Facing the Giant of AddictionSample

The power to change

‘I will strengthen you and help you.’ Isaiah 41:10 NIV

We go to seminars and conferences looking for a painless cure by which our lives can be zapped and changed. We go on diets. We join health clubs and our enthusiasm runs strong for about two weeks. Then we fall back into the same old rut. We don’t change. We read self-help books, but the problem with self-help books is that they tell us what to do but can’t give us the power to do it. We are told things like: ‘Get rid of all your bad habits. Be positive; don’t be negative.’ But how? Where do we get the power to change? The word ‘power’ occurs fifty-seven times in the New Testament. It is used to describe the most powerful event that ever happened – the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And that resurrection power is available to change your life today. The most important thing in life is knowing Christ and experiencing the power of His resurrection. Paul writes, ‘I want to know Christ…to know the power of his resurrection’ (Philippians 3:10 NIV). Again he writes, ‘I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great His power is to help those who believe in Him. It is that same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead’ (Ephesians 1:19-20 TLB). The Greek word for ‘power’, which is dunamis, can be translated in two ways: 1) ‘dynamite’, which is an explosive force, or 2) ‘dynamo’, which is a constant flow of power. And in Christ, you have both. Through Him, you can break the chains that bind you and the limits that constrain you and walk victoriously in His power today.

Prayer Point:

Lord, I don’t want to drag the past around with me any longer. No matter the hurt or pain, I release it to You today. Help me, Lord, to become the person You desire me to be and to resist the enemy reminding me of the failure I was. The old me is dead, the new me is flourishing in Jesus’ name. Today is a new day, a fresh start; let me live a profound and blessed life. Amen.

Acknowledgments: Warren, Rick, God’s Power to Change Your Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), 11-13.