7. Empowerment From Above
There is a story told of the life of John Wesley, a holiness preacher. In his attempts to please God, He made sure he lived right. Yet, in all his goodness, he still felt unfulfilled. That is, until he met His Saviour and realized that salvation is by grace and not by works. With this message of salvation, he was able to impact lives not only in his home of England, but in the world at large. Yes, the ‘founder’ of the Methodist Church was only able to fully carry out his assignment after he received empowerment from above. And so it is with you and me.
When God empowers you, He gives you the power and authority to carry out your assignment. We see him doing this repeatedly in the Scriptures.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 1:28
Before God gave man his assignment, He empowered him. How? By blessing him.
God is not an unjust Master. He would not give you a task without the empowerment to do it. Let us go back to our anchor passage in Matthew 25.
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey […] But the man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
Matthew 25:14-18
Before the master gave them their tasks, he considered their individual abilities. That means he knew how each of them empowered to carry out their tasks. But the third servant ignored this empowerment and neglected his work and received his due judgement (see verses 26-30).
The Lord always empowers His servants.
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luke 10:19
Let us break down the above empowerment in the original Greek:
Behold – Idou – See
Give – Didomi – to appoint you to an office
Power – Exousia – the power of authority (influence) and of right (privilege)
Tread – Pateo – trample, crush with the feet
Power – Dunamis – strength power, ability
We can paraphrase Luke 10:19 as follows:
See, I appoint you to an office with the power of authority and the power of right to crush with your feet serpents and scorpions, and over all the strength and ability of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
This is the empowerment you and I have as servants of God. How can I be certain of this?
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:6
And what do we know about where we are seated with Christ?
I pray also 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 the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but in the one to come.
Ephesians 1:18-21
Your Turn
When God calls you, He empowers you to carry out His assignment. But you can only know your empowerment by the Word through His Spirit.
I encourage you to meditate upon the above mirrors and walk in the confidence of your empowerment from above.
May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews 13:20-21