2016-10-28
Good Morning Dear Ones,
As promised last week, I have been led to delve further into the meaning of the word, fruit. Let’s begin by looking at the Greek word for power, as used most of the time in the NT as in the divine production of fruit. After all, we who serve God don’t do this alone. It is God’s mystery [COL 1: 26-27; COL 2: 2-3], which is Christ in us, that motivates us to produce spiritual fruit –the kind that is Kingdom-building. Power in Greek is dunamis [pronounced “do-noh-mis”], from which our word, dynamite, comes. This is divine, miraculous, strength, force, energy, works, or growth in sanctification.
The whole purpose of this series of devotions is for us to know God better. That very subject was referred to by Paul in EPH 1: 15-23, a section of his letter to Ephesus which deals with thanksgiving and prayer. Paul remained for three years in Ephesus (now in modern day Turkey), the longest he stayed anywhere on his missions. He came to love the people there and begins this passage with acknowledging their faithfulness. He thanked God in his prayers for it. EPH 1: 17, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.” Paul wanted the Ephesians to have the hope of the resurrection and of gaining eternal life in God’s Kingdom. Verses 19-20 get right to the heart of dunamis. This involves”… His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is “like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated him at His right hand in the heavenly realms.” Christ’s authority is supreme and superior over “all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (21). Does this concept make you breathless? It does that to me. From where does this power come? It comes from the only Source it can—God, the Father! (22-23) God placed all things under Christ’s feet, for He is the Head of the body (the church) and has “the fullness of God, who fills everything in every way.”
EPH 6: 10-18 is a very familiar passage that discusses the full armor of God. Verses 10-13 delve further into the meaning of God’s power. We are told to “be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on His full armor, so that we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes” (10-11). Verse 12 tells us that we are not at war with other humans, but against “the rulers, authorities, and powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” We must do this to endure [Greek word for this is hupomone, pronounced “hoop-oh-moh-nay”], to persevere. So what is the armor of God? This is found in verses 14-18: truth (belt); righteousness (breastplate); readiness to spread the Gospel (footwear); faith (shield); salvation (helmet); Holy Spirit (sword); prayer. We need to have a full understanding of what these verses mean to produce fruit of the Kingdom-building kind. To know the truth, we must read, understand, and believe in the truth of the Gospel and all that God teaches us in the Scriptures. This doesn’t come overnight, nor does it come without prayer, meditation, openness, and self-discipline. We need the Lord’s help as He spoke of in JN 15: 5. It can’t be done without God’s power either. It is Christ, Who gives us this same power that the Father used to raise Him as “the Firstborn of many brothers” [RO 8: 29] from death to eternal life. We are commanded to use this power in spiritual warfare in Christ’s holy name. This means remembering we have to have this dunamis to use amidst spiritual warfare and serving God to produce fruit. It comes only from God.
PRAYER: O Lord, You, in Your infinite and compassionate wisdom, empower us to serve You in Kingdom-building and to battle the schemes of the evil one. Because of Your love for us and generosity, You used Your superior/divine power to sacrifice Your Son, Jesus, on the cross, so that all who believe can have everlasting life ]. We are sinners, but You have given us a way out through our Lord’s sacrifice, so that we don’t have to suffer spiritual death. We are forever grateful and offer You our utmost praise for Your loving and kind heart for us. You lead us to leave our comfort zones and to serve You in ways we never dreamed possible. Through this experience, You drive us away from serial selfishness, which is sure death, and teach us the joy in serving others for You. We discover talents You created in us that we never knew we had. We are forever thankful that You are available to us 24/7 and we need never feel abandoned and alone [PS 9: 9-10]. You have taught us to pray [MT 6: 9-13]. You have given David words that give us direction and express our covenant relationship with You, in PS 23: 1-6. There is nothing we would rather do than to express the love we have for You and the thanks for giving us Your mystery, which is Christ in us. For teaching us to show His love, we pray in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: As we carefully work our way through the book of Colossians, we are commanded by the Holy Spirit to look at matters of accuracy in our knowledge of God’s teaching, discernment, and false prophets. We’ll begin by looking at 1 JN 4: 1-6 and then jump back into Colossians. As I am led to examine my own life, I can notice a sharp contrast between now and myself as a younger person. One of the courses I took required me to take a somewhat painful look at this contrast. We were asked to tape a couple of sheets of unlined binder paper together and to draw a line across the two pages. Then we were to divide this line into five equal lengths perpendicular to the line. Next we had to mark all the milestones in our lives along that time line with vertical lines. Then, we were told to mark in a second color all the important things that God did in our lives. The first half of my life had no markings in the second color. Those only came after Jesus Christ entered my life. Try this and see how your lifeline looks. Ask yourself what you learn about God from it. This can be very revealing! Praise and thanks be to God!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2016. All Rights Reserved.
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