16)
Then the eleven disciples
went away into
17)
And when they saw him,
they worshipped him: but some doubted.
18)
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19)
Go ye therefore, and teach
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost:
20)
Teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world. Amen.
|
I |
t would be true of anyone declaring himself to have "all power" that whatever he did not have initially, would have to be granted to him by others. But, we are dealing with an entirely different set of circumstances when one declares that all power is given unto himself. This, in effect, means that he has all power, with none "in reserve" or existing anywhere else.
About
the only One of Whom we could accept this is Jesus, for He is the One and only
God. When He spoke of himself as the recipient of all might, He was speaking
with regard to the Church. In that He is the Church and He is the all-powerful
One, any church not leaning wholly and solely upon Him will be powerless. He is
the embodiment of power, authority and might.
"In
the beginning ..." and to this day, God is independent and has operated
alone. He has never needed another's help to accomplish anything. As opposed to
us becoming more resistant to Him our knowledge of His "non-defeatableness" ought to put us that much more at ease
and enable us to devote all of our time and attention to His work. However,
before we are able to reach this point, we must recognize and acknowledge that
He is the Supreme Being Who created all things.
The
spiritual history of mankind hinges upon the fact that once Adam sinned, the
act and stigma of that sin passed down to all men through the male. Through, of
course, that one act sealed man's destiny (if remaining apart from God), Jesus
was offered to us as a substitution for our sure punishment—a "ram-in-the
bush" if you will. In Him was put our "completeness" in mind,
soul, body, spirit and behavior. There was nothing that God did not anticipate
when He robed Himself in flesh and presented Himself to flesh that fleshly man
might be made "spiritual." This was and is all wonderful, but even
this was not His only point. We are to accept Jesus Christ as our example—an
example presented to show us just exactly what sacrifice is necessary from us.
Just
as with Jesus, many things presented to us present themselves as
"natural" problems, but the eyes of salvation are able to show us
that all that happens to us is spiritual. Since our lives are spiritual,
whatever occurs in those lives is for the purpose of advancing the spiritual.
Why then would anything be sent to us with a fleshly motive? The "bottom
line" is that any and all difficulties come that we might improve
spiritually—not decline spiritually or naturally.
No
matter what the Lord does, someone is always thinking of himself. Either not
enough attention was said to him or too much. Nothing God did, met his
approval, or it irritated him. Either he grew from the situation—or he chose to
be unsaved.
No
one should meet any of the negative descriptions above, for they profile one
lacking the power to take a spiritual stand. And if one is powerless, scripture
lets us know that all that need be done is to accept what the Giver of power
has already done. Like it or not, we must accept the fact that our situation
will be changed only through learning to praise God. You see, He does not ever
intend for us to feel that we have been responsible for any deliverance worked
or problems solved. His is a people who must learn to give praise to the Lord
God of
What,
exactly, does praising God do? Well, it invokes the power of the Holy Ghost.
For, you see, He cannot and does not sit still when His people are giving Him
praise.
Jesus is the answer and holds the answer to all things. His power is infinite and everlasting and once we accept and believe this, we will also accept and believe that He holds all that we need. Once we accept and believe that He holds all that we need. Once we accept and believe this, we can convincingly tell others that whatever they're going through, the way out is in Jesus. When God's people become convinced of Him, may He help us not be able to get enough of praising Him—or even just mentioning His name.