We have a vital need in this critical hour: the POWER of God!  Only through the Spirit’s power can we live lives that honour and please the Father, as well as fulfil the great calling that He has for us. The number one way to receive His power and to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit is through PRAYER.

Over the next 21 days, as we minister to the Lord through our praise and adoration, let’s position ourselves to receive fresh POWER from Him to fulfil His calling on our lives – individually and together – especially in the light of our 2024 vision to Think Bigger and Beyond!

To help us as we pray, we’ll focus on the apostle Paul’s magnificent letter to the Ephesians. The first-century city of Ephesus was a large, influential city dominated by evil spiritual powers. Yet, as we read in Acts 19, Paul, full of the Holy Spirit, preached in the city and witnessed a spiritual awakening that started with a very small group of believers and ended up reaching the whole region. Aware of the spiritual battle they faced, Paul writes many years later, to encourage and remind them that they possess a spiritual ‘power’ greater than all other ‘powers.

First, Paul frequently uses the term ‘the heavenly places’ to emphasise this conflict. He was keen to encourage those first Christians that they were on the winning side. As believers today, we are also blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ in the heavenly places and are now seated with Him, far above all principalities and powers. Yet, we still have to wrestle against ‘spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.’ Secondly, throughout the letter, Paul often uses ‘power’ language, emphasising the need for believers to know, receive, and wield the infinitely greater power of God in their struggle against evil powers. This includes two great power prayers in Chapters 1 and 3, concluding with an emphasis on appropriating this power to win the spiritual battle.

During these 21 days, we will explore Paul’s link between POWER and PRAYER

• Week 1: We’ll pray for a REVELATION of His power in us (Ephesians 1:15-23)
• Week 2: We’ll pray for a MANIFESTATION of His power in us (Ephesians 3:14-21)
• Week 3: We’ll pray for VICTORY through His power in us (Ephesians 6:10-20)
  
  

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!”  Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV

Let’s believe that as we focus on the Lord’s presence, we will encounter Him in a fresh and powerful way, individually and as a church family.

Dave Smith
Senior Pastor