Imitating Christ’s Life of Power

Posted on by Jennifer Arimborgo

 

“In the last days… people will… hav[e] a form of godliness but deny… its power” (2 Tim. 3:1,2,5).

Last week we talked about how it became necessary for Hezekiah to destroy the bronze snake Moses had made. In Moses’ time, that snake had been commissioned as an answer to his prayers for the Israelites. It was God’s chosen means of releasing His healing power into their bodies. However, generations later, it had become a stumbling block. It had become the object of their focus instead of God Himself.

That which held the shape of a past move of God no longer transmitted His virtue. It was empty of His blessing. It had become form without power.

We humans have had the tendency to fall into the same sorts of patterns over the generations, up to this day. For this reason, in His great love for us, Holy Spirit has issued us a warning about what to carefully avoid in these last days. We find this important exhortation in 2 Timothy 3, where we come to His striking words cautioning us against: “having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

We can conclude from this warning that we are to be on the lookout for anything that looks like godliness but lacks God’s power. Religious form void of His powerful presence is objectionable to God. He calls us to live lives marked by a godliness that is powerful. He longs for us to walk in His power.

Imitating Christ means both imitating His loving, righteous character, and imitating His powerful works. Anything less is substandard to what He set out for us with HIs example. Holy Spirit is quite frank about this in 1 Corinthians 4:20, “The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power.”

All the more so in these last days, Holy Spirit warns us against living without His power. Why would this be? In this last chapter of history before Christ’s return, the challenges we as believers face are greater than any other time in the past. We cannot even begin to live effective Christian lives navigating these waters, without His power flowing through us. The wonderful news is that He has made the power we so desperately need available to us. And how amazing to realize that His power source available to us is infinite!

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know… his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Eph. 1:18-19, NIV).

He calls us to share the gospel, His good news, with others. He intends this wonderful news to showcase His power. “…The gospel of Christ… is the power of God…” (Rom. 1:16). The proclamation of the gospel is to be characterized by demonstrations of His might on our behalf! As Paul testified, “My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4, ESV).

What, then, does it look like to live lives His power flows through?

It looks like victoriously living where sin does not keep us in a stranglehold. It looks like sick people getting healed when we pray for them. It looks like those living under spiritual oppression getting free when we minister to them. It looks like frequent dramatic answers to prayer that show off His glory in unmistakable ways. It looks like a lifestyle where we expect these things to happen regularly.

It looks like real answers no one else can supply, to entirely impossible problems. It looks like Jesus meeting people’s needs in supernatural ways. It looks like unbelievers drawn irresistibly to His light shining radiantly through us because we have something to offer they can’t get anywhere else. It looks like supernatural levels of righteousness, peace, and joy. It looks radically different from the world around us.

I have seen too many demonstrations of His power, happening regularly in my context, to ever be satisfied with anything less. Instead, I am longing to grow more and more into everything He wants to pour out through us to a world desperately in need of His very real, very tangible intervention.

Jesus wants to show the world both how loving and how powerful He is… through you and me, my friend. We owe it to those dying without Him to live in a way that shows them who He really is.

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…” (Acts 1:8, NIV).

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If we are not experiencing much of God’s power flowing through us, should we use that as a reason to conclude that He doesn’t want to use us that way?

16 thoughts on “Imitating Christ’s Life of Power”

  1. Hi Jennifer, I read your last question and I feel like you’re leading toward the answer that what we don’t see happening is on us. But how do you reconcile that with God’s timing? It’s His power to use as, and when, He wills. Don’t I have to let Him be the boss of it? There are things I’ve been praying about for years. When I started, I asked and expected Him to swoop in and miraculously answer. But He didn’t. So I continue praying. Is it my fault the miracle didn’t occur? Or does God just see the big picture and delay for my good and His glory? I’m asking because I really want to understand your position on this. I don’t feel that I have a lack of faith. In fact, maybe the opposite. It takes a lot of faith to believe and petition day in and day out without losing hope on the One who could change everything in a moment.

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    1. Mama Lava, I deeply hear your heart! And I am right there with you. I have been praying for healing for years for an injury to my elbow and so profoundly agree with you that it takes great faith to persevere long in prayer without giving up. You and I will see the goodness of God in the land of the living!

      My question did not intend to ignore matters of timing, but to gently and lovingly invite us all, especially including myself, to expect for greater and greater levels of God’s power to flow in and through our lives, as we grow up more and more into the likeness of Christ. I know that, as I have continued to press in and pursue this as God’s will, I have seen the level gradually increase in my own life, seeing miracles happen like a woman about to go blind from a disattached retina, instantly healed and no longer need emergency surgery. Ten years back, I wasn’t seeing that level. And yet, I am convinced there is so, SO much more He has for me and us, not in the tiniest way so that any of us could boast, for what do we have that we have not been given? Instead, I see in the modeling of the gospel that real, regular demonstrations of His power accompanied the preaching of the Good News and are meant to go along with it.

      One blog post is such a small, insufficient space to examine all the angles of important matters such as these. But another angle that is tremendously important to me is that Jesus NEVER condemns anyone for our faith being in process. He is incredibly kind and gentle and gracious and also it’s His area of responsibility and expertise, being the Author and Perfecter of our faith. I lean so heavily into Him to keep at this beautiful work He is doing in each one of us!

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      1. I appreciate your patient explanation. I do not doubt I have a lot to learn and major room to grow in this area of expectation. I don’t want to put God in any shape of box- I don’t want to think I understand Him so that I cease to be amazed at Him. But I do want to know Him more intimately. And I do want to obey Him more fully. And I do want to be completely available. I like how you point out that He doesn’t condemn us for our faith being in process. I am sure mine will be in that status until He perfects it in eternity. Blessings, my friend. I am grateful for your response. It was helpful! 🩵

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  4. I know exactly what you mean, Jennifer. And I know how hard it is to explain in words. It is one of the ineffable works of the Holy Spirit living in us that transpires over a long period of time. Much like our growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
    Thank you for putting the spotlight on this particular work of the Spirit. As I’m getting very near to my eighth decade, I’m seeing more of the mysteries of earlier years being brought to a bit more of my understanding. And this as the pieces begin to come together to form a bit more of the recognizable tapestry. God Bless!

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