
Week 8 / You Are Powerful in Christ!
This post is part of a series of weekly devotionals and discounts during the world-wide CoViD-19 pandemic. In wondering how I could offer relief in some small way, I thought about combining a weekly entry from a devotional I wrote several years ago and a 50% discount on one of my fiction books to offer a ray of hope. Sign up to receive each post into your mailbox every Wednesday morning.
Hebrews tells us “we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure…” That hope has a name, Jesus Christ and the testimony about him and his rescue found in the Bible. May you rest in him during these scary, frustrating times…
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I love a good underdog story.
Two little hobbits give it all they’ve got until they nearly die climbing Mount Doom to save Middle-earth—and they do. How about the story of the young shepherd who fights a massive giant-of-a-man with nothing but a sling and some rocks—and wins, rescuing Israel from the Philistines.
In many ways our stories are also underdog stories. And like these other underdogs, we have all the power we need to live the life we’ve been called to—because our power is from God himself.
Jesus taught his disciples that he was their life, the power that causes them to be fruitful—like branches in a vine. He also taught that power is given to his disciples when the Holy Spirit comes on them. Paul reminds us that we have great power straight from God—a power that demolishes strongholds, wins arguments, and takes every thought captive for obedience. He says we have no reason to doubt this power is ours at work in and through us.
Sometimes it feels like we are the most powerless beings on the planet—like Frodo struggling against the might and power of Sauron, or David against Goliath. Don’t be afraid and don’t lose heart! Because as Paul says, “God will never give you the spirit of cowardly fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power.”
You are not powerless; that isn’t who you are. Who you really are is powerful; that’s who God says you are!
Our Anchor-Hope Reminders from the Bible:
“I am the sprouting vine and you’re my branches. As you live in union with me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you—but when you live separated from me you are powerless.”
John 15:5 tpt
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:7–8 niv
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
2 Corinthians 4:7 nlt
For though we live in the body, we do not wage war in an unspiritual way, since the weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:3–5 hcsb
[Christ] was crucified in weakness, but He lives by God’s power. For we also are weak in Him, yet toward you we will lived with Him by God’s power.
2 Corinthians 13:4 hcsb
Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.
Ephesians 3:20 tpt
For God will never give you the spirit of cowardly fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and sound judgment!
2 Timothy 1:7 tpt
Get the book inspired by these verses
Rite of Darkness
Order of Thaddeus • Book 7