Daily Bread - MAR/26/07

Ephesians 1:19 - "...and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working power of His mighty power."

Our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has really loaded us up with all of the divine power and ability that we will ever need for anything that we will ever face. The biggest challenge is on our part to believe Him and look to Him for help in time of need. If we are willing to look to Him for help then He will supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory. There are four "power" words in this one verse of scripture: 1- dunamis; 2- energia; 3- kratos; 4- ischus.

The Greek word "dunamis" is defined by the virtue that went out of Jesus to heal the woman with the issue of blood and the power that the church would receive once the Holy Spirit came upon them. It has been said that dunamis is the ability to accomplish the promise; energeia is brute or muscular power or working efficiency: by application "supernatural strength" (Philippians 3:21, Colossians 1:29); kratos is the power to overcome obstacles: have dominion or controlling power; and ischus is the potential power the power that will come to bear when needed (1 Peter 4:11). The word "ischus" is first used in Genesis 4:12: "When you till the ground it will not yield her strength to you."

This use of four synonyms for power in one verse is similar to Ephesians 6:10 which commands the saints to be endunamoo (strong) in the Lord and in the kratos (power) of His ischus (might). The Almighty wants us to have a strong assurance of faith to know for certain that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). Father so wanted Abraham to be certain of the promise that He swore an oath to him. Yet now God has done something even greater for us; He sealed us and endued us with His Spirit (Luke 24:49; Hebrews 6:13-19; Hebrews 10:22-23).

Be blessed,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
abidingplace.org