GOD’S POWER GIVEN TO HIS SAINTS

Psa. 68:35

Morning Meditation 12/4/2013

Psalms 68:35 says, “O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God.”

God’s power is awesome. He can create with a word (Psa. 33:6,9) or destroy cities with a word of judgment as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is His power by which the Sun rises and sets ever day. He has power to do anything he wants to do and there is no one that can prevent Him. There is no reasoning with Him when He has made a declaration because He is never wrong. If His decrees are resisted, the resistance is less than nothing before His power to carry them out. God is good and righteous and those who fear Him and have put their trust in Him have nothing to worry about. David said, “the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people.” And as he makes that statement and thinks on it, his immediate response in this great song is, “Blessed be God.” Let’s look for a moment into this power that David says God gives to His people.

IT IS POWER TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE

The very first verse in the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” God’s people believe this verse. We do not have a problem with it. Because we are believers. All it take for us is for God to say it. That is what faith is. It is a positive response to the revelation of truth (Rom. 10:17).

Now the unbeliever is not willing to live without a rational explanation. He must find an answer as to how it all began and his answer must be a discovery he can take credit for. It makes no sense whatsoever that there is a Supreme Being that has such awesome power that He can just speak the word and a FINISHED POLISHED PERFECT UNIVERSE appears suddenly with the appearance of age. You see, that blows his mind. He must have a rational answer. This is the reason that man will never be saved if he persists in pursuing this course. God has chosen to reveal Himself to faith alone. What He has done is evident and should be evidence enough. But man who is in rebellion against God says NO (Psa. 14:1).

God began His Word by making a declaration without explanation because He was not appealing to rationalism but to faith. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

So the first declaration of His power that has to do with His power is in the first verse of the Bible. The next great exercise of His power that I will mention here is the power to INCARNATE HIMSELF INTO A VIRGIN WOMB and become a man to save man from his sins.

When you pick up your Bible and begin to read in the New Testament you run into a long list of names. And it is rather boring and for a new student of the Bible one might question why He begin His New Testament this way? I remember thinking that when I began a serious study of the Bible. You begin to read in Matthew 1:1 and it runs like “so and so begat so and so” until you get to verse 18 and there is a sharp turn in the road: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” You can read the story. Joseph, who was engaged to Mary, was on the side of science in the beginning. He is pictured in the Scripture as being a merciful man (quiet contrary to how some picture him) and was going to put Mary away without stoning her (the penalty for sleeping around with someone before marriage if you were officially engaged). But the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and gave him something to believe. Matthew 1:20 says of Joseph: “But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” The angel told Joseph that Mary had not been sleeping around. I can just see a modern Joseph running to a Rabbi and saying, “Rabbi, I’ve got to tell you something. It is really amazing. As you know, I am engaged to Mary. Well, I just found out she is pregnant. And Rabbi, I can tell you for sure the baby is not mine. I have not touched Mary sexually.” And the Rabbi blurts out before Joseph gets a chance to finish his story and says, “Well, Joseph, you know what you will have to do. Moses told a good Jew what to do when something like this happened.” Joseph said, “But Rabbi, let me tell you the rest of the story. I had a dream last night. An angel appeared to me and told me that Mary had not been sleeping around. That she was pregnant with a child of the Holy Ghost and that I should go ahead and marry her because this is a work of God.” The Rabbi said, “Yeah, right! Joseph, I never have thought you came in on the last load of turnips. You ate garlic on your sandwich before you went to bed last night, right?” “No, Rabbi, I’m not trying to pull your chain. I’m not playing mind games with you. I saw and heard the angel as clearly as I am seeing and hearing you right now.” Well, Joseph didn’t get anywhere with the Rabbi.

God gave Joseph something to believe. And Joseph proved himself to be a believer. He did not put Mary away but acted in the obedience of faith in response to God’s revelation.

And Jesus was born without a human father to a human mother so that He could provide salvation for men who have human fathers and be born into a Spiritual kingdom by the SAME HOLY SPIRIT that begat Jesus in the womb of Mary. Amen to God and the Lamb forever. God’s normal activity is beyond human rationalism and it will never be recognized except by faith.

IT IS A GIVEN POWER

David said, “the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people.” It is the God of Israel. Who is the God of Israel? Well, Moses was the human leader of Divine Choice. He wrote the first five books of the Bible. If he told the truth, and he did, it all calls for faith. Not only did God speak through Moses about origins, but also about a universal flood, about the division of nations and languages miraculously given at the tower of Babel so that it would implement the command of God to go out and populate the whole earth. He told of his call at the burning bush and the miracles in Egypt including the parting the waters of the Red Sea. I bought a book recently because it had an attractive price and some pretty pictures in it and this guy has Moses and Israel at the Reed Sea at the shallow marshes. He has them finding a place shallow enough to walk across and here we go with human rationalism. You see God gave that Anglican something to believe and it was too much for him. So he had to have a reasonable explanation for what happened at the Red Sea. God gave power to His people and demonstrated His power as they believed His revelation.

God has given us some things to believe. Now we have to make up our minds if we are going to believe or rationalize. Let’s notice some of what He has given us to believe:

1.Concerning His death; Heb. 1:3 says, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Now we have the opportunity to believe He “by Himself purged our sins.” Do we believe that? If we do, we will cease from our own works as a means of Helping Him to save us. We will work because we are His and rejoice in a finished salvation.

2.Concerning the simplicity of salvation: Roman 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” He has given us something to believe. Is His power great enough to save? He gives us an opportunity to believe.

3..Concerning His will for our lives; Phil. 2:12-13, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Is it God working in us to do His will? Or, are these thoughts that we have about serving or not serving Him just random thoughts that pass through our minds? Does the eternal God actually work in us to know his will? He has given us something to believe. It is a choice.

4.Concerning giving; Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” Again, He has given us something to believe. If we believe we will sow expectantly. If we rationalize we will give reluctantly according to our rational thought.

5.Concerning His power in us to overcome; Phil. 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” That word strength has to do with God’s power given to Paul for victory in his life. You do not think that just applies to Paul do you? He is giving us something to believe.

There are many other things that could be listed. I will let you continue this in your own study of His Word. God has given power to His people. But He has not given it to RATIONALISM. He has given it to FAITH. He has given us something to believe. Are we believing Him? That is a question all of us must answer. We are saved by faith and are to walk by faith. Hebrews 10:38-39 says, “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Earl White