So picture this, we’re reliving Acts 19:11-16 where seven sons of a Jewish High Priest named Sceva all gather around a ‘demonised’ guy in his house and decide that they are going to ‘exorcise’ him using a technique that they had seen Paul (the apostle in that city at that time) using. They were going to call on Jesus. I mean just using the name of Jesus had afforded Paul the opportunity to see many people healed, some of them, from only touching the handkerchief that he had been using.
Anyway, they get in the house and one of them is like, “I command you to depart, by the Jesus proclaimed by Paul!” and the evil spirit inside the crazy man says back, “Jesus I know. Paul I know. But who are you?” He then goes on to beat these men and they leave the house naked and well, beaten. People in the surrounding villages were shocked because they now realised that the name of Jesus was actually really powerful and praiseworthy!
Here’s the thing I want to help you realise – If you’ve accepted Jesus as lord over your life, then you need to awaken to the fact that you have been given ALL of the POWER that Jesus had. PLUS, he wants us to walk in it daily. BUT! There must be a resemblance between you and Jesus (Acts 19:15-16)!
Look, you can have a good reputation in your church, and say all the right words and still live a powerless Christian life. What is powerlessness? It is the result of you not having the ‘resemblance of Jesus’ in your spirit.
James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.’
The operating principle in the Bible is this:
- Obedience brings Possession (Romans 8:9);
- Possession brings Christlikeness;
- Christlikeness brings Power (John 5:30)
How do we submit ourselves to God? I found the word YIELD quite interesting. One definition of it is to, “give forth or produce by a natural process or in return for cultivation” another is to give up, or surrender. It is the process of submitting, producing, bearing, and giving way to influence (1 Corinthians 9:25)!
This means that, we surrender the throne of our lives fully to Jesus and no longer live according to our own rules. We give way to his influence in and over our lives. This in turn starts a natural process that starts the cultivation of all kinds of GOOD FRUIT in our lives. What is the good fruit? Ultimately, being more like Jesus and looking just like him! (Side note: Read Psalm 40:8, David talks about the joy that he finds in obeying ALL that Jesus says).
You can put up a façade in the natural and try to fool people, but you can’t fool God. In actual fact, playing a charade for other people destroys your faith. This is not about getting honor from people, that is the opposite of ‘resemblance in Jesus.’ Philippians 2:7 says that Christ made himself of no reputation. The guy was despised and rejected by men (Isaiah 53:3), but he wielded the greatest spiritual power.
Jesus said, ‘That’s why it is hard to see how true faith is even possible for you: you are consumed by the approval of other men, longing to look good in their eyes; and yet you disregard the approval of the one true God (John 5:44, The VOICE) i.e. how can you have faith in truth when your behavior reveals that your life is based on falsehood? (2 Timothy 3:5 – having a form of godliness but denying its power)
OUCH!
THAT HURTS!
Have you been walking a powerless Christian walk? Well, maybe this is the reason why! Today, don’t be one of those people who look into the mirror and forget their reflection (i.e. look into the face of Jesus and then turn away and forget what you’re supposed to look like – James 1:23). After all, the reward of looking like Jesus is much greater than looking like anything else.