Powerless

Apart from Jesus we cannot understand the Scriptures. The Lord has to open our minds and our hearts to receive what this  very ancient text says to give us understanding and knowledge of him.

Incidentally, this is the first thing that Jesus does for the disciples when he rises from the dead.

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, (Luke 24:45 ESV)

Now there are four Gospels for a reason, and you have to go to John's Gospel to see this event in the fullest picture.

John says about the same moment:

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (John 20:22, 23 ESV)

Jesus breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit. And it would be through that God-breathed spirit that they would have the power to understand and use the word of God.

Notice also the parallels to the creation account in Genesis. That God created a man out of the clay and then breathed in him the breath of life. Then man wasn't powered by the Spirit of God to rule and subdue creation. That authority included authority over the serpent. Remember that Adam's first commission was to name all the animals. And whatever name he gave it that was it's name. Authority and power came from the spoken words of Adam by the wind that God breathed into him.

In Christ and through the power the Holy Spirit by speaking his word we now have authority over our enemy the devil.

You are facing a spiritual enemy who wants to subvert the authority of the word of God in your life. You need the Holy Spirit to speak the word of God in authority through Christ and send that old serpent slithering away from you.

Yet too many born-again believers are abdicating their responsibility and privilege by not speaking the word of God over their lives. This leads to powerless living. This is not what Christ came to give us. He came to give us power and authority over our enemy. And the power is in the word spoken. Get the word of God in you and speak it. The enemy cannot stand against it and cannot overcome you because of it. The word of God is a hammer the sword and it accomplishes great things. But we cannot just read it we have to speak it.

In Luke's second book, the book of Acts, he's going to show us how every people group who were welcomed into the community of faith by believing in Jesus were proclaimed the Word of God first. Almost every evangelist sermon in Acts ask begins with an Old Testament quotation regarding a prophecy of Christ. That's the power of the word in action as we speak it forth in the authority that Christ has given us through the new birth in the Spirit.

Don't just read it, speak it, with authority!

PRAYER:

Father help me to speak Your Word as soon as the enemy comes to deceive me. I want to hide Your Word in my heart and have Your Word on my time at all times. For I know that is the power of God for victory in my life. Amen.