Living With Power
by Jack Blanch
Is this what Jesus meant would be the result of having the Spirit when He said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”? (John 7:38, NKJV) That’s pretty powerful.
As a young believer I had the privilege of being surrounded with people who believed that these and other promises were for them. They fully expected to experience His power daily. I came to expect the same.
When you think of living in His power, how do you imagine it displays itself? Power takes many forms. There is the power to resist temptation, criticism, envy and bitterness. There is the power to endure difficulties without disappointment, criticizing God himself.
There is the power of intercession, influencing God before His throne. There is the power of love that overcomes all obstacles to loving others. There is also the power to overcome evil spirits.
Power can be quiet like ice expanding in granite boulders and cracking them, or like the explosive power of dynamite.
Are you looking to God to work in you and through you with power as your regular experience? Or maybe you just go through your day doing your best. We do need to do our best, but our hope is to experience what Paul experienced:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
My wife and I experience God’s power on a regular basis. Are we more spiritual than others? No. Maybe we are weaker than others and need to expect that power daily. I think a key to experiencing His power is expecting it. Do you believe that God desires rivers of living water to flow out of you?
Often, as I look forward to the day I look to God to make this a reality that day, that people around me would be benefiting from these miraculous rivers. Other days or weeks I expect nothing. I’m down, discouraged, looking at myself, and so I lose hope. I hate to live that way. I don’t have to live that way. I could meditate on 2 Corinthians 12:9 and learn to expect Christ’s power to rest on me.
I doubt that we can plan power. It just happens as we walk with Him expecting it. Recently I was to have a meeting with two men at 7:15 p.m. After dinner I told my wife that I felt I should go a half hour early and just sit and wait there. I never go a half hour early to appointments. Why today?
As I was walking into the coffee shop, one of the men I was to meet also joined me walking in. He had mistaken the time for 6:45, not 7:15. We had a very special and important time together during that half hour. I call this that quiet power of God. Rivers of water were flowing. Other days the dynamite is there operating, healing, helping, and moving.
These ideas presuppose a few things like walking with Christ in His Word, totally committed to following His will, living a pure life, and praying regularly.
Believe God to let rivers flow through you and His grace to rest on your weakness in the power of Christ.
Jack Blanch and his wife, Joann, live in Brentwood, California. They minister with the U.S. Hispanic Ministries of The Navigators.
