As Christians, we serve a new Master. We dwell in a new kingdom and serve a new King (Col 1:13). However, we have not been left to serve in our own strength. The “power” to serve has been given to us in Christ. The Apostle Paul talks about this in Ephesians:
(Ephesians 1:19-20) – 19 and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength. 20 This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. (NET)
It was Paul’s desire and prayer that the Ephesian believers would come to know and understand and experience the surpassing and exceeding greatness of God’s power toward us who have placed their faith in Christ. Paul speaks more about the power of God in our lives in Ephesians 3, and again it’s in the form of prayer:
(Ephesians 3:16,20) – 16 I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he will grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person,
20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think, (NET)
We who have come into a personal relationship with God, who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we have the power of God working in us—enabling us to live in obedience and to receive answers to our prayers. Those who have an especially close walk with God, will receive answers to their prayers in ways that others can’t and won’t—perhaps even miraculous answers to prayer. Serving Christ and answered prayer, go hand in hand. It’s all part of the same experience. The true Christian life is one that is lived in true communion with God, in total reliance on Him.
God’s power in us is activated and sustained by faith, and by a surrender of our will to the will of God. Those who reject sin and the ways of this world, those who seek to live pure and holy lives, those who seek to live in all things to the glory of God, will experience all that God has ordained for them. There’s nothing God can’t do in and through a person who is fully devoted in service to Christ.
A life that is fully yielded to God is a life that has a clear and open pathway to God and His power. That should motivate and stir the hearts of every one of us. It should move us to let go of the things of this world in order to experience all that God has planned for us. It should be the heart’s desire of every follower of Christ to experience the full experience of knowing God and His power. Sin and self-will impedes, but yielding to God and to His will opens the floodgates of His favor and power.
The power to walk in victory over sin and worldly pursuits is available, but we must be fully surrendered to the Lord. We have to make up our minds what it is that we truly value. What we value most will be seen in the things that we pursue the most. We can talk all we want about how much we love Jesus, but it’s how we spend our time and what we seek that reveals the true nature of our love.
The power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of the Father, is the same power that saved us and that’s been given to us to live the Christian life. The power that raised Jesus from the dead, is the same power that raised us up to new life in Him. Furthermore, this same power that seated Jesus on His throne in Heaven, is the same that seated us with Him:
(Ephesians 2:6) – 6 and he raised us up together with him and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, (NET)
We died and have been raised to new life with Christ, and we are now seated with Him in Heaven, positionally (Eph 1:3; Phil 3:30). That’s where God sees us, as though we’re already there. We just have to get it settled in our minds that this world is not our home. That which characterizes the born-again believer in Christ is not worldly things, but heavenly things. Paul tells us that our “life is hidden with Christ in God,” and that we are to “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (NET – Col 3:1-3).
We are to “keep seeking the things above” because our true “citizenship is in Heaven” (Phil 3:20). That’s our inheritance. We’re just passing through this life in order to prepare us for the next. We’re always to be living out who we are in Christ, according to our true citizenship.
If God sees us as seated with Christ now, as if already there, what sense does it make to be seeking the same things that the people of this world value? The values of the world are for those who are of the world. It’s not fitting for us to seek the things of this life. That’s not who we are. Our identity is in Christ.
Therefore, we are not to identify ourselves with the world, but with Christ and His Kingdom. We are to live in this world as though it was the Kingdom of Christ and being ruled by Him. Indeed, once we fully realize that we actually are dwelling in the Kingdom of Christ, and that He is indeed reigning over His people (Col 1:13), it will completely change our viewpoint of the world and how we live our lives. We will realize our proper place as servants of our King.