Seeking Jesus First - July 1, 2023

What is your strength if The LORD is your strength? What does it mean that we are complete in The LORD Jesus Christ? Just how much strength do we have if we are strengthened with the might of God by His Spirit in our inner man?

Is the supply of God in our inner man as limitless as God?

If it is God’s strength in our inner man, what can we do with it?

Does it empower our outward man too? (If we have an inner man, we have an outward man.)

Apostle Paul prayed by the inspiration of Holy Spirit (or it would not be included in Scripture):

“For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:9–14, NKJV)

“that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,” (Ephesians 3:16, NKJV)

The strength of God is included in our inheritance, aka “according to the riches of His glory”. God determined in His wisdom that we should be “strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.”

Our strength comes from The LORD who made heaven and earth. Our strength is The LORD. We are empowered by His Spirit in us. We have taught in much detail about Jesus saying that Holy Spirit is both with us and in us. We are anointed from the inside and we are helped from the outside. We are helped and strengthened in our spirit, soul and body. He partners with us in our hearts and he helps us with our ministry, mission and calling. He goes before us and He goes with us. Holy Spirit anoints us in the same way and with the same anointing as He did Jesus. As Jesus is so are we here on earth.

Paul prays for believers to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. We have the Spirit of God in us and He, Holy Spirit, searches all of the mind and heart of God - including the deep things. Holy Spirit takes

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:12–15, NKJV)

Everything belongs to Jesus and Holy Spirit discloses to us everything that belongs to Jesus. We have access through Holy Spirit to all wisdom and spiritual understanding. It is our inheritance of which Holy Spirit is the earnest or down payment or proof of purchase and ownership.

Col. 1:9-14 is a mouthful and it is absolutely overflowing with revelation. We need to read it over and over again and break it apart and read it again. We need to draw arrows from cause to effect in the verse. Ex: “This produces that.” “Because this, that is possible.” Write the verses. Underline phrases. Draw arrows to other phrases that are linked. See how certain phrases are connected by definitions in other letters written by Paul under inspiration of Holy Spirit. Then apply them to you.

• What does having wisdom and spiritual understanding  empower us to do? Walk worthy of The LORD fully pleasing Him through our faith.
• What does having wisdom and spiritual understanding and walking by faith do for you? It makes us fruitful in every good work and increases our experience and intimacy with God.
• What does having wisdom and spiritual understanding, walking by faith and gaining experience and intimacy with God give you? Strength beyond human capability. Strength that is on par with God’s glorious power.
• What can we use this glorious and powerful strength to do? We can exercise joyful patience and hilarious perseverance during our struggles while we trust God for the fulfilling of His promises - our inheritance. We can reasons for gratitude in the midst of any trial.

Guess what! It works against sin. It works against persecution. It works against lack. It works against sickness. It works agains depression. It works against all of the power of the enemy. It works for you. It works with you. And it works through you. It works because it is the glorious power of God. And it dwells in us by His Holy Spirit that continually floods our hearts with His love.