Real Power

[HKHaugan]

Eph.1:19b
Spiritual Citizenship and It's Power

The subject is the power of God. Again we want to make clear the difference between what the world calls power and God calls power. They are an eternity apart. Power in this world is to gain physical, social, institutional and intellectual control of the physical environment, the present moment, the people in it and supervise them through fear. The fact is that world power imprisons those who seek it. They find it is individual, lonely, momentary and isolating, lasting only as long as a person who has it is alive.

On the other hand God’s power can be seen in His appeal to the individual heart regardless of the world’s anti human standards of class, appearance, ethnicity, intellect and status. It is seen in the person of Jesus whose life was lived in truth and grace offering personal healing and maintenance of the individual heart. It’s what we call salvation through faith which is the transformation from self-centeredness and its behavior to accepting the leadership of Jesus and His Word. It’s about love, forgiveness and bonding through faith. Rather than isolating it is relational, fueled by love, filled with interpersonal discovery and an eternal purpose. God’s power brings people together, introduces social climate change and delivers hope in the midst of hopelessness.

There are two domains, the visible or physical and the invisible or spiritual as Paul will point out when we reach Chapter 6 and he tells us that we aren’t wrestling against flesh and blood but against spiritual powers of darkness. Real power is spiritual. This is why I say that 100% of everything in human behavior is determined by what can’t be seen. It’s the choice between fear and faith, Jesus and idolatry, good and evil, morality versus immorality and the structure one chooses to differentiate them. This is where God’s power is the final determinant. Grace, love, faith and hope are the qualities of real power. These override the powers of evil from an evil one whose destiny is temporary and terminal. They are seen in the glare of media news and local currents of human social divisions.

This is more than the power of life and death over an individual. It’s about a personal relationship with God. Empires, emperors, kings and kingdoms rise and fall. God is forever. That experience is what changes a culture, a nation, a family, an individual. The heart of human experience is the choices and decisions made in the individual mind and heart in every next moment. Ultimately people act out of fear or for an ideal or because of a person. Fear and ideals last only as long as the person who carries them. Persons last forever.

What Jesus has shown us is it’s the hearts of people that change the world regardless of those in possession of world power. He is the primary example. An unknown Jew, an itinerant rabbi carpenter, roamed an obscure province among an obscure people and died unjustly condemned, rejected and alienated from every social structure including his religion and family. Yet the greatest heart movement in the world began with Him.

The power that created the universe is the same power that changes a lonely heart to a relational heart that loves, reaches out and cares about the hearts of others. If there is anything more clear about that kind of power think about it this way. God who is Spirit created a physical universe in order for spiritual images of Himself living in physical bodies could freely experience what real power is all about, the power to love, forgive and share. Our God, a heavenly Father, a heavenly Son and a heavenly Spirit, loving and sharing eternally, by nature and pleasure created us as images of Him to be for “the praise of His glory.” That is the heart and seat of real power.

This puts us in the heart restoration business. This is the mission and purpose of our lives, to be those who bring Jesus before the world in which we live every day. He is the One who restores the heart in the power of the Spirit. Our personal task is to prepare the way for Him in prayer, in sharing, in ministry and mission. “Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit,” says the Lord (Zech.4:6).”

When a heart is reconciled to God in the midst of a world drenched in fear and intimidation, that is power. When a heart is changed that has been deliberately consumed with its own desires and the acquisition of world power, that is power. When a heart that has been hurt by exploitation, broken trust, betrayal and disillusionment turns and forgives, turns aside from bitterness, resentment and revenge, that is power unveiled. The so-called major political upheavals and takeovers that are displays of world power pale in comparison to the power that transforms hearts. We can affirm that in our own experience. When someone we know as broken and depressed or a rabid unbeliever, changes and is transformed, that means far more to us than what the national media considers power in clashing world events.

Again, the free personal access to God’s grace, love, faith, repentance and forgiveness in Jesus Christ is where real power lies. Paul sums it up beautifully when he says, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs---heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory (Romans 8:15-17).”