RELYING ON GOD's POWER

The REMNANT CHURCH must display GOD's INEXHAUSTIBLE POWER, not just give out CHARITY and do good deeds!

Charity or charitable acts does NOT distinguish us from the world at all! Only the POWER OF GOD, does, and will distinguish us in these last days when nothing else can!!

• admitting to human weakness, not bowing to it
• asking for and relying upon God's help, not pridefully representing human strength, perfect performance or human ability
• In order for God's Unlimited Power to be available, total surrender is necessary and requisite.

We often hear about the power of God, and Scripture is full of examples of His power in action. He is "the great God, mighty and awesome" (Nehemiah 9:32). We are taught to rely on His great power to get us through trials such as a job loss, a sticky divorce, bankruptcy, hateful persecutions, a debilitating illness, or the loss of a loved one. Learning to rely on the power of God is part of living the Christian life.

The apostle Paul gives us a glimpse of the power of God when he writes of "his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority" (Ephesians 1:19–21). The Greek word translated "great" is megethos, which means "strong" or "great," and it appears only here in the New Testament. This word obviously wasn't sufficient for Paul to express God's great power, so he adds the word incomparably or, in Greek, hyperballon, related to a verb that literally means to "throw beyond the usual mark" or to "excel or surpass." So, the full idea of the expression hyperballon megethos is that of a power beyond measure, a super-abounding or surpassing power, power that is "more than enough."

Greek authorities tell us that, because the term megethos is found only here in all the New Testament, this reflects the outreach of Paul's mind when he sought to describe the power of God. Paul was "stretching at the seams" as he tried to describe the power of God and pour more meaning into his words. What Paul is really telling us is that God's power exceeds or surpasses everything—it is unimaginable power. God spoke the universe into existence, raised Jesus from the dead, and "placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church" (Ephesians 1:22), and He has power far beyond any possibility of being measured. Paul simply could not say enough about the greatness and majesty of God, and he had difficulty finding the words to express his thoughts about the power of God.

How can we learn to rely on the enormous power of God? First of all, we choose to remember the things that God has done: "Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced" (Psalm 105:4–5). Every miracle recorded for us in the Bible should give us encouragement that His strength is more than enough for our need.

Also, to rely on the power of God, we must learn to cease trusting in our frail efforts and hand our resources over to the One who can do anything. God's power is perfected in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). The disciples were at their wits' end trying to figure out how to feed the 5,000; it was not until they brought the small amount of food they had to Christ that anyone was fed. Joshua stood helpless before the walls of Jericho, but he learned to trust the Lord's battle plan. Zerubbabel faced the daunting task of rebuilding the temple, and God reminded him that the work would be done "not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit" (Zechariah 4:6).

Prayer is a vital part of relying on the power of God, as we pray, "Thy will be done" (Luke 11:2, KJV). Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Matthew 7:7–8). It was after a prayer meeting in the early church that "the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly" (Acts 4:31). It was during a prayer meeting that Peter was miraculously released from prison (Acts 12).

The resurrection of Jesus certainly demonstrates the great power of God and is the great hope of all believers. Because He lives, we will live also (John 14:19). Peter said we have been "born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away" (1 Peter 1:3–4, NASB). No matter what happens in this world, we have the power of God and Jesus' resurrection; the Lord will grant us an inheritance and sustain us through eternity. We "through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time" (verse 5). As Martin Luther sang during the Protestant Reformation, "The body they may kill; / God's truth abideth still."

No matter how weak or ill-equipped we may at times feel, we can rely on the power of God. We have the assurance that God "is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" (Ephesians 3:20). We have confidence that ultimately God will accomplish His good in our lives: "In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

GOD's INDISTINGUISHABLE GLORY

The glory of God is the beauty of His spirit. It is not an aesthetic beauty or a material beauty, but it is the beauty that emanates from His character, from all that He is. James 1:10 calls on a rich man to "glory in his humiliation," indicating a glory that does not mean riches or power or material beauty. This glory can crown man or fill the earth. It is seen within man and in the earth, but it is not of them; it is of God. The glory of man is the beauty of man's spirit, which is fallible and eventually passes away, and is therefore humiliating—as the verse tells us. But the glory of God, which is manifested in all His attributes together, never passes away. It is eternal.

Isaiah 43:7 says that God created us for His glory. In context with the other verses, it can be said that man "glorifies" God because through man, God's glory can be seen in things such as love, music, heroism and so forth—things belonging to God that we are carrying "in jars of clay" (2 Corinthians 4:7). We are the vessels which "contain" His glory. All the things we are able to do and to be find their source in Him. God interacts with nature in the same way. Nature exhibits His glory. His glory is revealed to man's mind through the material world in many ways, and often in different ways to different people. One person may be thrilled by the sight of the mountains, and another person may love the beauty of the sea. But that which is behind them both (God's glory) speaks to both people and connects them to God. In this way, God is able to reveal Himself to all men, no matter their race, heritage or location. As Psalm 19:1-4 says, "The heavens are telling of the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands; day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world."

Psalm 73:24 calls heaven itself "glory." It used to be common to hear Christians talk of death as being "received unto glory," which is a phrase borrowed from this Psalm. When the Christian dies, he will be taken into God's presence, and in His presence will be naturally surrounded by God's glory. We will be taken to the place where God's beauty literally resides—the beauty of His Spirit will be there, because He will be there. Again, the beauty of His Spirit (or the essence of Who He Is) is His "glory." In that place, His glory will not need to come through man or nature, rather it will be seen clearly, just as 1 Corinthians 13:12 says, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known."

In the human/earthly sense, glory is a beauty or vibrancy that rests upon the material of the earth (Psalm 37:20, Psalm 49:17), and in that sense, it fades. But the reason it fades is that material things do not last. They die and wither, but the glory that is in them belongs to God, and returns to Him when death or decay takes the material. Think of the rich man mentioned earlier. The verse says, "The rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away." What does this mean? The verse is admonishing the rich man to realize that his wealth and power and beauty come from God, and to be humbled by the realization that it is God who makes him what he is, and gives him all he has. And the knowledge that he will pass away like the grass is what will bring him to the realization that God is the one from whom glory comes. God's glory is the source, the wellspring from which all smaller glories run.

Since God is the one from whom glory comes, He will not let stand the assertion that glory comes from man or from the idols of man or from nature. In Isaiah 42:8, we see an example of God's jealousy over His glory. This jealousy for His own glory is what Paul is talking about in Romans 1:21-25 when he speaks of the ways people worship the creature rather than the Creator. In other words, they looked at the object through which God's glory was coming, and, instead of giving God the credit for it, they worshiped that animal or tree or man as if the beauty it possessed originated from within itself. This is the very heart of idolatry and is a very common occurrence. Everyone who has ever lived has committed this error at one time or another. We have all "exchanged" the glory of God in favor of the "glory of man."

This is the mistake many people continue to make: trusting in earthly things, earthly relationships, their own powers or talents or beauty, or the goodness they see in others. But when these things fade and fail as they will inevitably do (being only temporary carriers of the greater glory), these people despair. What we all need to realize is that God's glory is constant, and as we journey through life we will see it manifest here and there, in this person or that forest, or in a story of love or heroism, fiction or non-fiction, or our own personal lives. But it all goes back to God in the end. And the only way to God is through His Son, Jesus Christ. We will find the very source of all beauty in Him, in heaven, if we are in Christ. Nothing will be lost to us. All those things that faded in life we will find again in Him.

Walter L. Smith III

Founder/President

Pure In Heart Int'l Ministries, Inc./

The Center For Kingdom Advancement 

Corporate Line: (424) 359-9180

www.PIHIM.org

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Walter L. Smith III

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Redondo Beach, CA 90278-2810

**Leadership Greater Rochester, Class of 2018!

**Gallup Strengths: Positivity, Learner, Connectedness, Responsibility, & Activator

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