Power

Thine is the ..... the power.....

Matthew recounts a conversation that Jesus had with some Sadducees. (Sadducees were religious leaders) They asked Jesus a question and Jesus replied, 

Matthew 22:29

 “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God..."

My prayer is that Jesus will not say this of us. I want us to know the scriptures, know the power of God and know Jesus! 

This is the power of Jesus....

Mark 5:24-35

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

We do not have to fully understand him, but when we know the power that is in him, we need to reach out to him. This is why we read his word, this is why we pray, this is why we worship, this is why we go to the alter and fall on our knees-- the power of Jesus changes everything.... 

 

And now this power lives in us! Listen to what Jesus said...

John 14:12-17

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you."

Tell us more about receiving this Holy Spirit...

Acts 1:8

"you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

You may not feel like you have this power in you, but I see it--- you do not walk and live like the world- you pray, you worship, you love, you obey, you listen, you are growing up and away from sin, you do not long to follow the world but believe there is more, you encourage others, you give your time away to help others. You have the Spirit of God and his power in you!! 

My prayers for you...

Romans 15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Ephesians 3:14-21

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Colossians 1:9-14

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Why do I pray these things??

1Timothy 1:7

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

And Because Jesus....

Hebrew 1:2-4

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

So that little word- power- at the end of the Lord's Prayer, is another word, like kingdom, to remind you of the bigger picture- how awesome Jesus is and how he has called you into that same awesome.