THE POWER OF CHRIST

THE POWER OF CHRIST
I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me (Philippians 4:13)
By Leonardus Nana

The verse “I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gave me (Philippians 4:13)”is constructed by the following phrases or articles:
1.I have the strength to face all conditions (Phil 4:13a)
2.The power of Christ (Phil 4:13b)
3.Christ gave me his power (Phil 4: 13c)

I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me” is not a plain phrase or ordinary sentence. It is holy! Everyone who learns it, is obligated:
1.to accept it as a “Mandate from God,
2.to take it as a Motive for building himself based on God’s mandate
3.so that he has competence and capacity to receive God’s Goal for his life.”

MANDATE
Main Idea : The power of Christ (Phil 4:13b)

In the beginning, God gave us these mandates (Gen 1: 26-29):
1.“I put you in charge of the earth and its content (Gen 1: 28b)
2.Bring them under your control (Gen 1: 28a) by the power I gave you (Gen 1: 26b)

The Power of God
God did not give us mandate to be in charge of the earth and its content only but also power. He gave us power to cultivate the land, power to control both living and non-living things and power to utilize them for our welfare.
The power of God is holy and mighty, but we are mortal man. We are too weak or not good enough to deserve God’s power. Therefore, it fades away gradually due to our disobedience against God’s love. However, let us give thanks to the Lord, because he is good and his love is eternal (Psalm 136:1). He restored his power in us by the power of Christ Jesus, his only beloved son (Philippians 4:13b).

The power of Christ
The power of Christ is the faculty in our body, mind and soul. When the power of Christ is in us, we will experience the following:
1.We have God’s capacity (2Cor 3:5c)
2.We are capable of doing greater things (John 14:12b).
3.We have the strength to face all conditions (Phil 4:13a)
4.We are empowered to endure and this endurance carries us all the way without failing (James 1:4).

MOTIVE
My dear brothers, we are content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties (2Cor 12:10a). Therefore, we must not boast of ourselves because:
# There is nothing in us (2Cor 3:5a)
# We have no capability of doing something (2Cor 3:5b)

However, in the weakness, my dear brothers, kindly come to Christ and pray. Please appeal to his mighty love and believe that we will have this answer:
“My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak” (2Cor 12:9a)

All we need about is Christ grace! When we are weak, Christ will encourage us with his power so that people will see:
1.God gave us capacity (2Cor 3:5c)
2.Christ gave us his power (Phil 4: 13c)
3.We have the power of Christ (Phil 4:13b)
4.We have the strength to face all conditions (Phil 4:13a)
5.We have the capacity of God but not nothing anymore (2Cor 3:5a)
6.We have capability of doing something (2Cor 3:5b)

GOAL
A. Strength

The power of Christ gives us Strength
Christ is graceful! He encourages us with his power so that we may preserve right to have God’s capacity. Once we have God’s capacity, we will be capable of doing our work and also have strength to face all conditions in our lives. This means, the power of Christ aims to enhance our capabilities and competences so that we may excel in our work as it was written: Whatever you do, work at it with all your hearts as though you were working for the Lord and not for men. Colossians 3: 23

B. Excellence
The power of Christ makes us Excellence
Nobody wants to be an ordinary one; he would like to become someone and to achieve something at some point in the future. Therefore, he would love to keep on building himself to be more proficient in pursuing and achieving his goals. He perhaps wants to become an excellence person.

To become excellence is not an easy work! We live in a world of corrupt and sinful people (Phil 2:15b). However, do not worry! Your spirit of growing excellence will never be corrupted if you, my friends, can do the following actions:
1.Keep on building yourselves up on your most sacred faith- Jude 1:20a
2.Pray in the power of Holy Spirit (Jude 1:20b) and
3.You keep yourself in the love of God (Jude 1:21a)

# Keep on building yourself means:
Building yourself is not an accidental action but a well-settled practice that is deliberately undertaken for self-empowering during your whole life.

# Up on your most sacred faith and Pray in the power of Holy Spirit means:
The action of self-empowering is executed with passion by the power of Holy Spirit (Jude 1:20b) instead of Lust or Evil Desire that produces Temptation (James 1:13)

# You keep yourself in the love of God means:
By love, the power of Christ will transform the action of building yourself into a well-settled practice (habit) of self-empowering that tends to make you excellence.

Therefore, you now may understand that your greatest action will never make you an excellence one but your habit will as Aristotle said “The excellence is not an action only, but habitual”

Are you an excellence person? I appeal to you to give sincere response to the following questions:
1.How to become excellence? Keep on building yourselves up on your most sacred faith (Jude 1:20 a)
2.How to keep on building yourselves? Pray in the power of Holy Spirit (Jude 1:20b) to allow you to use the power that Christ gave you (Phil 4: 13c)
3.What are the functions of the power of Christ?
a.To give you the strength to face all conditions (Phil 4:13a)
b.To give you the capability of doing something (2Cor 3:5b)
c.To give you the capacity of God (2Cor 3:5c) then by that capacity, you will be able to do greater things. You are excellence.

When you are excellence or doing your work extremely well, The Lord, our master will say: Well done, you good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in managing small amounts, so I will put you in charge of larger amounts. Come on in and share my happiness. Mathew 25: 20-21

C. The Power Christ gives Power to our Mind
God puts His Spot in our Mind

There is nothing in us that allows us to claim that we are capable of doing this work. The capacity we have comes from God (2Corinthians 3:5). This holy word is the foundation for Donah Zohar and Ian Marshal to find a Spot in our mind, called God Spot. It is a holy Spot or Holy Power which God put our Mind. Base on the Spot, we learn that our Mind has Power by the Spot that God put in our mind.

All things in this World begin in Mind (Sirach 37:18b), but before we begin something, we should find how the mind commence everything. The Mind must have power.
A tough work is done for finding and mining out Gold from a hard rock; in the same way, a hard effort is needed in order to explore and to find out the power of mind as it was written in the scripture “a person’s thoughts are like water in deep well, but someone with insight can draw them out – Proverb 20:5.”

Learning
C1. Learning to know the power of Christ in our Mind

Learning is an effort made in order to know the power that God has put in our Mind. By learning, we know the powers in our mind, and how to enhance, to manage and to synergize those powers for beneficiary purposes. Many scientific studies and researches have been conducted to explore Human Mind and the Proverb 20:5 is the foundation where the experts found the following Powers owned by Human’s Mind:
1.Intellectual Quotient (IQ) is the power of Mind to word, logic, analysis and reason
2.Emotional Quotient (EQ) is the power of Mind to relationship, understanding and sympathy
3.Spiritual Quotient (SQ) is the power of Mind to unquestioning confidence.

C2. Source of learning to know the power in our Mind

Learning is an effort of gaining knowledge of or skill in by study, practice, or being taught. Everyone would love to learn at any chances and from any sources as shown below for the advancement of life:
1.Learning from God (Mathew 2:29b)
2.Learning from experience (Proverb 19:8b)
3.Learning from others (Proverb 27:17)
4.Learning from environment/nature (Baruch 3:14)

Learning from God, Experience, Others, and Environment tend to make us be open to new facts, ideas, insights and revelations that can lead to better ways to accomplishing goals.

C3. Learning to do a good Deed

The powers of mind make all things begin in this world, but people should learn in advance in order to manage, to synergy the power of mind and to know what benefits we should have from them. Through learning, we know how to manage the power of mind to be more proficient in pursuing and achieving the following benefits:
1.The powers of mind will lead us to always do a good deed (Sirach 12:1a)
2.The powers of mind give us insight to know what and who is benefiting from the good done we do (Sirach 12:1b)
3.The powers of mind are helpful to make the good deed we do will not be wasted (Sirach 12:1c).

C4. The power of Holy Spirit reveals Christ Power through our Mind
There is a Spot in our mind, called God Spot. It is a Holy Spot or Holy Power/Spirit because God himself put it in our mind.
Holy Spirit will teach us everything and make us remember all that Christ has told us (John 14:25). We cannot know what was taught by the Holy Spirit about all things that has been told by Christ. Therefore, we should learn to remember and to apply them in our lives.

C5. The power of Christ works through the power of Holy Spirit in our Mind
The power of Holy Spirit (Jude 1:20b) is the most important power which enables us to energize our mind works more proficient as shown below:

1.Christ gave us his power (Phil 4: 13c) - Intellectual Quotient
The power of Christ enables us to know and to excel our capability of Linguistic, Math, Logic and Reasoning. By the power of Christ we are able to work base on logical thinking and good planning as written: Planning and thought lie behind everything that is done” – Sirach 37:16. This means by working in a well organized manner, applying superior systems and procedures and detailed job descriptions, we will get easy to accomplish our jobs. The IQ leads us to grow as an expert who has capacity of doing something (2Cor 3:5b) like the others do too.

2.Keep yourself in the love of God (Jude 1:21a) - Emotional Quotient
The Love of Christ gives you capacity to recognize your own feelings and those of others, for motivating yourself and for managing emotions well in yourself and in your relationship.
The Love of Christ gives you understanding that Emotional intelligence (EQ) describes abilities distinct from, but complementary to academic intelligence, the purely cognitive capabilities measured by Intellectual Quotient (IQ). On the other hand, the Love of Christ will light on your emotion intelligence (EQ) to shine before your cognitive capabilities (IQ) so that it can work not base on logical consideration only but also empathy, self-awareness, self-responsibility, and self-control. This means the Love of Christ makes you excel in emotional intelligence skills so that you have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gave you (Philippians 4:13). Therefore, you will be more proficient in doing things that are difficult for those who are book smart but lack Emotional Intelligence skills (EQ).


1.Pray in the power of Holy Spirit (Jude 1:20b) - Spiritual Quotient
Everybody has intention to become someone and to achieve something at some point in the future or that we called Vision.

At the same time he has a feeling of expectation and desire; feeling of trust and confidence. He does not see what he hopes for (to become someone and to achieve something at some point in the future) so he will wait for it with patient (read Rome 8:25) that we called Hope.

He has a strong enthusiasm in life to realize his vision and hope that we called Passion.

As a scholar, you must be very enthusiasm to realize your vision and hope by enlarging capacity. You can do it by acquiring knowledge, competence and skill, etc through learning and coaching.
However, as a believer, you must pray in the power of Holy Spirit to power your emotion so that it can harmonize and synergize your intellectual’s work with enthusiasm. Because it is written, enthusiasm without knowledge is not good; impatient will get you into trouble (Proverb 19:2).
This means your enthusiasm is useless if you do not have knowledge and your knowledge contributes nothing if you are impatient; for impatient makes you unable to make up your minds and undecided in all you do; therefore, you never think that you will receive anything from the Lord. (James 1:6b,7-8)

In addition, The power of Holy Spirit leads people who are book smart to have and to excel in Emotional Intelligence skills and Spiritual Intelligence skills so that he can keep on building himself up on his most sacred faith (Jude 1:20a). It is the faith that gave him feeling of expectation and desire; feeling of trust and confidence. Therefore, he has power to be sure of things he hopes for and to be certain of things he cannot see (read Hebrew 11:1) that we called Faith.

This means, the power of Holy Spirit brings passion to make you more enduring, more patients and more enthusiasm to build up bigger capacity. When you are big in capacity, you will have strong trust or unquestioning confidence to pursue and to achieve the goals that is impossible for others.

Concerning to the above explanations, let us take a brief for the following theories:
1.Intellectual Quotient. Alfred Binet (1857-1911) found that Intellectual Quotient is the intelligence used to measure the capability of Linguistic, Math, Logic and Reasoning. Someone who is good in IQ will grow as an excellent manager. He may be extremely well organized and run a tight ship with superior systems and procedures and detailed job descriptions. But unless they are internally motivated, little gets done because there is no feeling, no hearth; everything is too mechanical, too formal, too protective. He must be poor in leadership.

2.Emotional Quotient. Daniel Golemen (1990s) found that Emotional Quotient works more with emotions and imaginations. EQ deals with intuitive, emotional and creative works. Someone with good EQ would not love so much with an organization which extremely well organized and run a tight ship with superior systems and procedures and detailed job descriptions. However, he may work much better even though he may appear to an outsider observer to be disorganized and confused.

EQ helps you to build good relationship within yourself and the others. By knowing yourself then only can you know other people and influence and share your experience with them. Therefore, you can cooperate well with them for a truly significant accomplishment may result simply because people share a common vision, purpose or sense of mission
BARE (Balance, Awareness, Responsibility and Emphaty) is the pilar of EQ, said Steve Hein. This pilar will support your Intellectual (IQ) to work in balance or harmony and base on high degree of self Awareness, self Control, self Responsibility and Emphaty. Golemen found that EQ is very important because IQ only donates 20% for your succes while the rest 80% is the contribution of the efforts that controlled by Emotion.

3.Spiritual Quotient. Donah Zohar and Ian Marshal found a Spot in our mind called God Spot and Peter Stepherd called it Spiritual Quotient or Heart Intelligence.
God put his spot in our mind because we are his temple and that His Holy Spirit lives in (1Cor 3:16). From this Spot, God’s Holy Spirit works to make us more proficient in proclaiming the things that are good and that deserve praise; things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely and honorable. (Philippians 4:8).

In addition, on the Spot in our mind, God pour out his Spirit to enhance us set up our hopes and visions; then we can proclaim God’s message (Joel 2:28). Therefore, Donah Zohar and Ian Marshal stated that God Spot is the center of our personality. One who has good personality can live a life that measure up to the standard God set when He called us. The standards of God are being always humble, gentle, and patient. Show your love by being tolerant with one another (read Ephesians 4:1b-2).


4.Multiple Intelligence. Prof Howard Gardner found some other intelligence in us that is called Multiple Intelligence. There are more than 20s intelligences found by Prof Howard Gardner, but some of them are:
a. Linguistic Intelligence: The capability of communication
b.Logical, Reasoning and Math Intelligence: The capability of analyzing
c.Spatial Intelligence: The capability of conception
d.Kinesthetic Intelligence: The capability of managing body for art and sport
e.Musical Intelligence: The capability of music and composing song
f. Intrapersonal Intelligence: The capability of self relationship building
g.Interpersonal Intelligence: The capability of building relationship with others or team building
h.Natural Intelligence: The capability of adapting with nature
i.There are still some other intelligences


COLOSURE
SUCCESS versus FAILURE

God has given us great gifts (godsend) as listed below so that we may live a fortunate life:
1.Giving us Power (Gen 1: 26b) to bring the universe and its contents under our control (Gen 1: 28a)

2.Sending us knowledge and understanding like the rain, and increase the honor of those who receive her-Sirach 1:19.
3.Giving knowledge to us so that we would praise him for the miracles he performs – Sirach 38:6
4.Giving us power of Mind to begin all things in the world (Sirach 37:18b) by obeying the holy word “Planning and thought lie behind everything that is done” – Sirach 37:16
5.Pour out his Holy Spirit on us to help our emotion support our intellect so that we may have a balance life to build our future base on hopes and visions (Joel 2:28).

The above gifts aim to enhance our intelligences or power of mind to improve our performance for a greater achievement. The achievement means the delivery extraordinary results, achieving goals and executing strategy, plan and project through effectiveness, creativity and innovation.

However, some of us are not so lucky, we often fail not of the lack of capacity and knowledge or less of enthusiasm and passion. Mostly, we fail because there is a conflict in our hearts; our spirits cannot be able to put our intellect and emotion in a balance status. Therefore, we sometimes do not understand what we do; for we do not do what we would like to do but instead we do what we hate” (read Rome 7:15).

Base on Rome 7:15, we can learn that the cause our failures are as mentioned below:
1.Lack of faith so that we can not be sure of things we hope for and we are not certain of things we can not see (Hebrew 11:1)
2.The impatient to face troubles, which must produce endurance (Rome 5:3b). Therefore, we cannot wait for results or deal with problems calmly and without haste.
3.The lack of willing to learn and of hope to be sure that endurance will carry us all the way without failing, so that we may be perfect and complete; lacking nothing (James 1:4). Therefore, we cannot work base on our logical thinking, knowledge, and experience.

4.Live a life that does not measure up to the standard of God set like be always humble, gentle, and patient. Show love by being tolerant with one another-Ephesians 4:1b-2.
5.Live in a doubtful heart that makes us unable to make up our minds and undecided in all we do; so that we never thinks that we will receive anything from the Lord.(James 1:6b,7-8). Therefore, we cannot be able to put all things to the test; we cannot keep what is good and cannot avoid every kind of evil.(1Tesalonians 5:21-22)
6.We are selfish to share the gift that God gave with others. Therefore, we failed because the truly significant accomplishment may result simply because people share a common vision, purpose or sense of mission.

APPENDIX
1.to have faith is to be sure of things you hope for and you are certain of things you can not see (read Hebrew 11:1)
2.I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me-Philippians 4:13
3.There is nothing in us that allows us to claim that we are capable of doing this work. The capacity we have comes from God. 2Corinthians 3:5
4.Those who believe in me will be capable of doing even greater things than the ones I myself did. John 14:12
5.“But you my friends, keep on building yourselves up on your most sacred faith. Pray in the power of Holy Spirit (Jude 1:20) and keep yourself in the love of God (Jude 1:21a)

6.A person’s thoughts are like water in deep well, but someone with insight can draw them out – Proverb 20:5
7.….and learn from me because I am gentle and humble in spirit (Mathew 2:29b)
8.“Do ourselves a favor and learn all we can; then remember or do what we learn and we will prosper.” – proverb 19:8
9.“Learn where understanding, strength and insight are to be found. Then you will know where to find a long and full life, light to guide you and peace.”-Baruch 3:14
10.People learn from one another just as iron sharpens iron-Proverb 27:17
11.All things in this world begin in mind (Sirach 37:18b),
12.Planning and thought lie behind everything that is done” – Sirach 37:16.

13.Fill your mind with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely and honorable. (Philippians 4:8)
14.Live a life that measure up to the standard God set when He called him. Be always humble, gentle, and patient. Show your love by being tolerant with one another- Ephesians 4:1b-2
15.Afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on everyone: your sons and daughters will proclaim my message; your old men will have dreams and your young men will see visions- Joel 2:28
16.Surely you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s spirit lives in you (1Cor 3:16)
17.“I do not understand what I do; for I do not do what I would like to do but instead I do what I hate” – Rome 7:15.
18.In the same way, your light must shine before the people so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in Heaven.-Mathew 5:16

19.But you must be perfect-just as your Father in heaven is perfect-Mathew 5:48
20.I, the Lord search the minds and test the hearts of men. I treat each one according to the way he lives, according to what he does. Jeremiah 17:10
21. “For God will reward every person according to what he has done. Some people keep on doing good and seek glory, honor and immortal life. To them God will give eternal life.” – Rome 2: 6 – 7
22.Some people keep on doing good and seek glory, honor and immortal life (Rome 2:6b). For them God will give eternal life to people who keep on doing good and seek glory (Rome 2:7)
23.Enthusiasm without knowledge is not good; impatient will get you into trouble-Proverb 19:2
24.Your work will provide for your needs; you will be happy and prosperous – Proverb 128: 2
25.When you do a good deed, make sure you know who is benefiting from it; then what you do will not be wasted – Sirach 12:1
26.Sympathy is the capacity for sharing the feelings of others
27.Vision is a short, succinct, and inspiring statement of what the organization intends to become and to achieve at some point in the future, often stated in competitive terms. Vision refers to the category of intentions that are broad, all-intrusive and forward-thinking.

28.A mission statement is an organization’s vision translated into written form. It makes concrete the leader’s view of the direction and purpose of the organization.

FIRST BORN

JAMES 1: 12 – 18
Main Idea: FIRST BORN CHILD
A.MANDATE (Vision):
LOVE GOD (Yak 1:12d)
GOD called the FIRST BORN to TAKE CARE of His Flock (John 21:15-16)

B.MOTIVE (Mission):
ENDURANCE:
Remaining Faithful under Trials (James 1:12a).
Endurance carries you all the way without failing (James 1:4)
A Qualified FIRST BORN has the following CAPACITIES:
1. ROLE: As CASTLE or FORTRESS against:
a TEMPTATION : Evil Desire produces Temptation (James 1:13)
b DECEPTION : Temptation brings Deception (James 1:16)
c SIN : Temptation conceives and gives birth to Sin (James 1:15a)
d DEATH : Full-grown Sin gives birth to Death (James 1:15b)

2. UNDERSTANDING: A First Born has well conception that:
a Temptation does not come from God (James 1:13a)
b Evil can not tempt God (James 1:13b)
c God himself temps no one (James 1:13c)

3. DECLARATION: A First Born declares that:
a Every good gift and every perfect present comes from heaven; It comes down from God (James 1:17a)
b God brought us into being by his own will through the word of truth (James 1:18a)
c God is the creator of heavenly lights who does not change or cause darkness by turning (James 1:17b-17c)

4. ACTION :
A First Born can not be deceived (James 1:16) because he can do the following actions:
a.He is happy and remains faithful under trials because (James 1:12a) he knows the following Words of God that:
i. Happiness makes for a long life Sirach 30:22a
ii.Happiness makes life worth living. Sirach 30:22b
iii.Enjoy yourself and be happy, don’t worry all the time. Sirach 30:23a
iv. Worry never did any body any good, and it has destroyed many people. Sirach 30:23b
v. You will receive as your reward the life that God has promised to those who love Him (James 1:12c)
vi.Trials result in ability to endure (James 1:3)
vii.Endurance carries you all the way without failing (James 1:4)

b.Fill your mind with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely and honorable. (Philippians 4:8)

c.He fills his mind with those things that are good and that deserve praise (Philippians 4:8a) because he knows that:
a) What he thinks what he is (Proverb 23:7b)
b) His life is shaped by his thought (proverb 4: 23b)
c)F rom his heart can come out those things that are evil and that deserve Sin (Mat 15:19 & Mark 7:21-22


C.GOAL
1. The Goals A First Born achieves are:
a Receiving as his reward the life that God has promised to those who love Him (James 1:12c)
b Having first place among all God’s creatures (James 1:18b)

2. A First Born can carry on the life that God has promised to by:
a Giving a positive response to God’s Calling (Ephesians 4:1c)
b Live a life that measure up to the standard God set when He called him. Be always humble, gentle, and patient. Show your love by being tolerant with one another- Ephesians 4:1b-2