Power and Humility

[IKTCA]

I am looking for teaching on the subject. By the way, I mean the power as used here:

you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you (Acts 1:8)

and

And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power (1 Cor 2:4)

If my brothers and sisters have teaching on this matter, let me learn from you.

Rupert

 

[C.A.B.L]

Hmm, this will be a very interesting thread. I will do a bit of research and get back to you. I look forward to seeing the replies.

 

[WeakButHopeful]

For 1 Cor 2:4 I found a commentary by Jon Courson at http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/c/1116825059-2816.html that (if I understand it properly) is saying that the "power" referenced in this verse is the power of God's perfect plans, in contrast to the "wise" yet (in the end) self-defeating plans of the princes of this world. Christ was crucified to maintain their power, yet in doing so they decreased their own power and furthered God's plans. Therefore Paul does not make any apology for not having sophisticated, nuanced arguments for Christianity (which the Corinthians, in their culture, would have liked), but points to the futility of man's reasoning vs. the awesome power of God.

I also found a site devoted to going into some depth on Acts 1:8 at http://www.carm.org/sermons/Acts_1_8.htm but many other sites seemed to merely see it as the launching of the "great commission".

 

[IKTCA]

Thank you for the reply. I was more or less referring to how a believer can maintain humility when power comes to him. Say that one has received the authority to heal the sick. In what set of mind will this power and authority not affect humility? Rather, stregnthen the humility? Like Jesus did. Like Paul did.

 

[angelwind]

Thank you for the reply. I was more or less referring to how a believer can maintain humility when power comes to him. Say that one has received the authority to heal the sick. In what set of mind will this power and authority not affect humility? Rather, stregnthen the humility? Like Jesus did. Like Paul did.

This is very interesting to me, as I just had a dream in which I saw myself praying for people and they were healed...it made me weep in the dream, knowing how great and precious a gift like this was from God.

Paul said this...most of us know this verse:

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 2Cor. 12:7

It seems that the Lord took good care of His Apostle and the potential for pride to ruin him.

 

[Nom De Guerre]

Wow...

Well, last night... there was a bit of a burden on my mind; a burden about how people don't appreciate God, even though miracles are abudant and His love is everlasting; anyway, I decided to go for, what I thought would be, a short walk.

The walk had shortly begun and I decided to rest and discuss the issue openly, for the ears of the people, my hopes residing with our Father for them. I began to speak about how my heart was heavy, how I would rather see so many people being blessed by God; but feared they would never appreciate, like I said earlier, the Hand of God... and so I posed a question, or two: Who, then, is ready to receive; and what will you do with it? The hearts of some of the people lay dorment and they inquired amongst themselves about what they would do... I then asked: will you give freely? The people, again, began to inquire, more thoroughly this time, to themselves on this matter... I sat there pleading for the people to God; He told me that it would be so... I yelled out: For the Glory of God... soon after speaking a little more on the matter aloud I became enflamed and my spirit began to swell within my body; I was overjoyed with the love of God and I had to continue my walk... along the way, God would put it in my heart and my mind to state the miracles which would take place... after walking about 5 minutes further I soon found different portions of my body becoming spiritually enhanced, I had to bow myself to the ground and give out a great, "Hallelujah!"... I got up and still the Lord had been putting it in my heart to speak of the miracles He wanted people to receive... a young man, a woman, and a child passed by... the child bearing only one full leg; the other was amputated... my right hand stretched out and I could feel the fire of the Holy Ghost in it; not to mention my breathing had began to deepen, with longer strides, because of the energy which was flowing through my body. I continued to walk shortly further and then my right hand seized, it curled and became momentarily paralyzed; it was as though my hand had withered, as though I was suffering for the relief of another... I walked a little further, but I could not take it any longer... my breathing was extremely heavy, my face was getting numb, my eyes were slightly closing... I hit the ground and suddenly I had to cry... not because I was in pain, but because I had joy and reverence for God. As I bowed on the ground and tears streamed from my eyes... a heaviness fell upon my right leg, as though someone was stepping upon it; yet the feeling was not founded by materials or matter, but of spiritual power... the pain was becoming quite focused and I wanted to suffer more and more; but the power of the pressure felt as though my leg needed to be cut off, I could not bear the weight any longer and I rolled over. Still somewhat contorted, I laid on the grass and felt the pain of my leg subsiding, I tried to move on and soon found myself bowing again, I then proceeded to ask God to "release me from here... I do not belong here." I wanted, so badly, to be freed from my body... to go home to our Heavenly Father. Very soon after stating this, a man came over and asked if I was ok, "I told Him I was fine, My God it with me"... a few others came over to see if I was alright, I told them, as well, that I was well and God is with me. I got up after they left me, the man saying that if I was still in this condition in awhile that he would come again, knowing that I had to move on in order to free them from their burden... I began to walk again, still in partial shock both in mind and body.

I walked for a little while, and soon found some people began to throw rocks in my direction, some of the smaller nature... others not so tiny... at this time, what was drawing to my mind was Stephen and Y'shua(Jesus) how they asked God to forgive the people who had slain them... after shortly walking onwards, I decided I would give them the opportunity to take me amongst the shadows… that, if it was my time and this was their time, they could kill me.

Well, let’s just end it by saying… I’m still here.

 

[WeakButHopeful]

Oh, sorry iktca, I misunderstood your question. Well, with regard to maintaining humility when blessed with great power, my favorite Bible example is Elijah in I Kings, most specifically verse I Kings 19:18, where God basically says: "What's this ONLY you loyal to me stuff? There were 7000 others I could have used to accomplish my plans! Get a grip Elijah, shut up and do what I say." To his credit Elijah (2 verses later) shows that his head has deflated significantly when he does not insist on any particular deference from Elisha.

In summary I think that yes, to heal or to draw souls to the Lord or any other power we receive from God can make us proud, or it can make us humble when we realize there is nothing special about ourselves, that God may, or may not, work through anyone He chooses. In a sense this is not surprising. I have known people who are very good looking, or very smart, or very strong...some acted quiet and humble and did not draw attention to themselves, others were just the opposite in their behaviour. It would not seem to me that humans would react significantly differently to the gifts they received from God than from the power they received.

But I hope if I am missing something that others will please point out my error so I can learn from it.

Thanks.

 

[C.A.B.L]

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
-Abraham Lincoln​

The measure of the man is what he does with power.
- Pittacus

As I was reading this post, I remembered these two quotes. The certainly go with the subject at hand. Abraham Lincoln said, " to test a man's character, give him power " Pittacus said, " the measure of the man, is what he does with power "

The power God gives us, is not for us. For a while I couldn't accept that because if God gave it to us, then he must have intended it for us. But it's not for us. When we start to think it is for us, is when pride sets in. To remain humble in a position of great power, you must use your power to ease the suffering of others. Our power is to be used for two things, to bring people to Christ, and to show the power of God, that's it. It's not for us to brag about, to use for ill gotten gains, but to reveal. We are given power as believers, but by ourselves we can do nothing. Jesus said, " 5I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing (AMP) " This is a short reply but I think it hits the spot.

God Bless,
Matt

 

[SingleServant]

Stay close to Christ, because ultimately if He does use you mightly trust me, opposition will come, tests, trials, will come all those things definately will keep you humble if you keep the right attitude through it and I know some people say "don't ask God to humble you, humble yourself, you don't want God to humble you" well I know the scripture does say humble yourself under the mighty hand of God resist the devil and he will flee from you and I believe that is true but just how do you humble yourself? I don't think there's anything wrong with asking God to show you the way of humility ... how else are you going to learn, just realize HOW He does it, it won't be pleasant, but you can do all things through Christ. Sometimes a realization of your own sin will humble you. True humility is really realizing you are nothing without Christ, that's what it really is, you don't have to defend yourself, you don't have to vindicate yourself, you actually realize you have no rights at all, you give all of that over to Jesus. I would say though beware of false humility which really is pride in disguise. A person who is truly humble will never tell you they are, it shows.

Examples of humility: study the life of Moses (the bible describes him as very meek same thing) and Jesus also even though He is the Son of God yet He humbled Himself unto death. One of my favorite Preachers/Teachers says the way up is down ...

 

[IKTCA]

This is a difficult subject for me to put into words mainly because I don't have good understanding of power. Because of the flesh nature that is still strong in me, I take the word power as related to "above others." But the Bible used the word differently.

Acts says Stephen was full of grace and power. When a man uses the word grace, he is humbling himself before God, since grace means "I am not worthy but you still love me." Here power and grace were used side by side. Obviously, power did not lessen Stephen's humility. Rather, I believe power increased his humility.

There is much I want to discuss with you on this subject but I need to put the thoughts in order first. In the meantime, please let me learn from you.

Rupert