You are more awesome than Your holy places.
The God of Israel is He who gives
strength and power to His people. Ps 68.35.
Hence, walking ‘in step’ with the Holy Spirit, is how you receive this first antidote of power. Praise God, for taking on an enemy without adequate ‘firepower’ is risky business. So, what exactly is this promised endowment of ‘power’? The N.T. uses several Greek words to denote power, but we find ‘ dunamis’
( Str 1411), the most ‘dynamic’ of these words in our theme text—2Tim 1.7. With a breadth of meaning, it is translated as
might, strength, ability, miracle, or power, and essentially indicates inherent power that enables or makes possible the ability to work miracles. In other words, God’s ability to do anything due to His omnipotence. With the Holy Spirit as a partner , this ‘power’ becomes yours, an impartation of grace to perform the supernatural, even the unthinkable (Eph3.20).
POWER FOR COURAGE
A most important outcome of this empowerment is courage, the ‘nerve’ to withstand the intimidation by ‘fear’. Thank God, as withstanding this bully without boldness is a daunting prospect even for the most optimistic soul. If not for this
‘power’, my battle with ‘fear’ would certainly have failed. So thoroughly had it crushed my spirit before becoming a Christian, any confidence to win such a war did not exist. In fact, I was doomed to be Satan’s punching bag. But over time (it was not immediate), this empowerment of the Holy Spirit turned the 70
weakling I was (timid, doubting, and apathetic) into a courageous warrior. Replacing my defeatist, pacifist attitude with such a winning outlook I was ‘itching for a fight’. With courage from the Holy Spirit, you too can be like the ‘war horse’
of Job straining to ‘ run into the fray at the smell of the battle’
( Job 39.19-25 ).
POWER FOR STAMINA
‘I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.’
(Eph 3.14-16) Courage is not the only trait needed for war, you also need stamina. Without staying power, it becomes too easy to give up on executing the strategy. Victory in war goes to those who stubbornly persist in pursuing an enemy until they utterly defeat it. Stamina also allows you to cope with the counter-attacks, no matter how fierce, and whatever the odds.
What wins the day in the end, then, is the determination that won't give up, and this demands stamina.
Discouragement and dismay in war are expected, these saboteurs of victory no longer pose a real threat where stamina exists. As Lord Wellington said about his naval fleet defeating Napoleon at Waterloo, “Our men were not braver than the enemy. They were brave five minutes longer” . James expresses the same sentiment, saying those who ‘persevere…get the victor's crown’ (Jam 1.12). Yes, perseverance is often the difference between winners and losers. Now, this ‘staying power’ might seem impossible if past failures have made you battle-weary, pessimistic, discouraged, and drained all reserves.
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But you are wrong. Indeed, you are the ideal candidate the Holy Spirit wants to ‘ strengthen with might in the inner man’ (Eph 3.16); to empower, so you become ‘ more than a conqueror’
(Rom 8.37). How can anyone be ‘ more than’ a conqueror? By winning, but not being able to take the credit because someone else won the battle for them. This happens when the Holy Spirit empowers; natural strength is not what counts—His strength does.
POWER AND AUTHORITY
The Holy Spirit also confers the authority to use this power.
To prosecute a military campaign requires both; without the authority, it is the ‘unlawful use of force’ (law terminology).
The fight you have with ‘fear’, then, is fully authorized; a legitimacy founded in the Cross where Christ ‘ disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them’ (Col 2.15). Since your fight with ‘fear’ is legal, the battle is really all about you as the ‘law enforcement officer’ ensuring that defeat holds up (remember, evil powers are stubborn). Thankfully, the authority you have allows the use of ‘as much force as is necessary’. Still have doubts; then meditate on the following texts so their truths burn deep within your heart as all confirm your authority to enforce the victory won on Calvary 2000 years ago.
‘Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death 72
were…subject to bondage.’ (Heb 2:14-15) Christ died to release you from ‘fear’, particularly the fear of death.
‘I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.’ (Luke 10.19) You have the authority to deal with ‘all the power of the enemy’.
‘For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.’ (1John 3.8) Christ’s incarnation and death prepared the way so you can finish destroying the works of the devil.
POWER FOR FAITH
‘Who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.’ (1Pet 1.5) If despair is not to cripple as it has other fighters in this war, you need the morale booster of faith. Most especially when needing to regroup after losing a battle with ‘fear’ (but not the war). Yes, even when fear’s attacks have bloodied, with the faith that
‘ overcomes the world’ (1John 5.4) you can fight on past failure.
‘Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.’
(1Pet 5.9) It requires more than innate natural optimism or confidence to win this war. It is successfully prosecuted only with supernatural faith from the Holy Spirit, the faith enabling you to continue trusting in the promises of God even when ‘fear’
has tossed and wounded. A connection between faith and the third member of the Godhead found more than once in Scripture, e.g. they chose Stephen ‘full of faith and of the Holy 73
Spirit’ (Acts 6.5). Note also the biblical couplet of faith and power (2Thes 1.11, 1Pet 1.5); faith enables you to reach out for God’s power, and in return, it will strengthen your ‘little faith’.
FAITH AND PEACE
‘Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusts in thee.’ (Isa 26:3) Does anyone doubt peace is a powerful antidote to fear? Surely not, when anxiety plagues us far too easily absent robust peace. But, again, this tranquility of heart must be what heaven supplies; the
‘peace of God’ and not the cheap imitation the world offers in amusements, entertainment, or the ‘pacifiers’ of alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. (See Jhn 14.27) The peace God Himself enjoys as symbolized by the mirror-like ‘sea of glass before the throne’ (Rev 4.6) and what is of more value perhaps than some other blessings a believer enjoys. Reach out for it along with the grace to ‘trust in the Lord’ (verse above) and you will know the divine ‘rest of soul’ (Matt 11.29) Jesus promised.
BE STRONG IN THE LORD
‘Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.’ (Eph 6.10) ‘Toughness’ also counts in war, a ruggedness of mind more than anything physical, but critical in battling an enemy that loves to ‘out muscle’. But again, it can’t be natural ‘pigheadedness’ but the toughness from impartation of ‘all might in the inner man’ (Eph 3.16). The toughness you need if this war is not to exhaust—spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Obtained by being ‘strong in the Lord’ (verse above), and this is yours by keeping filled with the Holy Spirit as I have instructed. Maintaining an ‘up to date’ anointing is the 74
only way this power becomes yours and is why I wrote the last chapter detailing disciplines of the devotional life. Only with consistent use of these ‘means of grace’ is there ‘strength’ for the battle; they keep the reservoir of power filled up supplying the ‘turbines’ generating courage and faith.
PUTTING ON POWER
While this power largely comes from a solid devotional life, some situations call for it to be ‘turbo-charged’. This is when ‘a mantle’ of power can be put on, an endowment akin to what equipped Samson (though, not of course, for physical exploits).
When ‘put on’ like a garment, this special anointing gives extra courage and stamina. How is this done? In the same way, ancient and modern warriors have emboldened themselves—by raising a ‘battle cry’ (think of Robert the Bruce and his army).
This ‘ritual’ has emboldened warriors for a battle for millennia.
You can experience this by taking the time to also raise a ‘battle cry’ of declarations of faith—about courage, power, and the victory Christ has promised. More specifically, pronouncements made about your position as a prince of God in Christ, seated ‘in the heavenlies’ (Eph 2.6) and with the authority to ‘tread on snakes and scorpions’ (Lk 10.19), etc. But also make sure to declare how mighty God is as the sovereign ruler over creation, both on earth and above.
When employing this strategy of the ‘battle cry’ I like to sing choruses declaring the victory a soldier Christ’s army has. I sing them over and over and then speak the declarations out loud.
Before long my spirit usually registers this anointing of power.
All I do then is discern when, in an act of faith, to ‘put it on’. In 75
your times of fiercest conflict with ‘fear’, don’t forget to use this battle tactic. You will be surprised how a ‘battle cry’ like this opens the way for fresh power. One sone I often use is this;
‘I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord Let the weak say I am strong,
He has clothed me with the garment of salvation, He has poured His Spirit out over me, He has given me the power o’er the enemy, And in the name of Jesus, I’ll watch those demons flee’
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