I’m prayerful that as I write these words that the power of
the Holy Spirit which is far greater than I can even imagine will give me
wisdom and clarity to proclaim the truth of our awesome God.
Last week I sat down to spend some time studying the Word,
and I ended up reading through most of Galatians and Ephesians. As I read through Ephesians 1 some verses
stood out to me like they never have before.
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you
may know him better. I pray also that
they eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope
to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the
saints, and his incomparably great power
for us who believe. That power is like
the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised
him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can
be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and
appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the
fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Ephesians 1:17-23
This whole week I haven’t been able to shake this
verse. It keeps popping into my head
over and over again. The power that
raised Christ from the dead is available to us who believe. We have the same power that raised Christ
from the dead alive in us. HOLY
GUACAMOLE…THAT’S GOOD NEWS!
But for some reason we don’t tap into that power. For some reason, we live mostly as if we are
completely powerless. For some reason we
don’t ask God to do anything in our lives that would be unexplainable. For some reason our lives make complete sense
to unbelievers. But as Spirit filled
followers of Jesus Christ there must be something different about us. Our lives must look different from those who
don’t believe in our Savior.
This morning in class a girl brought up an excellent
point…She said, “How do you explain the people who aren’t Christians who seem
to be filled with the fruit of the Spirit?”
Our teacher Jeff Spry suggested an answer that has had me thinking all
morning long.
He agreed that there are definitely people in this world
that seem to be filled with love, joy, goodness, gentleness, patience,
kindness, and the other fruits of the Spirit who would not claim to be
Christians. He then posed a question
that I can’t stop wrestling with, “What if it is us?” What if it is us who have become like the
world? What if it is us who are only
tapping into the slightest piece of what the Spirit truly has to offer? What if it is us who have so much more love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control available to us, yet we look no different than nice people who
don’t know Jesus? What if we have traded
in the incomparably great power that raised Jesus from the dead to camouflage
with the world? What if it’s us?
As I wrestle with this question I pray boldly and in faith
that the incomparably great power that raised Jesus from the dead will be
resurrected in me. I pray that each
breath that I take will be purposed for the Kingdom. I pray that The Spirit of our God who is
alive in me will work in ways that are completely unexplainable by this
world.
Francis Chan put it excellently in his book Forgotten God,
“I don’t want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit. I want people to look at my life and know
that I couldn’t be doing this by my own power.
I want to live in such a way that I am desperate for Him to come
through. That if He doesn’t come
through, I am screwed.” (Mom...I know you will read this and think..."I can't believe my daughter just typed that word"...but it's a direct quote...I promise I don't say that.)
I want my life to look like that. I want to pray boldly in faith for things
this world says are impossible and bow amazed before my God when He comes
through in amazing ways. I want to be
led by the Holy Spirit every step of the way, completely surrendered to His will
for my life…even if that leads me to the cross.
Two last quotes from Forgotten God that sum up some of my
thoughts on why this is so challenging for us…
“When it comes down to it, many of us do not really want to
be led by the Holy Spirit. Or, more
fundamentally, many of us don’t want to be led by anyone other than ourselves.”
“The Spirit will lead you to the way of the cross, as He led
Jesus to the cross, and that is definitely not a safe or pretty or comfortable
place to be.”
I pray that as disciples of Jesus Christ that we will seek
to allow His Spirit, which is alive in us to produce unexplainable fruit in our
lives. I pray that we will not camouflage with the world, but that our lives will be filled with the unexplainable acts of the Holy Spirit! I pray that our knees will humbly
bow before the throne of our omnipotent God with requests that can only be accomplished
through the working of His incomparably great power. He is faithful!
