Our study this week is from Ephesians 6:10:
When the apostle writes “finally” here it means that this is the concluding thought to the entire epistle. For a letter that is so rich and deep in the revelation of the glory and purpose of the church, we can be sure that the conclusion is going to be a powerful one, and we are not disappointed. In the last few sentences we are told how everything that he has written is to be fulfilled in “the strength of His might.”
This one issue makes Christianity revolutionary. For every other religion the main issue is how many can become righteous enough and do enough good works to be accepted by God. Of course, in every case this promotes self-righteousness. True, biblical, Christianity is the exact opposite of that vain pursuit. This is not to say that we do not have good works, but our righteousness is provided for us through the cross of Jesus, and He even strengthens us to stand in this righteousness, and do the good works that we are called to do.
Because our devotion as Christians is not to just better ourselves, but to pursue the righteousness and strength of the Lord, we therefore have no foundation for becoming proud and self-righteous, both of which are the roots of the fall and man’s ultimate failure. This is a fundamental issue that will keep us on the path of life if we do not lose focus in it. Because even our works are done in His strength it casts us in total dependence on the Lord. Without Him we have nothing. This is a truth that becomes more and more clear as we mature in Christ. It causes us not only to become even more attached to Him, but more focused on Him instead of ourselves. As we do this and behold His glory, we are changed into His same image, which is the ultimate goal of our faith.
The truth is that we cannot accomplish one thing of eternal value in our own strength. It is also true that the more we come to realize this, the more power we can be trusted with. What could we do with the strength of His might? What would we do? These are questions we should be asking.
What could we do? Anything. I oversee a diverse ministry that is basically like eight different ministries. I often feel that I could devote all of my time and energy to just one of these ministries and it would not be enough because there is so much that could be done with it. At times it is overwhelming as I have the ultimate administrative responsibilities for all of them, and any one could be a full-time job. One day as I was especially feeling the weight of this responsibility the Lord spoke to me and said, “I can help you with that. After all, I uphold the universe with My power.”
I then felt led to ask the Lord for the ability to accomplish in minutes what often took me many hours. He immediately began to answer this prayer. I asked for the gift of a word of wisdom to be able to see right into the heart of a matter and know what to do without having to take hours to study and research it. He did it. Some of our ministry departments were over an hour and a half away so I rarely was able to visit them, but the Lord gave me insight into bottlenecks or other problems and I would go there and find it as I had seen, and know exactly what to do. Before, such problems could take many days just to unravel and fix. They can now take minutes. This one thing began to radically change my life.
This is not to imply that I do all of this perfectly. One of the primary ways the Lord has helped me to carry the responsibilities that I have is to give me some of the best co-laborers as department heads and managers. However, this pursuit of knowing the Lord’s strength in carrying administrative responsibilities has relieved the constant heavy burden that I had carried for so long, and turned it into joy and excitement. I honestly never thought this could happen, but it has.
This is but a small example of how we are to learn to rely on His strength and power, but everything we do can be done in His strength. Think about that. It will ultimately lead to a life of miracles, and that should be a primary pursuit in our life. The Lord said if we have just the faith of a mustard seed, we could move mountains. What mountains are in your life that need moved? The Lord hung the sun, the moon, and the stars—a mountain is a small thing for Him. He can lift all of our mountains together and not even break into a sweat! This one thing, being “strong in the Lord and the strength of His might” can turn a life of burdens and drudgery into one of such accomplishment that all will know without a doubt that God is with you.