GOD,
POWER OF
THE DAUGHTER of the elementary school principal got in trouble one day. She was doing something that she shouldn’t have and one of the teachers corrected her. The girl ignored the teacher’s reprimand and continued to do exactly that which got her into trouble. The teacher then leaned down and got eye to eye with the girl to threaten her with a punishment if the young lady didn’t change her behavior.
The little girl looked up at the teacher and said confidently, pulling rank, “Do you know who my father is?”
Do you know who your Daddy is? He is God almighty and King of the universe. When you’ve got that kind of Daddy, you can pull rank. You can pull rank over the Devil. You can pull rank over people. You can pull rank over problems. You can pull rank over difficult situations.369
[Father God; God, Authority of; Trials, Confidence in]
Rom. 8:15; 1 John 3:1
VOLTAIRE, the French philosopher, was a pagan who cursed God. He believed that there is no God. He believed that thinking about God was an exercise for people of lower intellectual ability. Voltaire ridiculed the thought of God. But then as it goes for all men, it came time for him to die. He lay there on his deathbed desperately in need of God. He screamed and hollered. In fact, Voltaire’s nurse is recorded as saying that she never wanted to see another man die like Voltaire did because this man died in agony, foaming at the mouth with hell looming before his eyes. Here was a man who cursed God and God’s Word.
Now, if you go over to his house today, it’s a Bible factory where they make Bibles that are sent around the world. God can take folk who cuss Him out and use the place they used to cuss Him out to write His Word and distribute it to other people. He is a God who can take evil and make it turn out for the good. God could take men who condemned Jesus to death and then use their condemnation for our salvation. They can allow sinful men to pin Him to the cross so that you and I might be redeemed. So don’t get upset because evil men are doing evil things. Just tell your King to use His power to take their evil for your good. That’s the kind of God you have.
God’s power is unlimited. God’s power is potent. 370
THERE is a true story of a Reverend Taylor who pastored a church over in Jamaica. One Sunday he was preaching and a man kept coming and interrupting the services. Reverend Taylor would stop preaching and wait for the man to settle down; then he’d start preaching again. The man would interrupt the service again. Reverend Taylor would stop. This happened a few times and finally he just asked the man not to interrupt him anymore. The next time the man interrupted the service, Reverend Taylor prayed aloud, “Lord, I am seeking to communicate Your Word to these people. This man refuses to respect that. Would You demonstrate to him before this people today, that he is not to play with the Living God?”
Reverend Taylor picked up where he left off in his sermon. The guy interrupted yet again. Within five minutes, he dropped dead of a heart attack in the middle of the aisle right in the middle of the service in front of the congregation. It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.371
[Sin, Consequences of]
Isa. 8:13; Acts 5:1–11
THERE was a lady who lived out in the boondocks. She did not have electricity, but she wanted it. She called the electric company and they made arrangements so that a line could be gotten out to her so that she could have the benefits of electricity.
After delivering electricity to her home for almost six months, someone at the company noticed that only one unit of electricity was used. A serviceman was sent out to check and make sure there was no problem. He rang her doorbell, and when she answered, he asked, “Hello, Miss. Are you using your electricity?”
She said, “Why, yes, I am!”
“May I ask what you are using it for?”
“Well, when it gets dark I turn it on long enough for me to light my kerosene lamp.”
This woman didn’t understand the power she had. She had all this power that could keep things well lit all night long, but she was settling for a kerosene existence.
Many Christians are settling for taking this great power that God has given them only to light their own human efforts. They are not maximizing the power of His presence.372
[Fasting, Power of; Power, Accessing; Praise, Power of]
Acts 1:8; Eph. 3:20
A LITTLE boy one day was trying to pick up a rock. He said “Dad, it’s too heavy.”
He said, “Son, you can do it.”
The boy strained and tried, but he said, “Dad, it’s too heavy.”
The father insisted, “Son, you can do it.”
He tried again. “Dad, it’s too heavy.”
He said, “Son, you’re not using all your strength.”
“Dad, I am. I am. It’s too heavy.”
“Son, you’re not using all your strength.”
“Dad, why are you continually saying I’m not using all my strength? It’s too heavy.”
“I know you’re not using all your strength, because you haven’t asked me to help yet.”
There is more strength available to you than what you have. Be strong in the strength of His might.373
[Father God; Power, Accessing]
Eph. 6:10; Col. 1:29