Resurrection Power

We have just finished celebrating Easter, the most important celebration in Christianity, the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. No other religion in the world can celebrate the resurrection of its founder. Paul says in I Corinthians 15:17, “if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” But Christ has risen from the dead, and we know that if we are in Him, we will be raised with Him. Not only does His resurrection guarantee the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life with Him, but it also promises us power for our lives today.

Paul prays in Ephesians 1:17-21,“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”

Paul prays that we would know “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.” This resurrection power is what broke the power of sin, sickness, and death. This resurrection power resides in us by the Spirit enabling us to walk in authority over “all principality, power, might, and dominion, and every name that is named.” Christ gained victory over the enemy in order that by faith we can walk in His victory.

We cannot know this power through study, observation or experience. Oftentimes our knowledge and experience work against the operation of this power because our thinking and experience are finite. Paul says this understanding is given to us by “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” Resurrection power comes in the revelation knowledge of Christ! The more we really know Him, the more we walk in His power that can change our life and the lives of those around us.

This resurrection power not only comes from knowing Him, but also from our position in Him. His power does not operate from worldly means or ways of doing things because we live and work in a world that is under the power of the evil one. That is why Paul says Christ is seated in heavenly places, and Ephesians 2:6 says we are seated “together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” God’s ways are far above our ways. To overcome, we must take on the mind of Christ and operate in His sphere of influence. May you come to know and experience “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.”

Andy