How to wait for God's power in your life (Part 1)

Jesus, the Son of God, born of a virgin by the power of the Spirit, couldn't do anything until He received God's power.  He had to wait.  So do I.  So do you.


Jesus' followers, who spent three years with him, seeing Him perform miracles, rise from the dead, and ascend into heaven, couldn't do anything until they received God's power.  They had to wait. 
So do I.  So do you.


If God in the flesh had to wait for God's power before He began God's work, so do I, and so do you.
If Jesus' followers, who only had to tell what they had seen with their own eyes, had to wait for God's power to simply tell what they had seen, so do I, and so do you.


This is how you wait for God's power in your life.


First, waiting implies not only time, but a specific amount of time.  It's not indefinite by any means.  And if it's specific or definite, then you have to know how long to wait before you do God's work for you.  Jesus had to wait until He was 30, which made sense in His day because ministers couldn't begin ministry until they were 30.  Jesus' followers were commanded to wait "not many days from now," which ended up being 10 days.  Jesus didn't say "10 days from now," but the followers knew that the Jewish festival of Pentecost was exactly 10 days from the day Jesus ascended into heaven.  Ten days is "not many days," even for us. 


If your boss told you he or she would give you a raise in 10 days, that wouldn't seem like many days.  Or if he or she said, "I'll give you a raise not many days from now," you'd expect a raise soon.  Within a week, or two at the most.  But if your boss wanted you to do a certain job that required a specific amount of money or resources, and told you to wait until you received those resources, you'd have to know what the resources were and you'd have to wait until you received them.  But how long?  Until the time came for the job to begin. 


Keyword:  Job.


(Click here for part 2.)

The power of every believer

 

Prayer is the power of every believer. 

It's how we connect with God and receive from God.  Both the connection and provision are supernatural.

DIVINE CONNECTION
It is written, "The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth."  When you pray, God listens, in the room, with you, right then.  You have a connection because you have God's attention.  Do you realize what I'm saying?  You have the very attention of the God of all creation.  He focuses on what you are saying and why you are saying it.  This is your power as a believer.

DIVINE PROVISION
This is what the Lord says, "Ask, and it will be given to you.  Seek, and you will find.  Knock, and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who seeks finds, and to everyone who knocks, the door is opened."  Not only do you have God's attention, you have his response.  He answers you every time you ask Him for something.  I didn't say He always gives you what you ask for.  But He does respond to you.  He will respond to you.  He is responding to you.

If you want to, please pray with me right now:

God, I'm praying with Olatunde just for the enjoyment of your attention and connection.  Thank you for the honor of talking to you, and for the honor of your attention.  Thank you for this power as a believer. 

You do have power as a believer, the power of prayer.  Use it today.  Use it now.  See the power of God in your life.


(image from freebiblestudiesonline.org)

The Source of Power and Perfection

"Complete self-confidence is not merely a sin; complete self-confidence is a weakness."
G.K. Chesterton


I'm sitting in the dark, wanting to die.  I tried to resist her, but continued to lose the battle of lust.  "I can't resist you," I whisper as she attempts to seduce me.  I escape her, but unwillingly.  I longed for defeat; I longed for her victory over my body.


I'm holding on the barely existing virginity, wanting to die.  No matter how hard I try, it is inevitable.  I will fall as my fathers fell.  I can't escape hell, or so it seems, until these words unlock my cell of sin:


"I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died for my sins."


I feel peace cover me like a blanket.  I no longer want to die.


With my sins forgiven, I experience perfection.  My new life begins.  I no longer place my confidence in my good intentions, but in my salvation, in my Savior. 


In His Presence, I experience power.  Faith in Him is power.  Faith in myself is weakness, as G.K. Chesterton said above.  I know better than anyone my limitations.  But He is unlimited in knowledge and ability.  Completely trusting Him is power, perfection, and sanity. 

2 Ways to Guarantee God's Presence and Power in Your Life (Part 1)

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone."  Luke 18:19 NIV

 

I see a picture on the wall of a father and son hand in hand.  It shows them from behind--a baby boy holding his father's hand, his right foot lifting as his father's does, his left foot in step with his father's left foot.

 

A Corrections Officer hears inmates argue about the TV.  He listens and decides how to resolve it.  "Who was here first?" he says.  "His crew came over to the TV and voted for this channel, then all of them left except two."  "That's not how it's supposed to work gentlemen."  "The majority rules, Officer James."  "For the majority, not for two inmates.  Either first come first served, majority rules, or take turns."  "Alright Officer James.  We hear you." 




The officer realized a power the inmates lacked, the power of basic fairness. It was a foreign language.  They needed an unbiased third party with the power to bring order.  In this realization, Officer James found his power.

• Seeing the inherent goodness of a connected father and son gave me a glimpse of the goodness of the union of God The Father and God The Son.
• Seeing the inherent goodness of an officer's establishment of order gave me a glimpse of the power of God, who "is not the author of disorder, but of peace."

Being good, and doing good, are the two ways to guarantee the presence and power of God in your life.


BE GOOD.
We all know what this means.  The reason it guarantees God's presence is because true goodness only has one source as Jesus said.  God alone is good, and therefore being good can only happen in connection to Him.  When you act in ways that are inherently and obviously good, the goodness of your presence will manifest the God who alone is good. 



DO GOOD.
Again, you know when you are doing something inherently good.  Officer James established order.  The Apostle Paul said that "God is not the author of disorder but of peace."  So when Officer James does what God Himself does, he will in that moment have the power of God at his disposal.

In other words, God doesn't simply join in with those who do good.  He is goodness.  So doing good is really you joining into what God is already doing.

 

click HERE for part 2