Tuesday, January 22, 2008

What to Do when You feel Powerless

Here is another sharing from Stormie that Lord wanted me to post here:

One of the most wonderful things about God is that He shares Himself with us. He gives us a portion of all that He is. He even shares His power, and He gives us a way to do and be what we couldn’t do and be on our own. Who else would do that but Him? And He does that because He loves us.

God loves us enough to be strong on our behalf. To be strong where we are the weakest. ‘He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak…those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength…they will run and not grow weary’ (Isaiah 40: 29-31). Because of God, you never have to feel powerless, no matter what is happening in your life.

The thing about God’s power is that we have to wait on Him for it. We don’t just throw it on like a light switch. We don’t control it. He does. It’s His power, and He dispenses it at will. He wants us to wait on Him. But the problem is we don’t like waiting. We want what we want when we want it. And what does it mean to wait, anyway? How exactly are we supposed to do that?

Waiting doesn’t mean doing nothing. It’s not like waiting for a bus or a cab. We aren’t tapping our fingers and looking at the clock. While there can be desperation in prayer when we are seeking God for what we need, when we are waiting on the Lord our soul finds rest in Him. We find peace in the midst of strife.

The way we wait on the Lord is to spend time with Him in praise and worship. It means focusing and meditating on the greatness of God and praising Him for who He is and all that He has done. It’s drawing close to God and telling Him how much we reverence Him. It’s praising Him for being our all-powerful Lord. That’s how we can run the course and not grow weary. And as we continue to do that, He will lift us up.

God’s power is not cheap. :D Just like electric power that comes into our homes, there is a price to pay for it. Only the prince is not monetary. The price is spending time filling ourselves with God’s Words so we can understand the power. It’s praying so we can access the power. It’s living in obedience so we can maximize that power. It’s praising and worshiping God so we open up the lines through which God’s power flows into our lives.

Ask God to show you ‘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’ (Ephesians 1:19-21)

Doesn’t that sound like the kind of power we can’t live without?

Jesus wasn’t resurrected from the dead just so we could have a nice, happy life. He was raised up to save us from death and hell so we could live a life of power and purpose. That same power, which parted the Red Sea, opened blind eyes, broke the curse of death, and created heaven and earth, can transform your life and the lives of others around you. None of us to live a life without power. God doesn’t want us to live that way either. He wants to empower us to live the life He has for us.

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