Strength (Col. 1:11a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/3/2017 8:38 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                                   Focus:  Strength

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Colossians 1:11a

            Message of the verse:  “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously”

            We are looking at the fourth result of knowledge in our SD for this evening and that is spiritual strength.  Now before we get away from looking at knowledge I would like to quote from Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on this subject as we will look at some of the things that he wrote under the sub-point of “He prayed for Moral Excellence” which actually covers verses 11-12, but we will only look at things that pertain to verse eleven in our SD for this evening.

            “Wisdom and conduct should always be related to moral character.  One of the great problems in our evangelical world today is the emphasis on ‘spiritual knowledge’ and ‘Christian service,’ without connecting these important matters to personal character…

            “Knowledge, conduct, service, and character must always go together.  We know God’s will that we might obey it; and, in obeying it, we serve Him and grow in Christian character.  While none of us is perfectly balanced in these four factors, we ought to strive for that balance.

            “It is God’s energy that empowers us.  Colossians 1:11 reads, in effect:  ‘With all power begin empowered according to the might of His glory.’  Paul used two different Greek words for God’s energy:  ‘dunamis (from which we get our word ‘dynamite’) means ‘inherent power’; and kratos means ‘manifested power,’ that is put forth in action.  The grace of our Christian lives is but a result of God’s power at work in our lives.  Spiritual growth and maturity can come only as we yield to God’s power and permit Him to work in us.

            “We usually think of God’s glorious power being revealed in great feats of daring—the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, David leading a victorious army, or Paul raising the dead.  But the emphasis here is on Christian character:  patience, long-suffering, joyfulness, and thanksgiving.  The inner victories of the soul are just as great, if not greater, than the public victories recorded in the annals of history.  For David to control his temper when he was being maligned by Shimei was a greater victory than his slaying of Goliath (2 Sam. 16:5-13).  ‘He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city’ (Pro. 16:32, NASB).”

            So as we are focusing in own strength these paragraphs help us to learn that this strength comes from the Lord as He, through the Holy Spirit gives us the strength to accomplish some what may seem to small things in our lives, but are as Dr. Wiersbe writes are actually big things.

            John MacArthur writes that the Greek word for “strengthened” is dunamoumenoi and it is a present participle, which signifies continues action.  It is not like a motor on a rocket that gets a rocket into orbit and then stops because there is no need for it anymore, rather believers are continually “strengthened with all power” throughout their Christian life.

            MacArthur writes “The measure of that power is ‘according to His glorious might.’  ‘Glorious’ is from doxa and refers to the manifestation of God’s attributes.  ‘Might’ translates kratos, which refers to strength in action.  It refers to God eleven out of the twelve times it is used in the New Testament.  The ‘power’ available to us is the limitless power of God Himself.”

            In conclusion we know because we looked at this before that God’s power is manifested in us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth’ (Acts 1:8).”  “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man (Ephesians 3:16).”  “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).”

1/3/2017 9:07 PM