Spiritual Power

UV 2216/10000 The Spirit of Power
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1 v 7

The Latin aphorism states that the goal of life is a sound mind in a sound body. But this uni-verse states that the sound spirit is even more vital for life, eternal and abundant. The spirit of fear is the spirit of bondage. The ideal pattern would be a sound spirit over a sound mind and a sound mind over a sound body. The chief chain of bondage of our bodies and minds is the fear of death and the consequent judgement. Fear weakens people and prevents them from being their best or from being effective or productive. It acts as a kind of magnet to draw to us the very things we abhor. But God has released us from the spirit of fear of eternal death and judgement by the grace of Christ. Fear is replaced by faith. Faith in Jesus leads to our being anointed and filled with the Holy Spirit. We sow the seed of the new life by our faith exercised in specific word of God. The Holy Spirit waters that seed and causes it to grow in us to produce power, love and self control. The seed produces fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self control.

Faith gives us access to the absolute power of the Lord. Faith not just breaks the bonds of sin, death, disease, curses but it shield and extinguishes the fiery darts, arrows and slings of the enemy of our soul. We obtain power and authority to rule over the forces of darkness, to command healing and deliverance, to cause wonders and miracles. We are endowed with the resurrection power of Jesus. The resurrection power is the “turn around power.” We have the power to turn around suffering and adversity to draw strength, wisdom and benefit from every apparent setback in our lives. The dead parts of our lives will come alive again. Faith fills us with the agape love or unconditional love of the Father and of Jesus. It enhances our capacity to forgive. It teaches us not to contend with others and to live in peace with all. It teaches us to be humble and to consider others better and their interest first. It teaches us to reach out to the least of our brethren, to be compassionate. Love enables us to be patient and to be able to wait for the Lord to answer and for people to respond. Power and love are to keep expanding while self control will limit the things that we can or should do or say.

The book of Proverbs states that a person without self control is like a garden without boundary walls. It will soon be overrun by weeds or our personal weaknesses. Self control is about setting the boundaries that will defend us from being attacked or overrun. Man disciplines, God disciples. The Holy Spirit imparts self discipline and induce a sound mind, implying that our thoughts, our words, our emotions, our desires, our intentions, our actions and reactions will be healthy, wholesome, positive, productive, constructive. Just as in the old covenant, templates or patterns were indicated for the building of the temple of Solomon, there are templates or patterns to build the living temples, our bodies, minds and spirits. There are various disciplines we should practice or exercise and various dead habits we need to get rid of. The Spirit will make our spirits willing and able and our flesh or natural appetites would be subjected to discipline.

Prateep V Philip