Message Center - Revelationtoend Ministries

Partner with Us
Login | Forgot Password?

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God - Romans 10:17"
If you have a message to share with the body of Christ, Login if you are already registered or Register now

Message Title

The Power Of A Christian

[ Listen | Forward Message via Email ]

Page: Introduction - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9

[ Full View ]

Introduction

In life, power has been the defining force for dominance and thus man has sought power at all cost. The reason why we see different countries seeking nuclear weapons today is for the sake of power and nothing else, and nearly every war is based on the show of the pride of power. The Second World War which had been going on for several years ended in just a few days when America dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan which killed 220,000 people in an instant and led to their surrender. It is obvious that a person with more power is always superior and that is why man continues to seek more power in order to have dominion. Even though America is falling as a world power today, it is obvious that they are a world superpower with over 10,000 nuclear weapons. Also, the only reason why people fight for political positions and in some cases kill themselves for it is mainly because of the power that goes with it than the wealth; if we remove the power from politics, we will see a different approach to politics. We must also not think that money is power, if not why is it that even rich people seek to go into politics. For example, Abiola was a rich man who had planes, factories, houses, companies, etc but still went into politics. What will a man that had that much wealth be looking for if not power? Power will always bring wealth but even though wealth can help to gain power, wealth is not a guarantee for power.

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." - Genesis 1:26

The power that man seeks today cannot be compared with what God gave him at the time of creation. God said in Genesis 1:26 that man should be made in His own image and likeness with dominion over the earth and everything in it but today man can`t even control himself.

"And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it." - Luke 4:5-6

In Genesis 3, the devil deceived the woman to disobey God and man also gave in for the sake of his wife and thus man lost dominion of the earth to Satan. Satan boasted of having this dominion over the earth in Luke 4:5-6 and also made mention that it was given to him by no other person than man.

"For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." - Romans 7:14

After man`s fall, man became a slave to sin according to Romans 7:14 which also means he was a slave of the devil because the devil had control over man to sin and that is why Jesus said to the Pharisees in John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do...". Man found it hard to obey God`s commandments after his fall but could easily obey sin.

"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" - Romans 6:16

It is obvious that whoever you obey is who is controlling you according to Romans 6:16. If I told you to buy some sweets in a shop for me but you didn`t go and another person comes along asking you to do the same and you repetitively obeyed him, we can say that the man you are obeying is the one controlling you. Many people try to obey God in their own strength but after sometime find themselves making mistakes of sinning again. For example, the Israelites tried to obey God but found themselves disobeying more than obeying Him.

"And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." - Colossians 2:15

Man was under the power of the devil and couldn`t help himself and thus needed a Saviour. God loving man so much created a way to restore him again through His son, Jesus Christ. The death of Jesus Christ looked like foolishness to the natural or carnal man as it did look to the devil. The devil actually though he was winning when he was crucifying Jesus on the Cross but the bible says in Colossians 2:15, that the death of Christ was a public show of victory over the devil and thus putting him to a visible and permanent shame. The whole earth knew of the death of Jesus Christ even though the devil has tried to cover up the death of Christ by lying to some people but more than His death was His resurrection.

"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." - Matthew 28:18

What happened within the days before Christ`s resurrection is more than what the mind can comprehend. It was during that time that Jesus spoiled principalities and powers of darkness, preached the good news of His victory to the Old Testament saints in paradise (1 Peter 3:19) and rose in power, in which even death couldn`t stop Him and thus declared in Matthew 28:18 that all power in heaven and on earth is now His.

"To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." - Acts 26:18

The devil created a secondary lie that Jesus Christ didn`t resurrect from the dead in case his first lie of the death of Jesus Christ didn`t work out, well knowing that once a person believes in Jesus Christ that he becomes saved and therefore is removed from the dominating power of sin and of him over them.

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." - Isaiah 14:12-15

The devil has always sought power; he first sought God`s power. According to Isaiah 14:12-15, the devil was called Lucifer before he fell and he was crowned with beauty, wisdom and glory but he still wanted that of God`s, so he decided to wage a coup. God wasn`t even the one that fought him but He let His angels chase him out of heaven. The devil seeing he couldn`t get God`s power went for his next victim, man and that he did get until Jesus Christ came to collect it back for man.

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" - John 1:12

According to John 1:12, once anyone believes in what Jesus Christ did on the Cross, His death and resurrection, and receives Him into his life by asking in faith, he becomes a son of God and thus is given power to operate as such.

"And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:" - Romans 1:4

Jesus didn`t just say He was the son of God in words but He also demonstrated it in power according to Romans 1:4. You can`t just say you are something without a proof of it. For example, if a policeman approached you and was saying he was a policeman but wasn`t wearing his uniform, you will certainly doubt him but if you see him approach you with a police uniform and hadn`t yet spoken to you, you will recognize him as one without being told. Jesus proved that He was the son of God in power as He healed the sick, cast out demons, commanded the storm to stop, walked on water, resurrected the dead back to life and much more; and everyone that saw or heard of it knew that He was not an ordinary person. The thing is that every Christian has access to the power of God and can do all what Jesus did but you may be wondering why this is not so today. In fact, there are many people who believe that such displays of power is only for those times and not in these days but until we can first believe in John 1:12 which says that we have access to such power in God, we can never operate in such power.

"And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people." - Acts 6:8

And if we think that God`s power is for only the ministers or a select few then what of Stephen who in Acts 6:8 demonstrated God`s power greatly and yet he was not even one of the apostles.

"And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;" - Mark 16:17

In Mark 16:17, Jesus made it clear that the only thing required to release God`s power is to believe in Him.

"For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." - 1 Corinthians 4:20

We must know that the kingdom of God is the origin of power, in fact in 1 Corinthians 4:20, we know that the kingdom of God in not just cheap talk as people may think but it is in power. Every word of God is a seed of power (Hebrews 1:3) which releases its content as faith is mixed with it and we can see that from the beginning of creation as God said let there be light (Genesis 1:3) and there was light.

"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." - Romans 1:16

Paul said in Romans 1:16 that the gospel, which is the word of God, is the power of God to save men and bring them into the kingdom of God. It is the power of the kingdom of God that makes it the ultimate kingdom.

"And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power." - Mark 9:1

In Mark 9:1, Jesus said that the kingdom of God is coming to the earth and it is coming in power. The actual day the kingdom of God came upon the earth again with power was on the day of Pentecost as the Holy Ghost filled the whole earth, and it is certain that some people that were with Jesus Christ when He was saying this were alive to witness this happen as Jesus had said they would.

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." - 2 Timothy 1:7

If there were three natures of God that comes first, I will say it is His power, love and wisdom in which 2 Timothy 1:7 says that every Christian has it, so we must know that the power of God and Christianity are inseparable. The kingdom of God is in power, and if Christians are part of the kingdom then, they must exhibit its power.

"Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." - Romans 6:18

We said that man`s fall made him a slave to sin but when a person gets born again, that power is broken and thus he becomes a servant of righteousness according to Romans 6:18.

"For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." - Romans 6:14

And according to Romans 6:14, sin doesn`t have dominion over Christians, which will mean that it is totally optional for a Christians to sin while to an unbeliever it is not optional but a way of life. So when Christians fall into sin, they must know that it is because they allowed it happen and no because it dominated them. There is no sin that a Christian is in now that he can`t stop if he studies the gospel, the word of God, which is the power of God to save.

In this message, I sometimes use dominion for power and power for dominion and I will like at this point to give an abridged definition of dominion, authority and power and how they connect together.

Power can be defined as the ability to exert a change. Authority is the legal privilege given to a person to exercise power; and dominion is the territory or area of control in which that authority or power can be used. A person can have power but may not have authority. For example, a bandit with a gun has power but not authority to use it but when it comes to authority, anyone that has authority must have power. For example, a police man with a gun has the authority to use power. When it comes to dominion a person with power or authority can have dominion. For example, the devil has power over the system of world but man was given dominion over it. What I am trying to point out is that power can be gotten legally or illegally but authority can only be gotten legally. That is why the Pharisees were asking Jesus by what authority was He exercising His power in Matthew 21:23. Another difference between authority and power is that authority can command without using force but power without authority depends on force to control or effect a change. For example, if a policeman comes and tells everyone to evacuate a place, people will obey him without any force but if there are stubborn persons, then he can use force by using his gun; on the other hand if a bandit comes into a place, he can`t just tell everyone to evacuate the place verbally, he has to use force by using a weapon like a gun. From what we have been saying we can say that power is at the root of any authority and dominion, and for man to operate in the dominion God has given him, he must tap into God`s power.

I have being able to show from scriptures that power is one of the most important thing for dominion and that every Christian has been give access to use God`s power. As we go on in this message, we will discuss on the two kinds of power, how all power is from God, the different levels of power in the Church, understanding the devil and demons, how to exercise God`s power, how not to misuse power and much more.

Next Page

Page: Introduction - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9

[ Full View ]

Linked Message: Message not Avaliable!

Last Updated: Thursday, May 15, 2008

Back to Main Menu Back to Messages Send to Friend Check Bible Passage Printable Version

Do you have any comment or want to contact us?

See All Avaliable Messages 1-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-58	Message Title
Some Related Messages How to be Born Again and What it really means?