light design for your path.

Give What is Due

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 (Revelation 7:12) “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Blessing – First, a blessing was a public declaration of a favored status with God. Second, the blessing endowed power for prosperity and success. We are to honor God for giving us blessings we are unworthy of by blessing Him in return in the form of praise.

Glory– Glory speaks to recognition of God and His presence (omnipresence) in all things. God does all things and created all things for His glory. He desires our attention and recognition for all provision. God is the source of all existence and we should be thankful for everything we are allowed to experience.

Wisdom – He is the source of perfect wisdom as describes in James 3:17. An accurate definition of wisdom is: seeing things from God’s point of view. God knows the beginning from the end so He doesn’t get caught up in the small things that our human emotions drive us toward. When you are on the path of God you don’t stop for the pebbles in the way.

Thanksgiving – Thanking God for all that He bestows on His children. Without Him there would be nothing. All that we are and all that we have are because of what He gave and created. It’s human nature to believe that we can do anything without God. We prosper when we can be thankful to God or for any ability and provision He has given us for His purpose.

Honor – To honor someone, is to give weight or to grant a person a position of respect or give precedence in one’s life. God, as our sustainer and creator, not only deserves but desires the highest position in our life. Seeing God in such a light allows His judgment to guide our life as the world moves in many directions. God’s Word acts like a plumb line that never moves from perfect center. His guidance must be seen as a safe place of refuge when we can’t move forward with certainty. Giving God honor gives light to the path through this dark world.

Power – Ability/ Authority/ Dominion Over. God has ultimate power and control over all things. His authority is for all time. Just because the lost turn away doesn’t take away God’s authority, it just take away their ability to sense Him in their life. It becomes easier for the deceiver to do his work on those who deny the authority of God as well as those who drift from that realization.

Might – Strength/ Force/ Physical Power. As God, we have to realize the strength He possesses in His dominion over all the universe. What many fail to understand is God is strongest in our weakness. God does all things for His glory, so when you have nothing left, He has everything. God’s power is magnified through submissiveness. Hand your hardship to God, then let go. It is then that you can truly feel His power, and know that your efforts would have led to a lesser result.

Able to Persevere

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How many times have we seen a child of God broken down when life becomes difficult? We know that God puts difficult times in our lives to draw us closer to Him as we rely on His provision. What if God puts hardship on the shoulders that He trusts to carry it? What if God tries those that He knows hold the faith to overcome that situation? In fact, that’s what the entire Book of Job is about. When things grow difficult we can know that God trusts that our faith will endure and persevere in order to bring about His will. Maybe we are meant to show what reliance on Him looks like to people outside the faith. God has an amazing way of braking down our self-sufficiency and defeating our pride. He does this because His strength is found in our weakness. His glory is found in our reliance on His provision.

(2 Corinthians 12:9) “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Encounters with God

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Encounters with God, whether real or imagined, draw people closer to God. It’s their faith in those moments that draws the glory to God. It’s the eyes to see, ears to hear, and heart to receive that take the coincidence out of God’s actions in this world. God created a subconscious that draws us closer to Him. That is why people admit that there is a basic knowledge of right and wrong. God works in your subconscious, in your heart, behind the scenes of your sinful will. There is a spiritual battle that takes place in our subconscious. It’s reminiscent of the angle and devil on our shoulders in the cartoons. One of the devil’s greatest tools is hiding the nature of the devil in the battle and pretending your own will is good. Acknowledging our sinful nature shows us that many times we must see that it’s our will on one should and the will of God on the other. Power comes from shining the light of God on the spiritual battle of our subconscious and following God instead of the deceiver disguised in our sinful will.