So much of the power we have from God comes from our willingness and our courage to claim what God has done for us.  Sadly, most of us live in fear that if we tell others of what God has done to deliver us from the worst of ourselves, it will speak more to the frailty of our human condition than to the power of God’s Spirit in us to help us to overcome our weaknesses.  And so, we live more comfortably telling people that “we’re only human.”  Yet, that’s only half the story.  The other half of the story comes from a God who empowered us to become children of God and has given us the Holy Spirit as a sign of that relationship.  The other part of the story comes from a God who —through faith — enables us to gain access to the kingdom of God.  The other part of the story enables us to draw power from God to overcome life’s challenges and to rebuke Satan in Jesus’ name.  The other part of the story gives us access to a grace that has the power to remove the stain of all sin through our faith in Jesus Christ.

         At some point, to claim our power in God, we will have to tell of God’s power live in us and do it publicly.  At some point our power will be displayed in our confession faith in Jesus Christ.  At some point, will must claim and proclaim our power as children of God and the grace that we so humbly receive, that God so generously pours out from day to day.

• Why do you believe we so quickly claim our humanity as a sign of weakness rather than claiming our power as children of God?
• What might change in our relationship to ourselves and others if we claimed, “I’m Spiritually connected to the power of God”?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Merciful God, give me the courage to tell the great congregation the glad news of Your deliverance of me; of Your faithfulness, salvation, and Your steadfast love.

         There has always been a kind of family rivalry about which child was loved the most by which parent.  If you were born into a family, that birth — and sometimes the birth order — guaranteed you a place in the line of status, and a guarantee that you would receive something as an heir.  Equality was never really an issue.  You knew your place and rejoiced to get whatever fell to you in succession.  God, however, has chosen another way of operating.  God has chosen to give those who are children the same thing regardless of their birth order.  We will all share in the inheritance of the first child.

         The greatest joy of being a child of God is knowing that we are also heirs of God’s great promise to Abraham fulfilled through Jesus Christ.  Within that knowledge comes a tremendous power that removes all of the doubt and insecurity created because of our lack of knowing what our final outcome will be.  And that knowledge and power provides us with tremendous courage to face the future.  And with that courage comes a power that cannot be denied.  We know and understand that whatever happens and whenever it happens, we are destined to experience the same eternity as Christ — that our fate will be the same as his.  He was raised to new life.  We too shall be raised to new life.  That is God’s promise to those who have faith in the power of is resurrection.  The same power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power that will raise us.  That is the power given to us only through our faith.

• What power do you realize knowing that you are an heir to the promises of God?
• How can you use that power to enrich your life and the lives of others?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Almighty God, help me to draw from my spiritual power found in the eternal promises made to Abraham and to our Christ — that I am Yours, and an heir to Your eternal promises.

         Much of human curiosity is driven by our need to know it all.  We want to know what the beginning was really like.  We want to know about the world we cannot see but know exists.  We want to know what heaven is really like.  We want to know what the end is going to look like — be like; what God will look like and be like.  We approach much of our life with a child-like curiosity that keeps us poking and digging for the unknown things of life.  But there is a much simpler truth to the life we live on this earth.  When we have finally learned to love one another, we will have learned all we really need to know in this life.  We will have achieved the greatest power on earth — the power to love as God has loved us.  God will make the rest clear when it’s time to become fully knowing.

• With AI (artificial intelligence) becoming a more prolific part of our world, what is to be gained by knowing everything”?
• What can we know beyond what God has commanded that would make God’s power available to us?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Gracious God, help me to live knowing only that I must love others as You have loved me — the greatest power in the world. Let that be all the power I’ll ever need to please You.