Jesus Christ Is Our Power

Part 6:

Picture the sun rising on a beautiful, clear morning. We see it slowly peeking out over the

horizon. As time passes it becomes more noticeable, the heat increases, the light becomes

stronger until it is fully visible, a ball of light casting its intense glow over everything.

The earth awakens each day to this light; plants grow and life is sustained. In much the same

way, the Son rises in our hearts. We accept him into our lives and he progressively over-

comes the darkness of our old lives, lives without him and full of self. As bits of this dark-

ness are forced away through our increasing knowledge of him, the Son blazes forth, in ever

greater intensity, into our everyday lives. We become partners with him as we become more

and more aware of his power in us.

I believe the Bible calls us to this progression of experienced power when it says,

"Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you" (Ephesians 5:14, NIV).

We see in this verse a wonderful promise of seeing Jesus Christ work in and through our

lives and circumstances. When Christ shines on the life of the believer, things happen!

Our focus here is on spiritual power. There are many kinds of power: secular, po-

litical, physical, informational, and even personal. However spiritual power, God's power

imparted to us by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, trumps all other power whether it be

earthly power or other supernatural power.

More and More

The Son-powered life is Christ, the power of God, living in and through us. However, know-

ing this fact and experiencing the reality of that relationship are two different things. The

Son-powered life begins at the moment of spiritual birth and develops as we cultivate ourrelationship with Christ. We learn to trust Christ daily to live his life in and through us.

As I've spent time studying God's Word, I have found that many Scripture verses re-

late to one another even though they may be from different places in the Bible (this is one of

the key principles of the Sonburst diagrams). One verse may tell us one thing and another

verse amplifies that thought, principle, or picture of who God is or what he desires for our

lives. When we actually put these verses together, we can see how God has woven his mes-

sage throughout the Bible. Here are several verses that illustrate this principle, particularly

as it relates to experiencing Jesus Christ as our power.

In the Old Testament we read:

Lord … may those who love you rise like the sun in all its power!

—Judges 5:31

"But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing

in his wings. And you will go free."

—Malachi 4:2

And then Paul tells us in the New Testament:

I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in

human wisdom but in the power of God.

—1 Corinthians 2:4–5

But to those called by God to salvation … Christ is the power of God and the

wisdom of God.

—1 Corinthians 1:24

In these verses, we see a demonstration of God's power being brought to those that

love him. As an added bonus, we also experience healing and freedom and salvation and

wisdom. This is Son Power actively working in us and through us!

Paul tells us that this power, from God's unlimited resources, begins internally. A

work must be done on the inside of us in order for this power to be properly operational.

Our inner person must be strengthened by the Holy Spirit, so Christ can more fully possess

our hearts and lives as we trust in him to do so. In this way, the roots of our spirit beings

can grow deeply into the soil of God's love. As this happens, God can bring to perfection in

us, the "fullness and power that comes from God."

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creatorof everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimit-

ed resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then

Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will

grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to

understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how

deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to

understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and

power that comes from God.

—Ephesians 3:14–19

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your

hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus

Christ.

—1 Peter 1:13, ESV

As we grow in our relationship with Christ Jesus we experience not only more and

more of him, but more and more of his love and power and grace in our daily lives.

Less and Less

As we experience more and more of Jesus in our lives, we also can start to happily experi-

ence less and less of self. In the book of John we read these words spoken by John the Bap-

tist, "He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less" (John 3:30). This

process can take place without us noticing, but eventually we should see evidence of this

occurring in our lives as we cultivate our relationship with Christ. This is literally the power

of Christ beginning to permeate our entire life.

The object of our faith is critical. If we trust in the power of self to live the Christian

life, we will fail. Self is always ultimately powerless. Self relies on the old "try harder self-ef-

fort" model and is intent on meeting the demands of the law through works. We try and

try to do and be what God wants, but unfortunately, the flesh is incapable of satisfying the

perfect, exacting demands of the law. However, when Christ is the object of our faith, we

trust him to live his life in us and we accept his power to achieve it. As we learn to become

less and less, Jesus Christ becomes more and more.

Paul wrote to the Colossians, "For you died to this life, and your real life is hid-

den with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). As our life becomes more and more "hidden in

Christ," he takes increasing control. This happens while we progressively focus our attention

on Jesus and his desires for us. The true ultimate goal for each one of us is to have a life com-

pletely hidden in Christ.Just as the sun rises daily to full strength, our desire as Christians is for the Son to rise in his

full strength during our daily lives. This can only be accomplished by understanding and

applying the truths of Scripture to our lives. Only God can command this light to shine out

of our heart as we learn how to die to the three amigos of Me, Myself, and I. Only then can

the life of Christ rise in us, bringing forth his power and beauty.

This is in harmony with the spiritual truth that he must become more and more, and

I must become less and less.

Let's begin with the relationship verse:

Lord, … may those who love you rise like the sun in all its power!

—Judges 5:31

Do you see that key word right in the middle of the verse? Love. It is such a relation-

ship word! We love God … and he loves us as well. And it is because of his love that we have

the promise that we can rise in power. God also uses his love as a vehicle of change in the

life of a believer. He loves us, and when we accept his love, it creates in us a desire to knowwho is doing the loving. Wow, the Creator of the universe loves me! This love is what mo-

tivates us to do what God wants us to do. It is cultivated by sowing into our hearts the idea

that God loves us, and allowing his love to grow into our lives, the new life which Christ has

given us.

What we learn about our relationship with God leads us to a new revelation about

what he is and how we are to interact with him:

"But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing

in his wings. And you will go free."

—Malachi 4:2

One key principle we learn from this verse is that because of our relationship with

God, we fear him. But what does it mean to fear God? One of the ways to describe it is to

say that we become in complete awe of our heavenly Father. We respect and revere who God

is and his authority over all of creation.

As we embrace God's authority over us, we also experience freedom. How can this be?

It is precisely because of Christ's power rising more into our everyday lives, that we are free.

We embrace Christ in us and God's authority over us, and we experience the freedom that

God so graciously gives us. Free from the past, free from the law, free to experience all that

God has for us, free to make a difference in the world.

This leads us to reflection:

Prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in

the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the

world.

—1 Peter 1:13

Prepare your mind for action and exercise self-control … think about those words for

a moment! What would happen in your life if you really applied those words to your life?

Because of your freedom in Christ, you are not only free, but also full of the power of the

Holy Spirit. Look at the verbs in this verse: prepare, exercise, hope, come, revealed. As you

fix your mind on the gracious salvation of Jesus Christ you will be empowered to go out and

do the work God has for you.

And this leads us directly to redemption:Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message pro-

claimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for

their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and

Christ the Morning Star [Jesus] shines in your hearts.

—2 Peter 1:19

This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible because it is filled with potential for

both this world and the world to come. We pay attention to the Word of God because it tells

us how to achieve our ultimate goal. We live in a darkened world. When we pay attention to

the Word of God it provides light in a world that desperately needs it. The sun scatters the

darkness.

As Christ the Morning Star rises in our hearts, he scatters the darkness revealing

what needs to be corrected in our lives. In addition, he imparts his life and empowers us to

overcome wrongful desires and pursue his goodness. The Morning Star symbolizes hope

and guidance. The morning star is the brightest star in the sky at dawn. I like to think that

as Christ, the Morning Star, rises in our hearts, he brings healing to our inner person,

strengthening us, enlightening us, showing us where we need to conform more with his

will, and showing us just what it is he wants us to do. Such revelations bring joy and peace

to us as we bring our lives in conformance with his will. The Son rises in our hearts and

continues to empower us to not only grow in our relationship with God but to accomplish

his will.

This brings us full circle to relationship where we in-

crease our love for God and desire to have him rise in our lives

like the sun, fully powerful and fully effective.

It is important that our hope rests on the gift of grace

that is brought to us by the revelation of Christ. He will illu-

mine things for us both in this world and the world to come as

we pay attention to the Son Power at work in us.

Son Power at Work

1. Think for a moment, what kind of power is most often your source of strength?

What steps do you need to take to make Jesus your source of power?

2. In what ways is Jesus becoming "more and more" in your life?

3. In what area of your life do you need to become "less and less"?