All the Power We Need
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
- 2 Peter 1:3
Human history has been all about power: using it, and sometimes exploiting it. First there was manpower. Then there was steam power. Now we have nuclear power. But what we seem to lack is willpower. Human beings are able to harness the powers of the universe, but we can't seem to control ourselves.
But the good news is that we serve a mighty God who will give us all the power we need to live the Christian life. Some people may say it is kind of difficult to be a Christian. But I would disagree. I don't think it is difficult to be a Christian; I think it is impossible-without the help and the power of the Holy Spirit, that is.
It has been said that conversion has made our hearts a battlefield. The moment we put our faith in Jesus, we enter into a spiritual battle. We have an adversary, an opponent, an enemy known as the devil. And Ephesians 6:12 tells us, "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."
Once a high-ranking angel in heaven, Lucifer, or Satan, rebelled against God. In that rebellion, he took one-third of the angels with him. Those fallen angels are what we know as demons. The purpose of demons seems to be twofold: to hinder the purpose of God and extend the power of Satan.
But we serve a God who has all power. Psalm 62:11 tells us that power belongs to God. And Jesus said He had been given "all authority in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18). All the power we need to live the Christian life is available to us through Jesus Christ.