E42 - Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions - GOD’s Love - A Symbol of His Power
Hope’s Harbor
Gritty Bible Devotions
Episode #42
Title: GOD’s Love – a Symbol of His Power
Date: February 21, 2022
Contact: info@hopesharbor.net
Key verse(s): Luke 10:19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Act 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Rev 5:12 saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!"
1 Cor 13:4-7 is the deepest love. It takes dynamite power to love like this even though we have the power of authority to take the first step and we have the command of Jesus in John 15 John 15:12 – “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
John 15:13 – “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.
John 15:14 – “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”
Hebrew:
From an unused root meaning to be firm; vigor, literally (force, in a good or a bad sense) or figuratively (capacity, means, produce); also (from its hardiness) a large lizard: - ability, able, chameleon, force, fruits, might, power (-ful), strength, substance, wealth.
Feminine passive participle from the same as H1368; force (literally or figuratively); by implication valor, victory: - force, mastery, might, mighty (act, power), power, strength.
From H5810; strength in various applications (force, security, majesty, praise): - boldness, loud, might, power, strength, strong.
Greek:
From G1410; force (literally or figuratively); specifically miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle itself): - ability, abundance, meaning, might (-ily, -y, -y deed), (worker of) miracle (-s), power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work. From which we get the dynamite from
From G1832 (in the sense of ability); privilege, that is, (subjectively) force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (objectively) mastery (concretely magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated influence: - authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength.
Intro: This morning, January 17, 2022, I woke, and while praying before I got up GOD gave me an understanding of His love – how it is the center of His power.
I don’t know about you but it was hard for me to make the connection beyond intellect. An issue that comes up within the Christian life is we learn something and think we now know all about it.
Think about this, knowing intellectually about love isn’t the same as being in love. And there is no way to really explain the feelings of being in love.
Likewise, I can study the love of GOD and not know the power of it. Paul even wrote concerning this dilemma in Ephesians 3:17 – ‘…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Ephesians 3:18 – ‘may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—
Ephesians 3:19 – ‘to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.’
Devotion focus: GOD’s Power toward us is evidence of His Love for us –
In Ephesians 3:19 Paul writes that his prayer is the Ephesian believers know the love of Christ, but then said it passes knowledge. What did he mean?
To start with the word ‘know’ in vs 19 also means to feel or experience by feeling as I understand it.
So to experience GOD’s love tells me this requires His power displayed toward me or in my behalf. But how do we know when this happens. Listen carefully because this is where many well-meaning people go off on a tangent, making it all about ascribing feelings as a measure of spiritual maturity.
Remember that word faith. This virtue was examined in episode 36. The way faith affects experiencing GOD’s love through His power requires wisdom and maturity as a Christian. The reason is sometimes if not most times we determine if an experience contained GOD’s love as power.
I went through a recent experience in August 2021 when I contracted the Delta variant of covid. I went in the hospital at 3:30 am and was told by the ER doctor if I had waited to come in, of which I told her was my intention had not my wife convinced me to go at that ungodly hour, I would have been dead by that afternoon.
Then that doctor said she was sending me to ICU at another hospital in their network. I asked “For how long?” She said 3 – 5 weeks. 2 hours later I was in ICU and so sick I could no longer walk and couldn’t even pray for help.
But many others prayed for me and by GOD’s wisdom and by His will I left the hospital 7 days later. What happened? I don’t have any scientific evidence it was GOD’s love I experienced by His healing power.
But by faith, I believe it was the only reason. On a follow-up visit after my discharge, the pulmonary doctor sat viewing side-by-side images of my lungs from when I first came into ICU and later after I got out. He leaned back in his chair, looked at me and pointed to the images, which I could see, and said my recovery to that point was nothing less than miraculous.
Now, hang on … GOD’s love is constant toward us, but He has the sovereign right to determine the outcome of any Christian’s life. I did not survive because I’m more loved than anyone else. And I don’t understand why some survive and others die other than GOD, in perfect love chooses the path for each of us, either life or death.
I had a beloved uncle who died from covid early on in 2020. He was a much better man than me and I felt a lot of guilt over the fact he died and yet I didn’t.
In Psalm 139:16 we read: ‘Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.’
This Psalm is ascribed to David – he writes that GOD saw him in the womb and determined every one of his days. The implication is that GOD approved every day. If He does this for each one of us, it means GOD chooses every event or allows events even if He doesn’t approve of the evil involved.
Even knowing this verse and the principle involved I felt guilt for having survived, especially when remembering accounts of children dying of disease. And I still don’t know why GOD allowed me to live.
I want to impress on you this truth: just because evil befalls one person and not another does not mean GOD loves one more than another. I really don’t like hearing someone giving a testimony of surviving something like cancer and they say, “GOD was good. He healed me.”
Do you see the implication? They don’t mean it this way, but the implication is everyone who dies of cancer didn’t receive GOD’s goodness.
Summary: GOD displays His love through His power, whether to deliver or heal, or whether to leave His child in dire straits or live in chronic pain. He is still good and His love is pure.
Action to consider: If you want to have a strong enough faith to stand firm when it seems GOD is withholding His power and not answering your prayers for yourself or a loved one, then you must develop that level of faith.
To do this you must read the Bible stories of GOD’s interaction with His people down through the centuries. You must think about the stories, choosing to believe they are true. If you will do this your faith will grow. And it doesn’t mean you won’t have doubts at times. It means when you doubt, your discipline of Bible study and belief will bring you back from the brink of despair.
It is an ongoing choice you make. Do the work now and when hard times hit you’ll be better prepared for the test.
Next week’s devotion: Again, it’s to be announced. Because I just don’t know.