Monday, December 15, 2014

Where Has All The Power Gone?

Where Has All the Power Gone?  This is my paraphrase of the song, “Where Have all the Flowers Gone?“ written by Pete Seeger in 1955, and made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary.  My question remains, where has all the power, gone, God’s power that is.

When I pulled up the word power on Bible Hub, it revealed 862 occurrences in scripture, so we can assume that it’s a pretty vital component of faith. Throughout both testaments, the power of God is demonstrated repeatedly. Beginning with the creation of the world in Genesis, straight through to the anticipated return of Christ in the battle of Armageddon, and countless incidents in between. Consider this, the Greek word for power is dunamis, from which our word dynamite is derived.

God’s power has always been the life force of believers, so why is it that we never see these kinds of display.  Has the power died out, did God forget to put in fresh batteries, or  have we become too educated to believe in such fables?  I’ve had numerous “religious” people tell me that  those power-filled accounts were merely stories designed to teach  the poor, and uneducated masses throughout history.  “Get real”, they say.  “You can’t possibly believe all those childish tales.  We have science, and technology now, so we know better.  Who needs God’s power when we have the internet?” In our enlightened, techno-overloaded society, God’s power and authority has been designated to the back of the closet with all the other broken, and outdated stuff.

Sure, I agree, the Bible stories sound impossible, but that’s because they are, humanly speaking.  None of us, even working together could part the waters of the Red Sea, or create a human being from the dust of the earth.  Do you think that good ole’ God is asleep in his La-Z-Boy, and is unaware of this problem?   Guess again, he’s fully awake, and aware of what’s occurring.  In fact he predicted it through Timothy centuries ago, when he said this about people, “….always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.”  2 Timothy 3:7.  We have become a society so full of ourselves, and seeking out “power-filled knowledge” that many have totally lost sight of the truth.  The equation is simple, No God = No Truth, No Truth = No Power.

Sure, we have power, in a sense, but what happens if the electric goes off, or the internet.  All we have left is a pile of useless plastic.   God’s always available, and will never force his power on us.  I, for one, can’t fully live the Christian life without it, nor can you.   God’s promise to us is power, dunamis, dynamite, supernatural power…who doesn’t want that!  Don’t believe me, believe his word….“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,” Ephesians 3:16.  No batteries or internet connection is ever required!!


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