Part 7! Wow. I can’t believe our study is nearing an end – if you’ve missed studying some of the names that God calls you, then you can click on the Bible Studies link on the right side to get caught up. But now that we stand assured of our safety, as we saw last week, guess what? We can take risks! What an honor that God tells us as we step out with renewed confidence that we are powerful.
God promises you POWER – as He defines it. If you think back, we started this series by highlighting that often our sense of self gets tangled in what the world defines as success, achievement, and power, and as a result we battle the ups and downs in self-esteem because of the uncertainty of our promotions and recognitions. Much of the shallow success the world offers comes with the promise of power and influence. How remarkable that God combats the short-lived power that comes with those achievements with a deep and abiding confident power through Him!
I am all about empowering women. I have a career and a family and a community and friends. I do not offer an old-fashioned sensibility about what is “appropriate” for women. I have no qualms teaching my precious daughter girl-power (just as I teach my amazing boys boy-power). But that power MUST be rooted in something. It cannot be power for power’s sake. It can not be about piling up titles and tributes for the sake of accumulating power that is here today and gone tomorrow. Power that has no eternal value.
Constant and real power is rooted in our faith and our relationship with God. It is a power that means something, a power that gives us victory over self-doubt and worry and feelings of worthlessness. Let’s make sure that every single woman out there knows how we take hold of an abiding and true power. Hang on to it sister. It’s a tough world. That power is your life line. You. Are. Powerful.
I know because He says so. How do I know?
Ephesians 1:18-21: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.
II Corinthians 12:9: But he [the Lord] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Philippians 4: 12-13: I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty…I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
II Chronicles 32:7-8: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.”
Matthew 19:26: Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
I Timothy 1:7: For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Ephesians 6:10: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
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