Greetings to you in the name – beautiful, wonderful, powerful,multi-faceted, gentle, winsome – of Jesus Christ – THE Risen Saviour! What a wonderful, seasonal morning in the Kingdom – a day to pause and allow your spirit-mind-body to reconnect. Today I will be praying for you, asking Father to cultivate your inner being – breaking the soil up to receive the gentle rain of heaven.
For the past two weeks or so there has been a song swirling around my thoughts…The same power that rose Jesus from the grave-the same power that commands the dead to wake-the same power that moves mountains when He speaks-the same power that can calm a raging sea ….Lives in us, lives in us, Jeremy Camp. The song is based on the words of scripture – Romans 8:11; Ephesians 1:19-20 and I think it is under appreciated and applied…and I believe that is why it has been hanging around in my thoughts.
I have a sense that I have used the truth of that thought many times without fully apprehending the reality. For instance – when I quote a verse like: For it is by grace you have been saved through faith…Ephesians 2:8 – I think “grace” is that power. Yesterday I read – My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…2 Corinthians 12:9 – again “grace”, I think, is power – the same power that raised Jesus from the dead – power that is available when my weakness is all I have left.
Of course, I need to relate to a song or two so I considered – Amazing Grace. In my mind I replaced the word “grace” with “power that raised Jesus from the dead”…not easy to sing I know. I then thought of the song – He giveth more grace – power that raised Jesus from the dead. Maybe I have been using one word that has become well-used to replace an expression of God resources…and I did not even realise it. I wonder if I had been speaking and singing about – this power that raised Jesus from the dead – without allowing myself to experience it. I wonder if I had become so familiar with words that I assumed I knew the meaning of, that I was missing a transforming truth. Is it possible when I was asking God for “grace”…I was really asking for – the same power that raised Jesus from the dead?
“Grace” sounds so positive and warm and comforting – could it be that I was only experiencing that aspect and missing the power that is available as ‘surrender’ my weakness so that can receive that which I so need? I wonder how many times I use Christian words without grasping the fullness of their meaning. I wonder do I speak “Christianese”?
Something to think about — be blessed!