The Secret Of Spiritual Power

Christians today are encouraged to seek more power, more anointing, and more gifts. Indeed, as the Lord calls us back to the Cross to become disciples of Jesus, He intends to first humble us before empowering us.

The basic need of a disciple of Jesus Christ is not seeking for more power from God, but more brokenness. Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong”. When we look into the lives of those twelve disciples, we observe them arguing over who is the greatest; asking to sit on the Lord’s right hand and on His left; desiring to call down fire from heaven upon those who are against them; hesitating to wash each other’s feet; standing against the need for the Lord to go the cross, even drawing the sword to defend them in the garden. They were not filled with power from above until they were of one mind and one accord, together in one place on the day of Pentecost. Until the day of Pentecost, they were just individuals seeking for themselves.

What a pathetic situation it would have been to pour out the Holy Spirit in His fullness upon the disciples in such a condition! They were thoroughly unfit and unprepared to handle such power. Why? Not because they were insincere. No doubt they were very sincere. After all, they had forsaken everything and were following the Lord. Nevertheless, they were yet unbroken. They were following the Lord and even had a taste of spiritual power, but they had not yet taken up the Cross. They did not understand when the Lord told them repeatedly, they must take up the Cross, but they themselves could not understand what He meant. They even sought to prevent the Lord from taking up HIS cross (Matthew 16:21-24). They could not be entrusted with much power because they were not sufficiently dead to themselves. The slightest accomplishment would only be grounds for foolish boasting and further arguments to see who was to be the greatest among them. Hence, they were told to tarry in Jerusalem and wait until they would be endued with power from on high. As proud men they were found arguing on many occasions, but as broken men they were finally in one mind and one accord. Thus, the Spirit came, and with the Spirit, the fullness of power.

A broken spirit is a peaceful spirit and able to abide with others. While waiting for the power in those days in the upper room, they must have been praying fervently, sharing their testimonies of walking with the Lord and how they could not understand Him fully, and how they had left Him alone and fled away when He was arrested, Peter must have been sharing his heart breaking testimony of how he was denying the Lord, even though he was warned of it by the Lord. These all have led them to brokenness, and they came to the end of themselves. Contentious, unbroken, hard and stubborn people can never be in one accord.

Christians today are encouraged to seek more power, more anointing, and more gifts. Indeed, as the Lord calls us back to the Cross to become disciples of Jesus, He intends to first humble us before empowering us. The Lord’s Life is a rich Life, and it fills the believer with the ALL fullness of God. The question is not how to get more of the Lord, but how to release the Life, which is already hidden within us, concealed behind the veil of our flesh. To put it another way, it is not more of the Lord that we need, but less of ourselves. We must be broken. With less of us, there would be more of Him in our life!

Despite this spiritual truth, notice how little attention is paid to the necessity of brokenness among those who so eagerly speak of the power of God. We should keep ourselves away from listening to anyone who teaches us about the power of God but does not emphasise the necessity of brokenness. Invariably the power, once received, will pollute the spirit and pride will set in. Humility, brokenness, suffering, pouring out our lives, weakness, self-denial, taking up the Cross – these spiritual secrets seem to be disappearing among the seekers of power. How deceptive it is!

Brokenness is a stage where we come to the end of our self-life and recognising that our only hope is our total dependence on God for anything and everything. It begins the path to true repentance. A broken spirit is a peaceful spirit which is ready to be unnoticed and will never seek for position and popularity. Discipleship is the process of tearing down in order to build us up. He makes us humble before empowering us. Any power that comes not through brokenness will ruin us. We must never seek the power of Pentecost, without first going through the suffering of the Cross. This would result in a life which is totally free from the circumstances.

TEACHINGS ON BROKENNESS

A) A Grain of Wheat

Our Lord said, “Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abided alone: but if it dies, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hated his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (John 12:23-25). This is the way that the Lord has shown for us in the new covenant. To fall into the ground, every day. To be unseen, unknown. Like that grain of wheat under the ground, trampled on by men, misunderstood, rejected, despised by men. Living quietly before God's face, that grain of wheat puts it's roots into the ground. No one sees it, only God. Men walk over it - doesn't matter. But it's putting roots into the ground, and it brings forth fruit for God.

A grain of wheat may love being a grain of wheat. It may be the best grain of wheat in the world. But what happens to a grain of wheat if it is neither planted nor milled for flour? It just dries up and shrivels and achieves precisely none of its potential or purpose. This tiny grain has the potential of bringing forth thousands of wheat plants in the coming years only if it chooses to be broken in the ground and die! A true disciple of Christ, when choose to die to himself, could pave path for hundreds and thousands of persons to come to Christ!

Now Jesus says if the seed will not fall to the earth and die, it will abide alone. Take the seed home and place it on your desk. Will it become a forest? Of course not. Why? That forest is inside the shell. It cannot come forth on its own. You see, the potential is there, for there is life in the seed. But the inner life is entombed by an outer shell. How do we get that which is in the shell to come out of the shell? We must bury the seed in the ground – the seed must “die” and give up being a seed. The shell must be broken and the life which is within the shell may then come forth. When it dies, it brings forth “much fruit”. The issue is not the ability of the Life to spring forth, but the brokenness of the vessel which holds the Life captive! It is not that we need more power, but that we need more brokenness. When we are properly broken, we will find the indwelling Christ is more than sufficient.

This is true Christianity as Jesus taught us. And that is what He is seeking to, with all our lives, and all the different circumstances He arranges for us to go through are all designed by Him, to bring us on our face down before Him, so that we become nothing, so that He can reduce us, so that He can release His power through us. Because we read, it's when the rock was smitten, that the waters began to flow; it is the will of God that rivers of living water could flow through us in many directions.

B) Alabaster Box

“And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as [Jesus] sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she break the box and poured it on his head (Mark 14:3).”

The ointment here represents the life of Christ residing in a true disciple. Until the box was broken, nobody ever knew how costly the perfume was. It was very precious, but it was contained within an alabaster box until one chose to break the outer box. An outward breaking is needed for the inner life to come forth. Which is more important? The gift or the gift wrap? The gift wrapping is attractive for small children because they don’t know the value of the gift inside. They are impressed by the glittering colour of the wrapping!

How many of us cherish the vessel more than the ointment? The outer box is only a protective cover for the precious perfume inside. Let us look beyond the vessel that houses the Life, and it must be broken. If we wish to be containers of this heavenly ointment, let us ask the Lord to break us that the hidden fragrance and anointing may come forth.

In the principle of God, our Lord uses broken things to produce wonderful results. He allows broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is when Peter wept bitterly, returns to greater power than ever. It is only when a person is totally broken that God can really use them to advance the kingdom of God.

C) The Veil of the Temple

“And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom (Mark 15:38).”

The veil of the Temple was a thick curtain which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple (Hebrews 9:1-9). An early Jewish tradition says that the veil was about four inches thick, but the Bible does not confirm that measurement. The book of Exodus teaches that this thick veil was fashioned from blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twisted linen.

What is special about the Holy of Holies? It is where the presence of God dwelt- the earthly dwelling place of God’s presence. No one could step into the presence, or even look behind the curtain, without falling over dead. Only the high priest was permitted to pass beyond this veil once each year (Exodus 30:10; Hebrews 9:7) to enter God’s presence for all of Israel and make atonement for their sins (Leviticus 16). A rope was tied around his ankle with which the other priests could pull him out from behind the curtain in the event of his death.

But when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, the thick curtain which stood as a barrier between the presence of God and the people was torn down the middle from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50-53). Why top to bottom? To demonstrate that it was God Himself who split the veil. Had the veil been torn from bottom to top, it could perhaps be explained away that man was responsible. To tear the veil from top to bottom is indeed a miracle. What does it signify? Of course, it means the death of Christ opened the way for us to approach the throne of grace without fear of death (Hebrews 10:19-20). That is the obvious meaning.

The profound significance of the tearing of the veil is explained in glorious detail in Hebrews. The things of the temple were shadows of things to come, and they all ultimately point us to Jesus Christ. He was the veil to the Holy of Holies, and through His death the faithful now have free access to God (Hebrews 4:14-16). We know also that the three sections of the temple – the Holy of Holies, the Holy Place, and the Outer Court – represent the spirit, soul, and body of man. The Holy of Holies is the spirit of man where Christ dwells. In between the inner man and the outer man stands a thick veil, that is the veil of flesh.

Bible tells us of a great mystery. “God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” That is Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:26-27). How often we meet a brother, or a sister and we sense their preciousness, but there is something that prevents the life of Christ from coming forth as it should. That “something” is the fleshly veil which remains intact. We can only hope that they will allow the Lord to rend and break them so the Life can come forth. Similarly, when we sense a lack of spiritual strength, we should not pray for more of the Lord, or seek more power, as though the indwelling Christ is not sufficient. Instead, we may ask the Lord to break us and take away the veil that is keeping the Life from coming forth.

The Lord has continually called us to deny ourselves, take up the Cross, and follow Him (Luke 9:23; Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34). We are not left to wonder what it means to take up the Cross, or what God hopes to accomplish in us when we do so. In these examples He is showing us what that means, and why it must be so. What is He saying? That we must be broken before we can bring forth Life. That to save our life we must give up our life, lay down on the altar, and offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. Only then may we truly live for God. Only then may we be vessels through which Life may flow.

By Pastor Renji George

Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Colossians 1:26-27, Exodus 30:10, Hebrews 10:19-20, Hebrews 4:14-16, Hebrews 9:1-9, Hebrews 9:7, John 12:23-25, Leviticus 16, Luke 9:23, Mark 14:3, Mark 15:38, Mark 8:34, Matthew 16:21-24, Matthew 16:24, Matthew 27:50-53

Sermon Topics: Power, Cross, Path, Self Denial, Brokenness, Alabaster Box, Following Christ, Grain Of Wheat