“The Work of Faith with Power”

II Thessalonians 1:6-12

6) Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

7) And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

8) In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

9) Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

10) When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

11) Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:

12) That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction

W

e have been dealing with this overall series so that we might come to understand that what God has done must be received by faith! God has never expected us to understand what He does or why He does it! He does as He does that Men might be left out of the picture—making us totally dependent on Him.

We have a bad habit of basing what we will accept from or about God on what we feel that doing so will “do” to us or take from us. Our plan is always to “look out for #1,” while God’s is to take care of everyone. Obviously, our plan is not one of faith.

If we are ever to get anywhere in salvation, we must come to the place where we are willing to believe Him, we must be able to prove that He is not trustworthy. If this cannot be done, we are obligated to believe Him.

Main Thought

By now, we should recognize that anything that works “through faith,” works by the power of God. Therefore, human beings cannot simply “grasp” these concepts and perform them. This is contrary to Man’s understanding, for we seek to get knowledge that we might control situations through our own will.

The key to operating in the power and authority of God is to operate in faith. It is never necessary that we “guess” or attempt to “figure out” how to do what we believe the Lord wants us to do.

Once we make up our minds to believe God, then we will find it easy to agree with Him. You see, one will only put himself totally into the hands of One Whom he trusts. Now, if the only one you ever come to trust is you…

As we know, nothing about God “makes sense” to the human being, for all that he knows is to process information through his five senses. In that God is a Spirit, what He does is “spiritual,” and therefore, neither measurable not understandable through any human means.

What the people of God seem to have failed to grasp is that because of our transformation, we are not able to live by our intellect, but rather, we must live through what God has said that He has done. It is not as if the natural man is successful at living this way either, but in that he knows no better, he is unaware of how woefully inadequate his life actually is. You see, the life that God has “mapped out” for His creation is more than created Man could ever hope to realize, and yet, our love affair with this life and our flesh is so strong, we are often blinded to the possibility of anything more.

Contrary to much bad teaching that has been promoted in the Church, we do not attain power with God simply be proclaiming or believing that we have power because of who we are. Calling oneself a “saint” or a “child of God” means nothing if one is not “unified” with Jesus. One who is “in union with” Him is “one” with Him, and therefore, of the same mind. This is the person whom God will bless with power.

One who has been redeemed by God is now in a position to give Him praise for all that He has already done. What many have been taught concerning continually petitioning the Lord for what has already been asked for is contrary to a belief that the Lord has already supplied.

We have far too many concerns about the future, particularly in light of the fact that only God knows what the future is. When confronted with tests and trials, we must remember that because of Who allows them, no test will ever come for which we are not prepared.

“The work of faith” carries with it the power of complete submission. Now, if one finds himself believing it necessary to fight his own battles, he will never be able to submit to God.

Redeemed man must come to accept that we are working (for the Lord) because of faith rather than working for something to “happen.” Despite all of the “work” that we often can find ourselves doing, the only way that we “prove” our faith is by doing as God says. It is not enough to simply “profess” a belief; it must be demonstrated.

We are “overdue” for true victory. Over the years, the people of God have tried all manner of ways of securing victory—and instead of matters getting “better,” they have gotten worse. While this “race” was never solely to be of individual benefit, we can no longer afford to allow it to be dealt with as such, now.

We express so much “concern” other; and always praying for someone else, but guess what? The only way to make a difference in the lives of those for whom we pray is to demonstrate for them “the work of faith with power.”