From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Jesus summed it up: "Without Me you can do nothing."

In our first article in this series, we discussed the question of real versus counterfeit spiritual power. We saw that there are many misconceptions about spiritual power in the church today, and that is because there is a lot of focus on externals. But while man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart. God does not impart spiritual power according to outward human measurements. God isn't concerned about externals. God is concerned about the issues of the heart.

Discerning Counterfeits

Before we move on, I want to add one other point. If you've read some of our other publications or listened to our broadcasts, you may know that I've emphasized this point in relation to other issues: The sure way to recognize a counterfeit is to become intimately familiar with the genuine article.

People who work in banks have to watch for counterfeit money. How are they able to tell counterfeit money from the real thing? It is because they study the real thing. They get to know it intimately. That is how they come to understand the ways in which the counterfeit differs from the genuine article.

Sometimes the differences are glaring, but often they are so subtle that the untrained eye will miss them and allow a worthless counterfeit to remain in circulation. Bank personnel keep their eyes wide open for the counterfeit, with a clear picture of the genuine article in mind. They never know when the counterfeit is coming. They watch for it, so they can take that which is deceptive and valueless out of circulation.

Christians need to be immersed in the real thing, spiritually speaking. Like the Bereans of Acts chapter 17, we need to compare everything that we hear, and read, and see, with Scripture. That is certainly true when it comes to the subject of spiritual power.

To understand the genuine article, we need to understand the true nature of spiritual power, the need for it, the magnitude of it, and God's purpose for it. In this article we'll focus on the nature of spiritual power. Once again let me draw your attention to our key passage for this series, Colossians 1:11 - "Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power."

The Nature of Spiritual Power

The very first thing this verse tells us is that genuine spiritual power is supernatural power. A more literal translation from the original language would be, "With all power being strengthened according to the might of His glory." An even more literal or expanded translation, one that expresses further elements of the meaning of the Greek words, would be like this: "Enabled with all power, by resting in the instrumentality of the power that is inherent in the glory of God."

The force of the original language is that the very essence of God is power. That is the kind of power that Paul is speaking of here. The nature of genuine spiritual power is that it is supernatural power. It has the very God of the universe as its source. We read of this throughout God's Word, but let me mention just a few passages.

In Psalm 136, verses 3 and 4, we read: "Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords! For His mercy endures forever: to Him who alone does great wonders, for His mercy endures forever." God alone is the source of genuine power.

In John chapter 15, verse 15, Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." You can have no spiritual power apart from a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then we have that great benediction at the end of the book of Jude: "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen." The Christian must ascribe all power to God, and we must understand that the glory and majesty of God, and the dominion and power of God, go hand in hand. They are inseparable, because they are both bound up in His very nature as God. Genuine spiritual power is God's supernatural power, sovereignly administered, for His glory.

The Source, The Conduit, The Controller

Genuine spiritual power is wrapped up in God's glory and majesty, not ours. It is His dominion and power, not ours. A saving relationship with Christ, that Vine-and-branch relationship, is the conduit of spiritual power. God the Holy Spirit, indwelling each and every blood-bought child of God, is the One who controls its operation. Paul writes this in Ephesians chapter 3, beginning at verse 14:

"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

Notice all the themes being brought together in these verses, the themes that we also find in Colossians chapter one. Access to spiritual power is made possible because of the fact that belief on the Lord Jesus Christ, our understanding and belief of the Gospel, has changed everything for us. We have a new family identity in Christ. We have glorious riches in Christ. We have access to the surpassing knowledge of God and of His will that comes through His Word. The fullness of God is in Christ, and in Him we have available to us the power of God, which is inherently for the glory of God, who is "able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or think" - "according to the power that works in us."

What Kind of Power Are You and Your Church Seeking?

This leads us inexorably to these questions: Where is your confidence as an individual Christian? Where is the confidence of your church? Is your confidence in worthless currency - in self, in sinful flesh, in externals that may mean much to the world but so easily draw us away from reliance upon God? Or is your confidence in the genuine, priceless article - the power of the glorious and majestic God who has saved you, who indwells you, who has connected you to the very source of His power, and controls the operation of that power in and through you according to His matchless wisdom? Are you seeking that power?

These are marvelous truths, beyond the comprehension of the natural man. They are matters of the inner man, the saved man who has been translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of the dear Son of God. And they are, above all, issues of the unsurpassable glory of God.

Next: The Need for Spiritual Power

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