The power we all possess equally is the power to know Christ. Christ is the power of God. The gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation to EVERY ONE who believes. This power is eternal power, the greatest power that exist. This power is so amazing yet too few respect this power- to know the gospel, to know Christ as a reality.
I read this excerpt recently--
(Pursuit of God)
"Be thou exalted" is the language of victorious spiritual experience. It is a little key to unlock the door to great treasures of grace. It is central in the life of God in the soul. Let the seeking man reach a place where life and lips join to say continually "Be thou exalted," and a thousand minor problems will be solved at once. His Christian life ceases to be the complicated thing it had been before and becomes the very essence of simplicity. By the exercise of his will he has set his course, and on that course he will stay as if guided by an automatic pilot. If blown off course for a moment by some adverse wind he will surely return again as by a secret bent of the soul. The hidden motions of the Spirit are working in his favor, and "the stars in their courses" fight for him. He has met his life problem at its center, and everything else must follow along.
Psa_21:13 Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power
Psa_57:5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.
Psa_57:11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.
Psa_108:5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;
Exalting God, do we do this?! Do we?! We need to. 'Be thou exalted, LORD.' In all we do God should be exalted, not ourselves. When we exalt ourselves in any way, putting ourselves above God, we fall into the trap of Satan's making. Satan would have us exalt ourselves in any way possible from the smallest exaltation to the largest. May the LORD reveal to us where we fail Him when we exalt ourselves and in revealing, help us to seek forgiveness and repentance. We would be Yours alone, O God, Yours alone, and we exalt YOU alone, You through the power of Christ, through the gospel of salvation.
All in YOUR love!
*******
Excerpt- EJ Waggoner-
The Gospel Defined Romans 1:16,17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
"Not Ashamed."
There is no reason why any man should be ashamed of the gospel; nevertheless, many men have been and are ashamed of it. Many people are so ashamed of it that they could not think of lowering themselves so much as to make a profession of it; and many who do make a profession of it are ashamed to let it be known. What is the cause of all this shame? It is that they do not know what the gospel is. No man who really knows what the gospel is. No man who really knows what the gospel is, will be ashamed of it, or of any part of it.
Desire for Power.
There is nothing that men desire so much as power. It is a desire that God himself has planted in man. Unfortunately, the devil has deceived the most of mankind, so that they seek for power in the wrong way. They think that it can be found in the possession of wealth or political position, and so they rush to secure those things. But these do not supply the power for which God has created the desire. This is shown by the fact that they do not satisfy.
No man was ever yet satisfied with the power that he obtained by wealth or position. However much they have, they desire more. No man finds in them just what he thought he would; and so he grasps after more, thinking that he will find his heart's desire farther on; but all in vain.
Christ is "the desire of all nations" (Hag. 2:7), the only Source of complete satisfaction, because he is the embodiment of all the real power there is in the universe the power of God "Christ the power of God" (l Cor. 1:24).
Power and Knowledge.
It is commonly said that knowledge is power. That depends. If we take the statement of the poet, that "the proper study of mankind is man," then certainly knowledge is anything but power. Man is nothing but weakness and sin. All men know that they are sinners, that they do things that are not right, but that knowledge gives them no power to change their course. You may tell a man all his faults, and if you tell him nothing more, you have weakened rather that strengthened him.
But he who with the apostle Paul determines to know nothing "save Jesus Christ and him crucified," has knowledge that is power. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." John 17:3. To know Christ is to know the power of his endless life. It is for lack of this knowledge that men are destroyed. Hosea 4:6. But since Christ is the power of God, it is quite correct to say that power is the one thing that men need; and the only real power, the power of God, is revealed in the gospel.
I read this excerpt recently--
(Pursuit of God)
"Be thou exalted" is the language of victorious spiritual experience. It is a little key to unlock the door to great treasures of grace. It is central in the life of God in the soul. Let the seeking man reach a place where life and lips join to say continually "Be thou exalted," and a thousand minor problems will be solved at once. His Christian life ceases to be the complicated thing it had been before and becomes the very essence of simplicity. By the exercise of his will he has set his course, and on that course he will stay as if guided by an automatic pilot. If blown off course for a moment by some adverse wind he will surely return again as by a secret bent of the soul. The hidden motions of the Spirit are working in his favor, and "the stars in their courses" fight for him. He has met his life problem at its center, and everything else must follow along.
Psa_21:13 Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power
Psa_57:5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.
Psa_57:11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.
Psa_108:5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;
Exalting God, do we do this?! Do we?! We need to. 'Be thou exalted, LORD.' In all we do God should be exalted, not ourselves. When we exalt ourselves in any way, putting ourselves above God, we fall into the trap of Satan's making. Satan would have us exalt ourselves in any way possible from the smallest exaltation to the largest. May the LORD reveal to us where we fail Him when we exalt ourselves and in revealing, help us to seek forgiveness and repentance. We would be Yours alone, O God, Yours alone, and we exalt YOU alone, You through the power of Christ, through the gospel of salvation.
All in YOUR love!
*******
Excerpt- EJ Waggoner-
The Gospel Defined Romans 1:16,17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
"Not Ashamed."
There is no reason why any man should be ashamed of the gospel; nevertheless, many men have been and are ashamed of it. Many people are so ashamed of it that they could not think of lowering themselves so much as to make a profession of it; and many who do make a profession of it are ashamed to let it be known. What is the cause of all this shame? It is that they do not know what the gospel is. No man who really knows what the gospel is. No man who really knows what the gospel is, will be ashamed of it, or of any part of it.
Desire for Power.
There is nothing that men desire so much as power. It is a desire that God himself has planted in man. Unfortunately, the devil has deceived the most of mankind, so that they seek for power in the wrong way. They think that it can be found in the possession of wealth or political position, and so they rush to secure those things. But these do not supply the power for which God has created the desire. This is shown by the fact that they do not satisfy.
No man was ever yet satisfied with the power that he obtained by wealth or position. However much they have, they desire more. No man finds in them just what he thought he would; and so he grasps after more, thinking that he will find his heart's desire farther on; but all in vain.
Christ is "the desire of all nations" (Hag. 2:7), the only Source of complete satisfaction, because he is the embodiment of all the real power there is in the universe the power of God "Christ the power of God" (l Cor. 1:24).
Power and Knowledge.
It is commonly said that knowledge is power. That depends. If we take the statement of the poet, that "the proper study of mankind is man," then certainly knowledge is anything but power. Man is nothing but weakness and sin. All men know that they are sinners, that they do things that are not right, but that knowledge gives them no power to change their course. You may tell a man all his faults, and if you tell him nothing more, you have weakened rather that strengthened him.
But he who with the apostle Paul determines to know nothing "save Jesus Christ and him crucified," has knowledge that is power. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." John 17:3. To know Christ is to know the power of his endless life. It is for lack of this knowledge that men are destroyed. Hosea 4:6. But since Christ is the power of God, it is quite correct to say that power is the one thing that men need; and the only real power, the power of God, is revealed in the gospel.