Power - God's, Ours and the Evil One - Part 2

The LORD God Almighty not only uses His power for the benefit of others, but to all who receive Him, He gives His authority to them. That is His authority or right to be His children and witnesses of Him. As you listen be blessed, empowered and transformed in Jesus name.

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Transcript

00:00 Intro music and voice over.

Welcome to jesus loves the world podcast. For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Be blessed empowered and transformed in Jesus’ name! 

00:21 Speaker

Following on from last week, where we journeyed through the first recorded instances of when God was referred to as the Almighty. That is the supreme and most powerful. We discovered that the LORD God Almighty makes His power known and uses His power for the benefit of others. He is a covenant making and covenant keeping God. For that is His nature.

The LORD God Almighty not only uses His power for the benefit of others, but to all who receive Him, He gives His authority to them. That is His authority or right to be His children and witnesses of Him.

As He is the eternal, supreme being and the all powerful one, God’s authority is the principal foundation of ultimate power. His power He directs towards us, that is those who have received Him and His right to rule and reign. In His letter to those who had received Jesus who were dwelling in Ephesus and the surrounding regions of the time, the Apostle Paul prays that they would know and experience this reality. 

It is a prayer and letter that is directed at all who receive Jesus, receive God throughout the ages. Therefore it is relevant for us today. 

Let us read, Ephesians 1:15-23 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.  

Paul’s prayer is that all who have received Jesus, received God, may know, experience, understand, be enlightened and receive a greater revelation of God. 

All of which is a work of God that He fulfils. As it is His exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe. His power is not only the greatest, but God is always working according to His good will and pleasure towards us. That is all the power of the Almighty God is directed toward us, for us to be truly free.

It is the same power of God that defeated death and raised Christ Jesus from the dead. His power is life giving and life changing. The power of the Almighty exalted the resurrected Jesus to the position of ultimate authority, in the heavenly realm. Far above all hostile powers, both physical and spiritual, for all eternity.

This wonder, working power of God, not only gives us the right to be the children of God in a covenant relationship with Him, but also the right to inherit His victory. 

Not only the future of His eternal life and our eternal, glorified bodies, but His victory for now in this present age. That is living in His victory in this world damaged by evil. We live in this world where power is constantly being given to the selfish desires of humanity and evil to dominate and control self and others. In giving power to the selfish desires of humanity, power is given to the evil one who through lies and deceptions attempts to destroy.

In Jesus’ human life, He surrendered the selfish desires of humanity and exposed the lies and deceptions of the evil one. We too have been given His right to live in the same power and authority over our destructive controlling forces of self will and the lies and deceptions of the evil one. We simply just need to be willing. 

Willing to surrender our self will, that is our thoughts, desires, emotions to that of our Father’s will. That is giving them to Jesus, which is placing them under His power and authority and taking a moment each day to receive more of the reality of His victory over them. The victory is being free from their controlling, dominating negative force. The forces of self and believing the lies of the evil one. Instead living in the fullness of the freedom and victory that God has given us in Jesus. 

In the beginning death was given power by humanity. Once humanity chose to give power to their selfish desires by becoming one with both good and evil, death entered God’s once perfect world.

Yet God in Jesus defeated it all in His human life, death and resurrection. The working of God’s mighty power is toward us to receive His victory over death, our selfish desires and evil.

At the beginning of Paul’s letter to all those who have received Jesus. Received God, He states that having received Him, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. 

As each individual who has received Jesus, received God, become part of Christ’s spiritual body, that is His spiritual body being the church. 

Having received Jesus, received God, by the power of God have been spiritually raised up together with Him in the heavenly places. Yet it is a daily journey to live in this reality of the fullness of this truth. 

Where together with Jesus, we have our selfish desires and the lies of the evil one under our feet, which is His feet. That is as we live in continual surrender of our self will, that is our desires, emotions, thoughts and even others to Him. As we take a moment to receive from Him, more of His love, truth and power, we can expose the destructive lies of self and the evil one. 

The LORD God Almighty not only uses His power for the benefit of us, but empowers us to live in the fullness of His victory. He empowers us to live in His victory through surrender, to be transformed by Him and be able to know the fullness of the truth. 

Every spiritual force has been made subject to Christ Jesus. He has not only defeated the power of death and the destructive and controlling forces of evil, but He gives us His power to abide, remain or stand in His love, His truth and His power. 

The Apostle Paul puts it this way.

Ephesians 6:10-13 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

The power of the LORD God Almighty is this context is not the demonstration of miracles. In fact the power of the LORD God Almighty is greater than His demonstration of His power through miracles. Power in this context means the absolute right and authority and power to rule and reign. 

God’s power toward us who believe and receive His right to rule and reign receive all of who He is. That is His exceeding greatness of all of who He is and His spiritual armour. This includes His identity, His name, His victory, His spiritual authority and all His inheritance. 

As God has the right to rule and reign, He gives us His power to rule and reign over the schemes of the evil one. We have the power and authority of the Almighty to live in the victory that Jesus has given us. That is Jesus has given us back the power and the right to rule and reign over our selfish desires and the evil one. 

When Jesus walked the earth as a man He not only surrendered His human will to that of His and His Father’s divine will, but He also exposed the lies and deceptions of the evil one. 

The evil one, or the devil or satan, only has the power humanity gives to him. As in the beginning God gave humanity the power. Yet humanity chose to believe the lies and deceptions of the evil one above the truth of God. By believing the evil one’s lies and deceptions, humanity gave power to the evil one and even actioned upon the lies. Having actioned the lies and deceptions, power was given to the evil one and death in God’s once perfect world. 

The evil one has one strategy and that is known as the three temptations. That is lies and deceptions that are targeted towards the self will of humanity. The three areas of self that are targeted by the evil one are known as the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. 

The evil one knows that whatever is fed dominates so if the self will is fed it will dominate others to get what self wants. For the sole purpose of the evil one’s schemes is destruction, death and torment. For that is the nature of the evil one. 

The lies and deceptions that target the lust of the eye are such words as, go on look at it, it gives you pleasure to look, so must it be good. 

Yet as we surrender that to God and take a moment to receive more of Him, He empowers us to stand in His truth and expose these lies and deceptions. In surrender to the Almighty, we can be free from the lust of the eye to look or look again. 

The lust of the flesh are the desires of the corrupted self. The desires for worldly pleasures or experiences. The evil one speaks into the self will with such lies and deceptions like, did God really say this was wrong or not good for you? Is God holding out on you? Go on, just do it as it will feel good, so it must be good. 

However as we cast down such lies and deceptions with God’s truth, knowing what God determines is good for us rules and reigns over self and the lies and deceptions of the evil one. 

The pride of life is the human condition of believing the lie and deception that we are either better than another or lesser than another. Either pride blinds us for a need for a saviour or the need to live in the continual daily surrender of self will to God’s will. Or feeling the shame of self and the lies of feeling lesser or believing we are lesser than another, has the same destructive effect upon self. Both pride and shame are blockages to abiding, standing, resting, in the LORD God Almighty’s love, truth and power.

So to be strong in the context of Paul’s letter is actually being made strong in the LORD by the LORD God Almighty Himself. The text that has been translated as ‘put on’ is actually the reality of being immersed in His spiritual armoured and identity. For this is the exceeding power of His might toward us. As God not only uses His power for the benefit of others and has done it all for us, but He empowers us to rest, stand, remain in all He has done and given. 

So to sum up Power - God’s, Ours and the Evil One. 

The evil one’s power is only what humanity gives. Power is given to the evil one when their lies and deceptions are believed. The evil one only uses their power to feed self, to kill and destroy. For that is his nature.

Immersed in the LORD God Almighty’s spiritual armour of truth, living in surrender of self will, to that of the Father’s will, we are empowered by the Almighty to expose the lies and deceptions of the evil one. In the power of the LORD God Almighty, we stand against the evil one’s fiery darts, knowing our identity is in Christ Jesus. 

The LORD God Almighty makes His power known and uses His power for the benefit of others. For He is a covenant making and covenant keeping God. He gives His power and authority to those who receive His right to rule and reign, to rule and reign together with Him. Where our selfish desires are under His feet, our feet and so is evil. Rule and reign not only for this present age but in the age to come. The LORD God Almighty gives all His power and kingdom to us. For that is His nature.

19:40 Outro music and voice over. 

For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Be blessed empowered and transformed in Jesus’ name!