- Luke 10:19
- ‘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.
- DAILY READING – 1 Peter 1; Jeremiah 31-32; Psalm 134
As a young Christian, the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa, once heard his pastor say during a morning service that Christians could raise the dead in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He believed it with all his heart. And flying around on his bicycle in those days, he went through the city of Benin in search of a dead person to raise to life. After about five hours of hard searching he found a compound where a three year old girl had died a few hours before.
He walked boldly up to the father of the dead child and asked for permission to pray and raise the child from dead. The man was startled, but he agreed. With great enthusiasm, Idahosa walked into the room and up to the bed, where the dead child lay, the family members surrounded him curiously. But as he started praying, nothing happened. After a while he became quite frustrated. Then he recalled that when Jesus raised the dead child in the bible He had asked the people to leave the room, so he asked the family members to leave the room, but actually in his mind, he was considering ways of escape, since the girl was still dead. But the only way out was through the front door. So he realized it was either he healed the girl as he had earlier promised or face embarrassment and possible anger from the family members. With his remaining faith he called upon The Lord to restore the child back to life. He then called the child’s name and commanded “Arise in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” And then suddenly, to his greatest surprise, the dead girl sneezed, heavily, and came back to life!
This encounter greatly strengthened Idahosa’s faith and launched him into a worldwide ministry of demonstrating the power of God. Also through it, he met his wife Margaret, who was related to the girl raised from the dead.
‘Luke 10:19 says ‘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.’
As children of God, power is our inheritance. We need this power to live in a wicked, and hostile world. It is impossible to triumph in the affairs of life without power, when the power of God is in place, you are in charge! It is God’s will that we live a life of Power. Power is the hall mark of the believer. We are to manifest God’s power to the world around us.
God is ready to release His power, once our faith is ignited. If only we can believe, all things are possible. According to John 1: 8, as many as have received Christ have been given the power to become the sons of God. It is God’s plan for the redeemed to be empowered through the Holy Ghost, to command exploits. When the same Spirit of God that raised Christ dwells in us, He quickens us to do exploits. However there are conditions to be met for the power of God to flow and grow in our lives. And one of such is consecration. Purity begets power. It is impossible to sustain the anointing when living in sin. Sin stinks and sinks and will always hinder the flow of the anointing just as it did to Samson. When we live holy, and maintain fellowship with The Holy Spirit through study of The Word, worship and prayers, then the power of God will rest constantly upon us and enable us to do exploits
PRAYER: Lord, please give me the grace to persevere in the place of prayer until i see Your power fully manifested in my life in Jesus Name.
quote
Until you cry out in the place of prayer certain things won’t happen. WORDBITE 222
[ADAPTED FROM THE BOOK FAITH CLASSICS]