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Religious: It is in the bank!
Pastor Arnie Wyllie
for South Peace News
A student at a Bible college shared a prayer request with her fellow classmates.
She asked the class to pray for her brother. She and her brother grew up in an expensive home in a wealthy neighbourhood. Once her brother reached adulthood, he rejected his parent’s values. At the time of the student’s prayer request for her brother’s health and safety, he was sleeping on city streets and eating from garbage cans.
The young man’s father provided for his son in case he changed his mind. The father placed a sum of money in a bank on the street where his son slept. He gave his son a chequebook for the account with these instructions, “If you ever need money, all you have to do is walk into the bank and write a cheque.”
Most people would consider the son to be fortunate to have such a devoted father. The father did everything he knew to provide for his son. All that was required of the boy was to walk into the bank and ask for his money.
The Bible tells us about a power from God that we long for.
“I pray that from God’s glorious, unlimited resources He will give you mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19)
From what the Bible says, God has done for us something like what this father did for his son. God prompts a longing in our hearts to find power for our lives and then provides a way for us to access that power.
The power you long for comes directly from God. He provides it to us from His “glorious, unlimited resources”. This power comes through the presence of the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of Christ, who inhabits Christians. The Holy Spirit does not just visit on special occasions or when difficult circumstances come our way. He can live in us every moment of every day.
The Scripture speaks of our ‘inner strength’. That is the part of us from which emerges our personality and our spirituality. It is the place where God lets us know He has pardoned our sins and accepted us into His family. It is the seat of our praise, worship, and gratitude for Him. It is the location of our conscience. That is why it is so important for the Spirit of Christ to reside there continually and completely. He is our ‘inner strength’.
How do we get this power for the life we were meant to live? The Bible says that it comes by our faith in God. We trust His promise to provide for our need and depend on Him daily for His supply. The rooting and establishing of this power is found in God’s love.
This power is not just for a select few; it is for all Christians. God and His love dwell completely in you, and you are able to understand Christ’s love, a love that surpasses all human knowledge.
This power fills us with God Himself. Imagine that, eh! We can have the greatest power in the universe dwelling with our hearts. Our ‘inner strength’ is the presence of God.
God’s power comes your way through relationship with the Spirit of Christ. The Holy Spirit does not simply visit you occasionally. He dwells constantly within those who seek Him with all their heart. Receiving God’s power requires no special formula. You need only ask Him in faith for it.
Read the Scripture again. Notice that, while power is referred to several times, power is never the subject of the quest. The Spirit of Christ is the focus of your quest. Seek Him. God’s power comes as a byproduct of your relationship with Him. As a result of your relationship with the Spirit of Christ, you will receive, along with God’s power, the love of Christ and the fullness of God, and the assurance of eternal life.
The cheque is made out in your name. All you need to do is, by faith, get to know the Manager.
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