How Much Power Do You Need?

I’m a guy. I like tools. (Women probably think I’m being redundant.)

One of my biggest pleasures (um … besides writing this blog … for you.) is building furniture in my garage. A good Saturday involves pulling out multiple power tools and getting after it.

Maybe you’ve seen the PBS show, The Woodwright’s Shop with Roy Underhill. He builds good stuff and he does it all with hand tools. I have difficulty watching the show because I start emitting Tim Allen grunts and hollering at the TV, “JUST SEE WHAT YOU COULD DO WITH ELECTRICITY!”

We guys tend to think more power is better, but I’ve learned the value of scaling back the power to just what I need. I have a really good drill press and I can drill holes as big at five inches. But I can also drill a hole that’s only .013 of an inch  (the width of the thinnest guitar string).

The issue is not needing more power, but having the power I need.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, the same power that was present at creation is living inside you. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead works in you. The power is a Person: God the Holy Spirit. And we have all the power we need in Him.

• Most days, I don’t need to move mountains. I just need to extend the grace and kindness of Christ to a stranger through my words.
• I need to forgive a minor infraction even as Christ forgave me of major infractions.
• I need patience to wait for someone who isn’t as quick as I think she should be.

I need God’s power—His Holy Spirit for all these things. We know we cannot save ourselves, but we often forget we cannot live the Christian lives ourselves. We need the Holy Spirit.

Let’s take Paul’s prayer and make it our own.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. 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 (Eph. 1:16-19).

This post supports the study “Strengthened by God’s Power” in Bible Studies for Life.