Power In Reserve

Power in Reserve

By Pastor Jim May

It seems that there is never a day when we do not hear of someone who is having some problems. Just this week we have seen several of our own church family who have had some hard times. Two of the ladies have had to have surgery. I’m glad to say that both are on their way to recovery. The Wheeless family suffered the loss of a father. Some of you here right now are suffering with pain, or sickness, and all of us know not what tomorrow will hold.

But isn’t it good to know that, through it all, Jesus is still there. He’s still there to lift you up and to bring you through everything that you are facing and give you victory.

As I was reading this morning and asking the Lord what He would have me say to you this morning, I was led to the Book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 4. I think that God wants to encourage you today. It is not His will that we should be overcome by the cares of life. He wants us to know that no matter what happens, it all has a purpose.

God wants you to know that even in your weakest moments, you are valuable to Him and He still desires to use you for His kingdom and His glory.

2 Corinthians 4:6-7, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."

Let us never forget that it is the same God who commanded the light to shine at the creation that gave us the light of the gospel and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. All through the Bible, “Light” is used as the emblem of knowledge, purity, and truth; and darkness is the emblem of ignorance, error, sin, and wretchedness.

God has been so good to those of us who know Him. By His mercy and grace, and through His love, he reached down to each of us, called us forth out of the darkness and brought us into His marvelous light.

He removed the darkness of ignorance, and poured a flood of light and truth into our hearts and minds

The natural mind is, by nature, ignorant and dark. The mind of a sinful man is just as dark and barren as Genesis described the earth in the beginning.

Genesis 1:2-4, "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."

In the mind of sinful man there is deep ignorance of God. We did know of His Law, and His requirements. Because we were living in the darkness of sin, we could only farther from God and deeper into that darkness. Our road was going ever deeper into sin.

But God searched us out and chose to send His light into our minds. He helped us to see things as they really are.

That’s why we have a different point of view about everything, compared to people of the world. We see everything differently. The worldly man doesn’t see anything beautiful about going to church and serving the Lord. They don’t see the beauty of our Lord and Savior. They don’t understand what the gospel is all about. They don’t see any value in sitting for an hour and listening to the Word of God. They don’t place any confidence in the promises that God has given to us. And they certainly don’t see any purpose in converting to Christianity, because they living in darkness and are spiritually blinded.

But thank God that He has helped us to see the truth. We understand more about what’s important and we can set our priorities on things that are eternal. We can see the end of all things. We can know the promises of God, and we understand that we can put our trust in God to bring us home to Heaven when this life is over.

Why did God illuminate our minds? God allowed the light to shine upon us so that we might see His Glory. We can see the glory of God when we look upon Jesus, God’s only Son. When we look upon the Redeemer we can see the glory of God in Him because Jesus reflects “the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person.”