Power drills and spiritual insight
Post date: 19-Sep-2013 11:42:09
Every year the Mind, Body, and Spirit exhibition packs out the RDS in Dublin, with hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of people streaming in. Although more people are staying away from churches, many are still looking for spiritual insight and for ways to improve themselve. The question is: where should we look? There are so many options these days: meditation, reiki, yoga, crystals, not to mention the thousands of world religions.
What does the Bible have to say about this subject? This week we were thinking about a prayer that the apostle Paul prayed for his Christian friends in Ephesus (modern-day Turkey). He prayed:
"that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better" (Eph 1:17 NIV)
So Paul reckons that if you want wisdom and revelation, you need to go to God. Not just any god, but the God who is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the one who sends his Spirit. And not only is God the only source of true spiritual wisdom, he is the only one with the power to change us. Paul goes on to talk about:
[God's] incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms (Eph 1:19-20)
He actually uses four words for "power" to underline God's ability to change us. God is Great (more powerful than anyone else), Active (at work in the world today), Capable (he can do anything), and Mighty (he is strong through and through by nature). So God is Able to Change Minds because he is Great, Active, Capable, and Mighty.
And that's where the drills come in ... when we try and change ourselves the results are often laughable, like trying to bore through a wall with a toy drill. Sometimes we find a system or method that seems to bring about change for a while, but like a cordless screwdriver it soon runs out of juice. Asking God for help is like plugging a power drill into the mains - his power is inexhaustible, and he can overcome any obstacles, just as my shiny new drill cuts into masonry with ease.
Where are you looking for spiritual insight and life-change? Only God can deliver.