Paul's Prayer: "...that God would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man." (Eph.3:16)
(God's Supernatural) Strength in the Inner Man!
I am a weight lifter and have been one for many years. I have deadlifted 520 lbs., benched 335 lbs. and clean and jerked 285 lbs. That is all raw, without any weight lifting suit, and always weighing under 238 lbs. I like the power lifts! ... but my knees are not what they used to be, and I have to watch my lower back.
But there is a power source available to man today that will never run out. As Paul wrote, even though the "outer man is decaying - i.e the physical body - yet the inner man is being renewed day by day! Unceasing strength in the inner man is the result of the possession of RESURRECTION POWER!
See Eph.1:19-21; 3:16 The source of this power in the inner man is available for every properly (according to scripture) immersed believer in Christ through one little thing - FAITH. This is the victory; this is the overcoming; this is the winning of every battle against temptation - even our faith.(I Jn.5:4) This is the freedom that Jesus brings into the life of every man who walks by faith, not by sight. This is the absolute freedom that Paul preached to the Gentiles in Pisidian Antioch. (Acts 13:39), the freedom that was not available under Moses, even to the strongest-willed and hardest-running, sincerest-seeking and most earnest (Practitioners of Moses' law system.) All it earned for Saul was to make him "the chief of sinners"! As he wrote in Romans 11:7, "what Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it and the rest were hardened". On the resurrection of Christ inaugurated a new era of true salvation from sin and cultures based on lies. This salvation is in keeping with the resurrection of Christ.
By Christ's resurrection, God provided a "hyper-jump" into righteousness and holiness that no amount of willing and running by "good" men could ever achieve. Mankind was earth-bound until the resurrection event, plodding along in sin without any rocket- booster power to break the gravity of his personal sins and the negative mental pull of our ancestors bad examples. As Peter wrote, "the futile way of life inherited from our forefathers." Adam started a race of losers who could not defeat Satan's wiles no matter how hard they tried. Eventually, all succumbed to the deadly virus of sin. Even the mighty Moses was so disqualified from entering the Promised Land, and daring David wasn't allowed, because of sin, to construct the temple for God. All sinned, all failed, all longingly looked for a dread champion who would fulfill their desire to crush the Tempter once and for all and free men from his tyrannical rule.
When Jesus finally came, He set about dismantling the works of the devil and rendering him powerless. But more importantly, He went about making His own faithful followers powerful instead, so that they too, like Him, could resist the devil and even crush him under their feet. (Rom. 16:20) He gave them the means, (the weopons of righteousness,) to self-defense against all evil. (Eph.6:12f) This would be through giving them a new identity; full armor; a sword - the Word of God; and the Holy Spirit within them to strengthen their own faltering, fallible and unreliable will power. Strength in the inner man!
Anyone, who by faith, walks in the Spirit, cannot be defeated by any temptation. (Gal.5:16) Rather, they can do all things. (Phil.4:130) "All things" means ... ALL things. Whatever is God's good will can be done by His children when they walk by faith in the resurrection power of God. Even old Abraham knew that God could do whatever He had promised. (Rom.4:18-20) God has promised to provide us the way of escape for every temptation known to man. (I Cor.10:13)
So, tired of being a loser! Want to be a consistent winner in the game of life? Then allow the Holy Spirit to strengthen your will in the inner man and then move out by faith and accomplish God's will for your life.
The struggle and the log-jam is in submitting our wills fully and daily to
Christ's Lordship. We must subject ourselves to Christ and also to each
other. We must not fear, in submitting our wills to the Lord,
slavish servitude or perennial personal misery. We are in good hands
with Him! He is a real consumate pro in giving man perfect
blessedness. Blessedness is much more than ordinary happiness. It is
to be holy and blameless. (Eph.1:3-4) God knows that holiness equals
happiness. We need to learn that lesson and learn it well, so that we
don't, like Saul, unnecessarily kick against the goads or stiffen our neck and
resist Him. Why wander in a dry wilderness of unresolved issues and
pointless existence when we can have power-filled, purpose-driven lives?
God came to give us true LIFE, and life more abundantly, and Christ's yoke
is not burdensome, but a "lite-yoke."
There can be unqualified victory in every area of your life because the power-source is straight from the control center of the universe, the throne-room of Christ. Just think, when Christ, as One Man, died, that one death paid for every sin ever committed on earth by all the billions of people who will ever dwell there! One death = one total deliverance. His shed blood was put, by Himself as our High Priest, on our account for all in heaven itself, opening access to heaven's unfathomable riches for the poorest sinner on earth. This is because by His resurrection Christ opened the portal for all other men of faith to freely enter in. Spirit-power raised the Lord and spirit-power is made available to raise us up with Him as well. Make no mistake, it is the exact same power working in our inner man to give us daily renewal and victory over temptation that raised Christ's physical body from the cold dark tomb. The exact same. That is why Jesus was resurrected, for our justification. By providing us a means of faith,.a point of contact was established between us (now) in this material world with the unseen spiritual realities above. Thus we can be sure of our spiritual power supply. Faith activates the power of Christ within, our hope of eternal glory. (Col. 1:27)
A faithful, Spirit-led and Spirit-filled saint is just a powerful in this life as Jesus Christ was in His body to overcome every trick of the Devil. There is absolutely no difference in the source of power or the effectiveness of its reach. Otherwise it would be patently unfair for God to allow us to be tempted in every way as was Christ and not have the way of escape, the way of overcoming, and yet tell us that we can and must overcome! (Heb.2:17-18;4:14-15)
Christ's resurrection not only demonstrates God's awesome power over death and temptation for every man, but it also graphically displays openly for all to see Christ's rendering powerless the ancient foe, the Dragon. (Heb.2:14; Col.2:15) The spiritual powerful forces of evil have been disarmed, and their fortresses are now just as "destructible" as Jericho's walls were before Joshua and his obedient, silent, (except on the seventh day - horn-blowing) marching troops. (Ahh, that's why that happened!) Or the 1000 Philistines before Samson's crude weapon. No weapon that is formed against us shall prosper! (II Cor.10:3-5) They have been made a "public display" or a laughing stock by Christ's resurrection triumph. (II Cor.2:14)
When an army won a battle, they would often capture the opposing general and place him in a cage and parade him before their people. If that general had been a tyrant and mistreated those people while ruling over them, then they would throw rock and rotten vegetables and scoff and gear him. (Note that the perfect king, kind, loving, perfect Jesus was treated like that on the cross!!)
God has made a laughing stock of Satan. What power in that truth for us if we will only believe it! He has also crucified our recalcitrant flesh with Christ and raised us up as men who also can buffet our bodies, and can also make them our slaves like apostle Paul. ( I Cor.9:16) Like the left-handed deliverer Judge Ehud, we can stick a sword - the Word of God - into our old flesh- driven man's fat belly and drive it in and kill that old tyrant king over our lives. (Judges 3) We can pound a scripture stake, like Jael, thought tyrant "Sisera ", that old flesh that controlled our lives to sin! All because all of these minor victories were merely foreshadows of Christ's overwhelming victory on every man's behalf. (Rom.5:16-21)
Jesus, like a great magician, pulled the old switchero on Satan. When those iron spikes were driven through Christ's helpless body on the cross, they were actually killing our old man of sin with Him, thus effectively destroying the very means that Satan had used for centuries to control man - his sinful sarx. We died with Christ, didn't we? The sword, the stake, the spike, all are fgures of the death of the tryannt, which allows the freedom of man from his fleshly sin-controlled body, and hence also then the puppet master, Satan. (Eph.2:1-2)
All so that we might now reign with him in life, even as we died with Him already. Just as we were defeated sinners in this lifetime, under Satan's rule, (Eph.4:1-2), we are now overwhelming conquerors in this lifetime. (Rom.8:37) Mentally moving all that victory to some future date when we die and go to heaven or to when Christ returns takes away its immediate amazing ameliorative effect in our present condition. We must have victory this very day from continuing to sin that grace may abound, from the sin that so easily besets us. (Rom.6:1; Heb.12:1) Today the battle rages between lies and truth, wickedness and righteousness, darkness and light. We must stand in His grace and see the redemption of the Lord this very hour, not some future time only. (Rom.5:1-3: Ex.14:13) You have the spiritual stake, sword and spikes in our very hands, O Christian Jaels and Ehuds! Why not drive them through the vampires heart, and free ourselves from sin? Kill your old man of sin daily by being crucified with Christ and rising to walk in newness of life, daily.
Today is the day of salvation. Salvation from what? Do you see any Egyptian chariots or Philistine giants chasing you today? TEMPTATION to SIN! That is what you and I need present positive deliverance from today...and power to perform God's very best will. To happily suffer and sacrifice like Paul for the sake of other's salvation. Of course, if we are achieving optimum performance by positively doing what God's desires in fishing for men's souls by every means possible, we won't have any mental space or time on our appointment calendars to do what is wrong. But we still need to have the right motive, attitude in doing the right things for the right reasons all the time. Power is needed!
God knew all that we would encounter on this earth. He knew that we would be faced by His forbidding and formidable ancient foe. Satan did not slip into the garden unawares to God. It was God's intent and purpose, from the beginning of time, that this earth would be a battleground, and that we would be able, if so desiring, to win. Even though mankind as a whole failed, their wholesale failure merely heightens the victory that one man, Jesus, would bring one day in the fullness of time. (Gal.4:4) Man's defeat, in his own will power and fleshly existence, again and again, by Satan, serves as a black backdrop to display the power of God, like a diamond on a black velvet cloth. The resurrection of the sinless Christ is like the light that shines on the display jewel in the window.
But remember, that victory was only a prelude to an even greater victory that Christ came to bring His brothers. We was the first among many brethren who would be conformed, (not to the world!), but by supernatural transformation power, into the image of God's Son. (Rom.8:29) God wanted to multiple Christ's awesome victory by using it as a demonstration of His power to replicate, duplicate and clone Christ in fallen sinner after fallen sinner, and bring them all into oneness in Christ as His body, the worldwide temple of prayer and praise. Now read Romans 16:25-26:
"Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but is now manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, (international, worldwide), leading to the obedience of faith, to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen." (Italics mine.)
Paul uses the phrase, "according to" to mean in what manner or on what basis, how and why, God did and does whatever activity. Do you see how BIG this all is?
So would God not empower us in order to "establish" us for His own glory?
How would we glorify God in this body, in this present existence, without increasingly winning over sin and temptation on a regular basis?
And how would that victory be possible without God's powersource providing the means?
This is the crux of "the mystery", Christ living within us through His indwelling and empowering Holy Spirit. (Col.1:27) This spiritual reality is what makes the seemingly "impossible dream" of God possible by the establishment of a new race of men on earth who no longer keep falling and falling because of their human weaknesses and Satan's clever traps. NO MORE! These New Creations would be translated from the realm of darkness into the realm of Christ, a realm of victory in the light of His presence. (Col.1:13) They are a people purified to Himself for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. (Tit.2:14) They would be holy in all their behavior as He is holy, perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect by the new birth that made them new creations through their absolute Abrahamic faith in God's ability to accomplish whatever He had promised, which is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (I Pet.1:16: Mat.5:48; Rom.4:20; Heb.11:1) With such faith, it is possible for such creatures to please God! (Heb.11:6)
Brethren, in the light of all such "Big Stuff", what must we do to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to overcome and win the great victories needed over:
- apathy
- sensuality
- doubts
- laziness
- peer pressure
- health issues
- family problems
- hassles and distractions of all kinds
- persecutions
- worldwide forces of darkness and evil
- misinformation and propaganda from the world/media/ schools, etc.
- false teachers in and out of the church
- social expectations to conform
- the second law of thermodynamics (everything is wearing down, including our bodies!)
- lack of knowledge, wisdom and good early training/education
- language, "racial" and tribal difference and barriers?
Well, how did man get to the moon? By desire, dreaming, planning, teamwork, training, equipping, testing and then going.
many said that it could not be done. But it was done. Most also say that we cannot perfectly serve our good Master Jesus while we live here on earth in our "flesh suits" or "Adam suits", as Steve Doty calls our human bodies. Supposedly, the human body is too frail, too prone or suited to sin and unsuited to righteousness because of our supposed fallen "sinful Adamic nature" inherited since the fall. The sarx is supposedly stronger than the pneuma! Satan, I guess then, is stronger than God. He wins?!?! NO WAY!
God is not stumped by our human nature. That is blasphemy, in my book, to say that God can do ALL THINGS, except make perfect provision for fallen man's need for full redemption and restoration to the image of God through Christ, while in a disfavorable environment - the earth, in this present time. Anybody could overcome in heaven....except what would we be overcoming there? Why would we need to be overcomers in a perfect place where there is no more temptation? So logic impels me to say, once more, that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit really gets to "show His stuff" here, now, on this bloody battleground we call earth.
Get in tune with the Spirit by tuning in to His word. Daily consistent, belief-driven reading, contemplation, meditation and memorization (not more medication!!)of that Word is life, encouraging and strengthening your life-giving communication with your real Father of lights and power in heaven. No wonder Jesus prayed so much while here in the flesh! Rom.15:4 show the power of the Word to strengthen and encourage. It is the Mighty Word of God, the Logos, that brings Spirit-Power to the inner man. That is clearly revealed in Ephesians 5:18-19 in comparison with Col. 3:16 - "Be filled with the Spirit..." and "Let the word of Christ rule in your hearts with all wisdom.." that be proper scriptural (hence spiritual) songs sung to each other, we can be empowered. Preaching God's Word by Spirit-filled men, and listening by others fills both up with this power. It is the power of God for salvation. (Rom.1:16)
Man does have a will, a free-will. But God must do the calling, and hence through that gospel call, He also does the choosing of those who will be saved. It all depends on man's rejection or reception of the gospel by obedience. If they choose to respond and obey by being immersed into Christ, then they are then blessed with His Spirit in their inner man. This power is sparked and intelligently directed in their life through their faith in Christ. This faith is created, maintained and enhanced in accordance with their participation in the gospel through listening and then acting out its implications in their life every day.
So here's the relevant question: Are you daily and triumphantly walking as though you really are truly an all-powerful being,another God-man (a truly godly son of God) who can do all things through Christ who lives in you, as an overwhelming conqueror in the everyday tasks and challenges and in the face of every kind of temptation that we all face? Do you believe that the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead is right now, at this very minute, as a Christian, by grace and through faith, ready to work for you?
And: Do you constantly realize and actualize that power by tapping in and then proceeding, by faith, on the basis that you can always totally rely on that power to do God's will?
But: Do you have a purpose big enough, noble enough, to even really need such incredible power? It certainly doesn't take resurrection/creation power of God to brush our teeth or put on our pajamas! Are you purposing to:
Win souls each day, or do things that will train and lead you to do so soon? To perfectly face each possible temptation that might confront you, victoriously? Each one? Every time? Day after day? Or have you compromised mentally and told yourself:
a. It isn't necessary or important.
b. It is simply impossible and thus not worth contemplating or endeavoring to accomplish.
c. You will do it tomorrow, or next year, but not yet. (Too hard, bothersome or painful.)
Yes, there will come a time - though not too soon I hope! - that I will not be able to bench press 300 or do 50 pushups or 15 pull-ups. There will come a time for walking sticks, canes, eye glasses and dentures. But there will never come a time when my God will desert and abandon me (unless I abandon Him and keep sinning without repenting). He has promised to be with us, even to the ends of the age. He will abide in us if we abide in Christ. Let us make up our minds to be super-strong, Spirit-empowered people who face the future like the Prov.31 excellent wife: "Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future." (31:25) The past, present and the future are all ours for the taking in Christ Jesus, who yesterday, today and forever is always the same.
- So be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, and put on the full-armor and fight the good fight!
-Be Super-Strong in Christ, in the Inner Man, and accept no substitutes!
- Be a warrior, not a weakling!
- A winner, not a whiner!
- It is your right - in Christ.
AMEN!