Spiritual Power
The Apostle of Paul, from prison, is writing a word of encouragement, a word of exaltation
especially, as he brings this letter to an end, that he wants the Christians in Ephesus and the surrounding areas to have a strong and courageous witness for Jesus Christ, because persecution is coming and he does not want them to be tempted and to give in to the temptation of compromise, to water down their faith, but to be strong and be courageous and be strong spiritually. Even thought the Apostle Paul is imprisoned at this time, weak physically, weak politically, he is strong spiritually, and he shares that. He shared the need for spiritual power.
You know, when we don’t have electric power it certainly gets our attention. The greatest blackout in North American history set all kinds of records in August of 2003. Fifty million people in the United States and Canada were affected. Eight states and two Canadian provinces experienced power failures. There were three deaths attributed to the blackout. Twenty-two U. S. and Canadian nuclear plants shut down. Ten major airports shut down. Seven hundred flights cancelled nationwide. Twenty-three cases of looting reported in Ottawa and there were three hundred and fifty thousand people on the New York City subway when the power went out. Nineteen trains were in underwater tunnels.
When we lose our power, electricity, it certainly gets our attention. The Apostle Paul, though, is speaking of spiritual power and spiritual strength, and sometimes we find that, spiritually, we are not as strong as we think we are. On a bodybuilding forum that I belong to, we often joke about funny scenarios that we witness at the gym. One guy told of a skinny kid who thought he was stronger than he actually was. The poor kid loaded the bar on the bench press with a couple of plates (225 lbs. for those who don’t know) and his friend helped him lift the bar off of the rack. Whom! Down went the bar right on his chest; he had no hope of lifting it off.
But, spiritually speaking, often we are not as strong as we think. And it is no secret why that guy didn’t do well. He probably hadn’t been training in that way. We just simply as Christians cannot just hit and miss on worship. We can’t just hit and miss in the scriptures. And we sure can’t miss daily putting our faith into practice - and still be strong spiritually. Today, as never before, we need Christians who really seek spiritual strength and it comes from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
I want you to look for a few moments, as we look about how to be strong spiritually, at the source our strength. I’ll say it again: The source of this strength is our personal relationship with Christ. It is getting to know Him as someone who is real, far more than someone who lived a long time ago; as someone who is real that you invite into your heart and who lives and reigns there. Paul talks about this power in Ephesians, Chapter I, verse 19. He wrote it this way:
19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength…
In Chapter 3, verse 16, Paul wrote that:
16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being…
And in Philippians 4:13, he says:
13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
This man from prison knew about spiritual power; he had been there before.
In Acts, chapter 16, Paul and Silas has been preaching the Gospel very powerfully in Philippi, but finally they are put in prison and they are beaten and had all kinds of reasons to give up, to whine and complain, “God, is this the thanks I get for being faithful?” But then they took charge. They began to praise God. They began to sing hymns, and there was a great shaking and an earthquake, and the prison doors flew open. The prison guard was converted, became a Christian. Great things happen when we praise God, and spiritual power comes into our lives and into the lives of others.
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