True Power

"...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."
Ephesians 1:17-21

Have you ever noticed, that there are people in this world, who think they know what power really is? Perhaps you work for one, or have worked for someone like that in the past. They believe that they have a handle on what power really is. It might be position, or prestige, or prosperity (money), to them. People like this do not have their eyes opened to what goes on in the spiritual realm, and to what power truly is.

As followers of Jesus Christ, you and I can pray for wisdom and revelation; that the eyes of our hearts would be opened so that we could see and understand more about Christ, and He will reveal Himself to us. I don't believe that we put Him "on the spot" enough, and ask Him to reveal Himself to us in our lives. Perhaps it is because, for whatever reason, we don't really believe He will show Himself to us. But as we read through His Word, we pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. This is essential for us to increase in our knowledge of Him. We can never come to the end of Him, but our knowledge of Him can increase every day.

But also, we pray for the eyes of our understanding to be enlightened. When we don't understand, it is because our understanding is still darkened. Or, as we go through our day, and spend more time in this world, the "stuff" of this world gets on us, and darkens our understanding, so that we need to continually come to the Lord, every morning, and evening, and start our day clean, washed in His Word, and then end the day with a washing of His Word. And as we pray for the eyes of our understanding to be enlightened, He does just that. He pulls the curtain away. The wind of His Spirit blows the dark cloud away, and once again we can "see," and know what is the hope of His calling, the riches and inheritance that we have in Him.

Finally, because He has given us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, and the eyes of our understanding are enlightened, not only can we know the hope of His calling and the riches and inheritance we have in Him, but we can also know the "exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe." Beloved, I know the devil, our enemy, wants to keep us "in the dark" about the power we possess; the power of God resident in us through His Holy Spirit. But that is why we pray these things, for wisdom and revelation, and eyes of understanding enlightened. It is so that we can know, know, the greatness of the power of Christ in us who believe. It is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. Just stop for a moment and wrap your mind around that. The same power that raised Christ from the dead, resides in us as believers. We become convinced by our enemy, that we are weak, that we amount to nothing, and what we do doesn't matter to anyone, most of all God. That is the way the devil can keep us ineffective as Christians. But beloved, know this: we have true power, the power of God. It is not the so-called power of this world, bound up in pride of position, prestige, or prosperity. Let us go out there today, not in pride, but in confidence, that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. Let us go out today, walking in true power. Amen.