Do You Want To Have The Power?

"The greatness of a man's power is in the measure of his surrender." --William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army
"One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard:  'Power belongs to you, God'" (Psalm 62:11, NIV).
"His wisdom is profound, his power is vast..." (Job 9:4, NIV).
NB:  As Daniel 2:20, NIV, says, "... wisdom and power are his" so we must distinguish but never separate these two:  wisdom without power is pathetic; power without wisdom is frightening!  
"[H]aving a form of godliness but denying its power.  Have nothing to do with such people" (2 Tim. 3:5, NIV).  ALL EMPHASIS MINE.

Power is different strokes for different folks, as they say!  To some, it's knowledge or expertise (for even Sir Francis Bacon said, reiterating Prov. 24:5, "Knowledge is power").  Knowledge, falsely-so-called, sure isn't though!  To some it's money if they had the money they'd know how to use it to change the world; i.e., enough money.  To some, it's the power of music, all genres, or rather the power music holds over them--to arouse emotion, to relax, to put in a mood.  To others, the only power that counts is political or what can be exerted in an authoritarian or despotic manner to deny people their basic rights, liberty, and justice.

Sometimes husbands abuse their wives in the name of power or employees exploit workers.  Some religious extremists hijack their faith and do evil in its name; i.e., ISIS and the Taliban.  To religious fanatics (and even Christians were once guilty), they use power to force conversion in some cases or convert through a program of meditations, horoscopes, palm reading, yoga, TM, or other religious rituals and exercises.

To Christians though, power is knowing the Lord and being filled with the Spirit, to know Christ and the power of His resurrection (cf. Phil. 3:10).  There is even power to change our personalities!  Jesus said that the power would descend on us to evangelize the world and we cannot do this in our own power but must learn to abide in Christ.  The thing about our power is that it doesn't come from a force, but a person who loves us--a personality.  Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi wouldn't tell Luke Skywalker that the Force loves him!  A Force cannot love!   Remember, that force had a dark side; yet God is light and in Him is no darkness.  Yet tapping into this love is great power--we overcome evil with good and love is stronger than hate.  And this is what's available to all believers if they submit to the Lord and be filled.  There is so much untapped power out their from believers who haven't learned to avail themselves of God's power in the Spirit.

Today, we must beware of unchecked political power and the drive and lust to achieve it.  As Lord Acton's adage says:  "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."  Plutarch also wondered:  "Who shall govern the governor?"   (Power can go to one's head!)  The divine right of kings is not unlimited, but to be checked by the courts and under a system of laws and a constitution to be moral.  The thing about power in all secular forms: it never satisfied but only gives an appetite for more power.  Only as believers in Christ can we be content to know the transforming power of God in our life and it's energy to overcome spiritual inertia.  Once you've experienced it, you want to pass it on and share it with others.  The world can never know this contentment and inner joy.   

Finally, as believers, we are transferred several things upon salvation:  peace of God, in our lives as well as peace with God; pardon from all our sins--past, present, and future; purpose for living as we devote our lives to God's kingdom, will, and glory; and also the power to change because Jesus is in the business of changing lives, and overcome sin, which is so dramatic it's a transformation or miracle in itself. 

CAVEAT:  IT WON'T ALL COME AT ONCE, THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT MUST BE GROWN AND WE MUST LEARN TO AVAIL OURSELVES OF THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN DOING GOD'S WILL.                 Soli Deo Gloria!

The Still, Small Voice

"For God may speak in one way, or in another, Yet man does not perceive it.   In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls upon men, While slumbering on their beds, Then He opens the ears of men And seals their instruction" (Job 33:14-16, NKJV).  

"[W]ho carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers..." (Isa. 44:26, NIV).   

"[W]ho confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers..." (Isa. 44:26, ESV). 

 "'And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people, Your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions'" (Joel 2:28, NIV).  

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."  --C. S. Lewis

Jesus is saying to us in His message to the seven churches:  "Is there anyone out there listening?"  Just as He says in John 10:27, NIV,  as follows:  "My sheep listen to [or hear] my voice; I know them, and they follow me."  God wants to be heard when He speaks.  ALL EMPHASIS MINE.

The starting point is to listen to the preaching of the Word and find salvation.  "For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe" (1 Cor. 1:21, NIV).  God's charge to Israel known as the Shema in Deut. 6:4 meant to hear!  Even men of learning need heed prophetic utterances:  "...' Hear my words, you wise men; listen to me, you mean of learning.  For the ear tests words as the tongue tastes food.  ... 'If you have understanding, hear this, listen to what I say" (Job 34:2-3, 16, NIV).

WE MUST DEVELOP A TASTE FOR GOD'S VOICE BY READING THE WORD AND HEARKENING UNTO PREACHING. "'... Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed [or hearken] than the fat of rams" (1 Sam. 15:22, NKJV).

"God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform." (cf. Isaiah 45:15).   So goes the famed hymn by William Cowper.  Elijah was desperate to hear from the Lord and in a cave heard an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake, nor in the wind, nor in the fire, but in a gentle whisper or still, small voice of the Spirit that he couldn't mistake--when God speaks to you, you know it and can quote it verbatim.  One thing we all need is to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit to know the will of God.  Balaam had to be spoken to by a donkey before his ears were sensitive to God--see how spiritually hard of hearing we can become?

All Christians could use a spiritual wake-up call to get with the program and back in line and on track with the will of God.  We have all gone our own way and astray at times and need accountability and repentance.  Our ears become insensitive to the spiritual the more we pay attention to the mundane and secular and without putting God in His rightful place.  Our spiritual ears have muscles just like our lips do that pray and they can become atrophied and dull of hearing to God by misuse or lack of use.  We all could use some sensitivity training here!  Practice makes perfect: a lifetime of ignoring God will not make it easy to hear from God.

But we must beware lest we become too mystical and listen to the inner voice even if it doesn't line up with Scripture. You have to draw the line somewhere or strike a balance between listening to the still, small voice and heeding the Word and not getting mystical.  New Age people believe in listening to the God within--but how do they know it's God?   The Quakers are highly mystical, claiming that you should put primary emphasis on your "inner light" or what God says to you, as opposed to good, sound doctrine or preaching.  Why should I trust someone else's "inner light?"  The Mormons believe they have heard from God solely based on feeling a "burning in the bosom." 

Note that God doesn't just focus on our feeling, but uses our intellect and willingness to hear from Him.  Mystics are so confident that God has told them something He hasn't told others and many heresies have been founded by them, and mysticism is also an error of believers who don't rely on Scripture as their sole rule of our faith.  If God says something it will be verified and confirmed (cf. Isa. 44:26)!

We read the Bible through the illuminating ministry of the Spirit and are convicted by its message to apply to us personally and this is when we can have an "Aha!" moment with Scripture or some would call an existential experience or epiphany like Psalm 119:162, NIV, says, "I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil [treasure]."  We can treasure the Word more than our necessary food according to Job 23:12. "Thy words were found and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the rejoicing and joy of mine heart .... " (cf. Jer. 15:16).  

Remember, a conviction is the work of the Holy Spirit and God honors His Word and it will not come back void (cf. Isa. 55:10-11).  We should always read the Bible until we actually feel God speaking to us and not just for academic reasons or to fill a regimen or duty to God.  All of us can have a genuine existential encounter with the Word!   The point about being convicted is that we must heed the Spirit's voice and listen as well as take action--if we ignore conviction then it becomes more difficult to hear God the next time and we can become spiritually hard of hearing.

Jesus addressed the seven churches in the book of Revelation each with a common phrase regarding the voice of God:  "Let him who has an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the churches...."  We can learn from all the churches!  God has a special, personal message to each church or body of Christ and tailors it for them, but we must use the ears God has given us and not turn a deaf ear to the gospel message nor any Spirit-inspired one.  This verse is speaking of our spiritual ears and sensitivity to the leading of the Spirit.  What the Spirit says to one church may also be applicable to other churches, for there is no one-size-fits-all church and believers may be hard-wired differently according to the makeup of their church.

We must listen attentively to God because He can speak volumes in many ways: dreams, visions, signs, word of mouth, sermons, even the voice of a child.  However, God has promised that He will always speak through the Word, though He hasn't retired dreams, visions, nor signs.  That's why it's so important that sermons be Bible-based and refer to it as the primary text, for God has given us His Word that it will not come back void and will accomplish that which He desires (cf. Isa. 55:10-11, Jer. 1:12).  When we refuse light, light is withdrawn (cf. Hos. 5:6).  Our spiritual ears can become calloused by ignoring God and not obeying what He does tell us plainly.

In sum, the key to hearing from God is to know God and walk in the Spirit with our spiritual antennae sensitized to anything the Lord might say and take heed or listen up, because the better we know someone the better our communication:   What we don't want is a failure to communicate!  Sometimes hearing from God may seem like a hunch or premonition or feeling that you feel inclined towards--God is in charge of this too, but it must be biblical and we shouldn't just go by feelings.

I know of a missionary who heard God say out of the blue, "Go to Mexico!" He wasn't hesitant, but obedient to the heavenly calling and went directly to Mexico without further ado. I believe prophecy is a bona fide spiritual gift and God tells "prophets" messages of exhortation (in agreement with Scripture) to the local church and for edifying of the body. Many Christians claim to be "in touch" with God audibly in the sense of even hearing His voice on occasion, and they seem to have no doubt that it is Him speaking. They are not just having a "hunch" or "getting an impression," but can quote God verbatim (if they can't quote God verbatim something is wrong!).

As for most of us, we have to rely on getting an occasion goose bump or "Aha!" moment in the Word to feel or sense His guidance. God has given us this 6th sense known as faith. David was "a man after God's own heart" who heard God's voice but also depended on the prophet Nathan and others to give him messages from the Lord, and yet he is not any less of a man of God. When God speaks directly to an individual that isn't necessarily meant to be a new revelation or prophecy, it is called "personal address" by theologians. Though we have the Holy Writ, this doesn't preclude God's audible voice today.

But when Christians rely on hunches or inner voices it gives rise to "fanaticism," as portrayed by Hannah Whitall Smith, the commonsensical Quaker writer. Even though God can speak through the air vents, it is better to seek His voice in His Word.

NB:  Jesus is knocking at the door of our heart seeking fellowship and promises that if any man hears His voice, He will come in and commune (cf. Rev. 3:20). Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me."  John 10:27  And  "He who is of the truth hears My voice." John 18:37  It is not normative to hear "voices," but he who is spiritual can discern God's message to him in divers manners.  He is in God's wavelength and in tune with the Spirit. 

CAVEATS:  WE NEVER SHOULD INTERPRET THE BIBLE ACCORDING TO SOMEONE'S PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM GOD, BUT THE MESSAGE IN LIGHT OF THE BIBLE TO SEE IF IT LINES UP WITH SOUND TEACHING.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE BIBLICALLY SAVVY OR A SCHOLAR TO HEAR FROM GOD; 
JUST HAVE A NEEDY HEART, WILLING SPIRIT, AND OPEN MIND!   ALSO, IF GOD IS GOING TO MAKE A MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT OR MESSAGE, HE WILL VERIFY AND CONFIRM IT (CF. ISA. 44:26). 
 AND DON'T APPLY YOUR PERSONAL HUNCHES TO SOMEONE ELSE! NOR EXPECT THEM TO OBEY THEM.   Soli Deo Gloria!