December 18 – Disciplines of the Mind: Power (Psalm 18)

“It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.”(Psalm 18:32)

IN WORD:
When we believe that we are powerless to change anything, we believe a lie from the enemy. When we think we are victims of circumstances or of people, we are wrong. We don’t have an accurate picture of who we are in Jesus. We are dwelling on the very real human frailty that resulted from the Fall, and we are forgetting the heights to which we’ve been raised in Christ. Yes, we were sinful, impotent, broken, and beaten down, and in and of ourselves we still are. But the Bible declares us seated with Christ in the heavenly places at God’s right hand — the right hand of power. It tells us that the power of the Resurrection lives within us. It tells us that God is exceedingly capable of doing more than we can even comprehend, and that we have access to Him! How irrational it is to behave as victims who have no recourse. What folly to resign ourselves to the circumstances at hand.
The Bible is full of tentative people who did not think they could accomplish anything important. Moses told God He had the wrong guy. Gideon argued that God had picked the weakest tribe and the least of its families. They knew their frailty well, but they needed to learn the truth about God.

IN DEED:
Do you want to think straight? Do you want to have a firm grip on reality? Then meditate on the blessings of God in Christ. Read through your New Testament with the assurance that God’s promises are true. The statements about our salvation, though unbelievably extravagant, must be believed anyway. God doesn’t lie. When we accept an impotent prayer life, an unfruitful position, or a joyless, defeated Christianity, we are tacitly implying that He does lie. We are slandering our powerful Creator who arms us with His strength. Confidence is His gift. Rest confidently in Him.

“The same power that brought Christ back from the dead is operative within those who are Christ’s.” -Leon Morris-