Welcome!
Date: Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Today: The power of weakness
Passage: 1 Cor 2: 1-5 NIV
1When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[a] 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. (emphasis added)
Jesus called fishermen like Peter, to follow Him
But He also called wise men like Paul
It was no problem with Jesus to Put Peter and Paul together
But what was required was that they surrender all their head knowledge and skills and take on them the heart-knowledge about God
The power of God works when we surrender our power to Him
In our “weakness”, God’s power takes control and does amazing things
When Peter and John stood up and preached with authority, and as miracles happened, there opposers were shaken and frozen like ice!
They could not explain this mighty power!
13When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. (Acts 4: 13-14, NIV- emphasis added )
Peter and John were unschooled
The only school they had been to, was the mobile Bible School of Jesus
That was enough; they were with Jesus
There is nothing wrong in studying. Moses was well learned, as Paul was
Daniel received the best training in Babylon- in the Babylon Administrative Service
But, as God worked through Moses, Daniel and Paul, they did not use their intellect or skills in the knowledge realm
Instead, they depended on God; it was simply the power of God that was manifested through them
I am not against some of the theological giants we have, praise God for them. But if a demonic person comes to them or if an extremely sick person comes, many of these people have no answer or solution
Our theological or head knowledge cannot save that person from their situation
The Pentecostal movement, as it spread all over the world in the early 1900’s, those men and women were not well schooled or very rich
In Kerala, India, the people who were anointed by God and mightily used were mostly unschooled and poor
But no one could stop the power and move of the Holy Spirit through them
Today, that kind of power is rarely seen
Money and knowledge has replaced the trust in God and His power
Today we are running after men and women with great knowledge and special gifts
Instead, if we had some time to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from Him, He would have demonstrated His power in and through us, in an amazing way!
God is looking for our availability, not ability
14He appointed twelve—designating them apostles[b]—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15and to have authority to drive out demons. (Mark 3: 14-15, NIV)
This is what Jesus wants you and me to do
Be with Him; preach in the anointing of the Spirit; let people be saved
Let the demons get out of people and run; let the sick be healed
When we minister, people should glorify Jesus, instead of praising our intellectual skills and knowledge
That will bring many to the saving knowledge of Christ
Do we have some time for Jesus- to meditate the word and pray?
Have a blessed day!
BG
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I need you. I need you to take control of me so that others will not praise me or my skills and knowledge, but you alone, because it is your power that will be manifested and not mine. Amen