Having Power With God

Having Power with God

Genesis 32:22-30

Jacob spent a night encountering God. At the end of that night his name was changed from “Jacob” which means “supplanter”, “heel catcher”, or “deceiver” to Israel meaning “having power with God”. Jacob was changed. No longer was he going to live his way. As he saw God’s purpose for His life he became a different man. – a man who had power with God. Most Christians are content to spend their lives living nominal Christian lives with little or no power. If you and I desire to be more than mundane believers and to have power with God I believe we need to have four key elements – humility, faith, perseverance, and holiness.

I. Humility - You must have a sense of your own weakness

A. There must be a sense of brokenness.

B. 2 Corinthians 12:10 …for when I am weak, then am I strong.

1. In the kingdom of God everything is exactly opposite to the way the world thinks. All spiritual things are exactly opposite to carnal reason. This really ought not surprise us. Our Lord told us plainly that the world which did not know him would not know us. The Apostle John wrote, "The world knoweth us not because it knew him not." In spiritual matters nothing, absolutely nothing, is the way men think it is, ought to be and must be.

2. In the world, the way up is up. In the kingdom of God, the way up is down.

3. In the world, the man with the greatest knowledge is the one who knows the most about the most. In the Church of Christ, the person who knows the most is the one who knows nothing.

4. In the material things, the person who has the most is the richest. In spiritual things, the person who has the least is the richest.

5. In natural things, he who has the most strength is the strongest. In spiritual things, he who is weakest is strongest. – copied

C. Charles Hodge writes that “When we are really weak in ourselves and are conscious of that weakness, we are in the state suited to the manifestation of God’s power. When we are emptied of ourselves, we are filled with God. Those who think they can change their own hearts, atone for their own sins, subdue the power of evil in their own souls or in the souls of others, who feel able to sustain themselves under affliction, God leaves to their own resources. But when they feel and acknowledge their weakness, He imparts divine strength to them.” - copied

D. 1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:”

E. Matthew 23:12 “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

F. There is no limit to what God can do in and with and through you (Mark 10:27 ), if He is not quenched (1 Thessalonians 5:19 ) – No limit! "Not by might nor by power but by My Spirit says the Lord Almighty" Zechariah 4:6. – Dr Peter Hammond

II. Faith – You must believe in God’s Power and His Promises

A. Satan wants us to doubt the power of God, because he knows that unbelief hinders God’s power.

B. Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”

C. James 1:6-8 “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

D. Bill Saxon said that one hot summer day while cutting grass on his employer’s lake property, the sky turned suddenly dark, the wind started blowing very hard and it looked like a violent storm was approaching. He prayed, God send this storm across the lake. Just then lightening flashed and thunder rolled. He immediately turned the tractor toward his van and trailer. He drove the tractor on to the trailer and started tying it down. Then he looked up and the storm was on the other side of the lake. He took the tractor back off of the trailer and finished cutting the thirty acres of grass. On his way home, God started speaking to him and he heard His voice loud and clear. Not with the ears on the side of his head, but the ears of his heart. God said, "YOU HAVE NO FAITH!!" Tears started rolling down his cheeks because he knew he was hearing God’s voice. He was saying you have no faith. You prayed that the storm would move to the other side of the lake, and it did just that, but you didn’t have faith enough to believe that I would answer your prayer. YOU HAVE NO FAITH!!!! He repented and cried all of the way home. He promised the Lord that when he prays, he will believe Mark 11:24. "When you pray, believe, and it SHALL COME TO PASS" - Bill Saxon billsaxon@cableone.net