Power of Christ Within a Believer

Ephesians 3:13-21

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

• Willing to Suffer for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• Power of Christ Within a Believer.
• Power to Grasp the Magnitude of Christ’s Love.
• Power of Christ Within Does More than Imaginable.

Willing to Suffer for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 “Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you,
which is your glory.
For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,”
Ephesians 3:13-15

How many of us today are willing to suffer for sharing the Testimony of Jesus Christ? I know there are those who live by the Spirit of Jesus Christ who knows how hostile the public is to an outward expression of Christianity. We experience it daily. Paul suffered for bringing the Gospel to the world, he was executed by Nero. For some of us, holding to the testimony of Jesus Christ is all there is to live for, that is our life. We bow ourselves to God who is the Father of everyone who takes on the name of Christian. The beast that has power over physiology has no intention of allowing the Gospel to spread beyond the front door of believers. It discards the name of Jesus Christ from its society, tramples on the Holy Spirit, and sets itself up as God. It regards itself as being all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present. The beast gives people what to say, do, think, and feel and demands everyone to live by its inner presence. There are sufferings and persecutions towards Christians today, but it is for the Glory of all who live for the name of Christ.

Power of Christ Within Believers

“…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory,
to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; ”
Ephesians 3:16-17a

It’s ludicrous to think that God is the beast that uses His power to coerce His creation through physiology to impose upon a person their thoughts, emotions, words, and behaviors. If anyone ever wonders what it really means for the Spirit of Christ to live within a person, read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John of the Bible. Christ’s only purpose is to point people to God and to get them to believe in Him as the One sent for the atonement of sin. When Christ lives in us through the Holy Spirit, that becomes our sole purpose, to bring people to God through Jesus Christ. The power of God’s Spirit is to strengthen us in the purpose of spreading the Gospel. Those who have the presence of the Holy Spirit within them has this desire,

“To be like Jesus, this hope possesses me
In every thought and deed, this is my aim, my creed
To be like Jesus, this hope possesses me
His Spirit helping me, like Him I’ll be.”
(Church Hymn)

The beast does not strengthen life in the Spirit but weakens belief in God, stifles growth in the Spirit of Christ, and intends to weaken a person’s walk in the presence of the Holy Spirit. By serving the beast, people have become egocentric in the way they exalt themselves above belief in God. They feel no remorse and no need for the remission of sin through Jesus Christ. They oppose, ridicule, and manipulate the presence of the Holy Spirit as they detest the life of Holiness. The love of the world grows cold with no empathy for others within their superficial charm.

Power to Grasp the Magnitude of Christ’s Love.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 
may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, 
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—
that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:17b-19

That is power! The power to be able to grasp the deep love of Christ. When I think of the beast has over physiology, I envision a group of mad scientists inventing it. They tinkered with thought processes, emotional processes, with speech, and tinkered with physical mobility. What they couldn’t tinker with was the Holy Spirit, the deep love of God couldn’t be tinkered with. The Holy Spirit is not just emotions and cannot be flipped on and off through emotional switches and thought processes. To have the power to grasp the deep love of Christ does not give room to the inner presence of the beast. The power of the deep love of Christ surpasses knowledge, it surpasses the knowledge of mad scientists. In fact, the only answer that this present system has to the love of Christ is persecution, hostility, isolation, and death. In response, may all believers be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Power of Christ Within Does More than Imaginable.

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to His power that is at work within us, 
to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20-21

The power that works within us is the deep love of Christ through the Holy Spirit. That love motivates believers to share the Gospel. Our born-again experience is the Gospel of Christ written on our heart. If Paul or any other of the Apostles or any believer of that day saw the worldwide spread of their efforts, they would be immensely amazed. The testimony of Christ spread through them in a way that must have been immeasurably more than they could have asked or imagined. Paul’s faith in God was simple, and could be summed up like this, “Amazing grace (how sweet the sound)
that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” By faith, Paul knew God was capable of doing immeasurably more than he could imagine. He knew great things would be done through the power of Christ’s love that lives in us through the Holy Spirit. His prayer was for God to be glorified through all generations forever through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is still alive in this generation and will be returning soon to give eternal life to all those who believe.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11