Not by might, not by power but by His Spirit…

This scripture has taken on new meaning for me today. I realize more and more as I seek God and His ways that it’s not about what I can do for Him, but about what He can do through me. There is only one way we can be effective for God and live the victorious life that Jesus died to give us. It is by laying down our lives as a living sacrifice for Him, by doing things not by might or by power but by His Spirit. That might sound too profound, abstract or radical an idea to adopt practically, but actually as has been revealed to me this morning, by our best friend Jesus, it is an extremely practical and very simple idea.

We all know that we are the bride of Christ. In other words we are called into marriage with Christ right? Now, what is an ideal marriage? One in which the husband and wife spend time with each other, getting to know one another and loving each other. As this is done, day by day the two gradually become one.

Is the marriage any good if they do not spend time together on a daily basis? Is the marriage any good if they have a brief honey moon period and then proceed to get on with life growing away from one another? Is the marriage any good if they both get caught up in the duties of marriage and forget about each other? Is the marriage any good if they force themselves into a relationship out of a sense of duty or guilt? No. It’s the same in our relationship with Jesus. Many people experience the life changing initial moments with Jesus when He reveals Himself to them, they have a brief honey moon period with Him when they are on fire for Him but then the busyness of life gets in the way. Then there are those who get so caught up in the busyness of being a Christian, evangelizing, preaching, teaching and ministering, they get caught up in the kingdom, they forget about the King. Still others spend time with God out of a sense of duty or worse still, out of guilt. Gosh! what a slap in the face for any spouse who is treated this way, and yet as the bride of Christ ... how many times do we do this? In being this kind of bride to Christ, living according to the scripture, ‘not by might nor by power but by His spirit’ becomes a huge challenge and is in fact I realize impossible.

Just like we cannot have a victorious marriage without loving each other and becoming one , we cannot live a victorious life in Christ without becoming one with Him. We cannot do things by His Spirit if we are not one with His Spirit. 1 Cor 6: 17 says, ‘But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.’ Are we? Do we expect the victory of being a Christian without loving our Lord the way He wants and deserves to be loved?

If however, we commune with Him on a daily basis like a husband and wife does, if we hang out with Him, we relax with Him, we chat with Him, we find out how much He loves us, we tell Him how much we love Him, we ask His opinion and we submit under His authority. What will happen?

Clearly when we do this in our marriages, the person whom we love becomes a huge influence in our lives. His/her decisions become ours, his/her choices become ours. It is the same with God. When we treat Him as our husband and get into an active relationship with Him giving Him the place He deserves as our husband, it is only natural that He becomes the leading influence of our lives. His Spirit becomes one with ours and pretty soon the things we do will no longer be by our might or by our power but by His Spirit.

I have experienced some of this. I find myself changing, my taste in the things of this world is going, my taste in the things of God is growing, I find myself doing things better, being nicer, kinder, more loving, all smiley faced and stuff and with no real effort on my part, in fact I almost can't help it sometimes and I know it's Christ's spirit in me doing this. Yeeeeeeeehhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa! It's way cooler than trying to do the right thing in my own strength. Man! that's tough. Isn't it awesome? I love God... and He does a whole bunch of amazing stuff through me and I am blessed and His glory is revealed... and who wouldn't want this life? Jesus Christ you are awesome. I LOVE BEING A CHRISTIAN.