Wheel of Power

In these last days the Church in America has become almost powerless in spirituality. The Church organization has gained huge powers for mankind but has lost the spiritual power of God. The Scripture says; For people will love only themselves and their money… They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. 2 Tim 3:2-5 (NLT) The Church reflects the attitude of its members and modern America has produced a rich but ungodly Church. It is full of members that are “do it yourself” people. We cannot have the power of God in our Church if we insist on doing religion in our own way. Thank the Lord, God has always had a remnant of true believers. The answer is obviously for people to quit loving themselves and begin to love others. When people love only themselves they are automatically rejecting the power to be godly. The Spirit of Jesus that lives in us certainly has the power we need to live a godly life but to have it in our life we must repent and ask the Lord to give us a new attitude. In a complete spiritual life most victories will depend upon several different things, so let’s look at some spiritual traits that we could call “the wheel of godly power”.

First of all God’s remnant will always strive to love other people. This is what real Christians do. A local Church will miraculously becomes a place where people love to gather and worship God when a group of believers decide to put others ahead of themselves. The power of God is for people who are willing to follow the new path of Jesus even when it divides them from some part of their old selfish life. Jude was concerned about believers losing their way so his recommendation was for us to love each other. But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love. And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Jude 1:20-23 (NLT) It seems that we will be safe in God’s love when we are actively showing His love toward others. Faith leads us into righteousness which will result in love and we are back to faith again. This is the circle of life that the Spirit will honor with power.

We should expect the wheel of power to start with our faith. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” Gal 3:11 (NLT) Everything we do in our new eternal life must be through the faith that God has given each of us. The beginning of our power is when we trust the Spirit within us. But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in…(following any law) What is important is faith expressing itself in love. Gal 5:5-6 (NLT) The words “expressing itself” mean righteous living. The only way our faith will ever transfer into love for others is through the righteousness that God requires of His people. We must live a righteous life before a godly love is possible. The connection can be seen in this verse; So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God. 1 John 3:10 (NLT) Righteousness that ends in love is required of every Christian.

There are people that do not understand how righteousness is absolutely necessary for a Christian life. This verse shows that it is essential for eternal life. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Romans 8:10 (KJV) We must learn to live a righteous life or the Spirit will not supply the power we need for our eternal life with God. Many of us have trouble loving other people because we are selfish. But when we live a righteous life our selfishness consequentially becomes less. If we will make our goal to love others it will please the Lord. The Scripture says; For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true.  Heb 6:10-12 (NLT) We should pray that the righteous remnant of God’s people will do all they can to reach out to others. This is extremely important as the world becomes a more difficult place for believers to live.

The faith and love we have for Jesus is how our righteous character takes shape. If we keep the commandments we can become righteous and we do it with the help of the Spirit. Here is what Paul recommended; Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law… These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law. This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Romans 13:8-11 (NLT) Living a righteous life is all about faith and love. When we continue this circle of faith, righteousness and love, the power in our life will increase. This is what God wants in every Christian. The love of God in our life will grow as we obey Him. Some people say that God loves everybody so why should we attempt to live a righteous life. There is a different love that we can experience if we will serve God. It is different because the Spirit lives inside of us.

Weak Christians must learn about the power contained in the circle of faith, righteousness and love. This will enable them to live a positive life and not a spiritually needy life. The Bible says; I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Eph 3:16-19 (NLT) Paul prayed one time “that our love would overflow more and more”. He understood how to access the power that lives inside a Christian better than anyone. The fact is that the power will flow when we love the way God commands. A Christian should make many investments in the wheel of God’s power.