The power to live! 2 Corinthians 13.4
2 Corinthians 13 (2)
Pray Psalm 34.1-3.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make its boast in the LORD;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
And let us exalt His name together.
Sing Psalm 34.1-3.
(Alleluia [Lowe]: Mighty God, While Angels Bless You)
I will bless the LORD at all times; I shall praise Him evermore!
My soul makes its boast in Jesus—Him we gladly all adore!
Refrain v. 3
Magnify the Name of Jesus!
Let us lift His Name in praise!
Read 2 Corinthians 13.1-4; meditate on verse 4.
Preparation
1. When was Jesus weak?
2. What is available to us when we are weak?
Meditation
The word for power here is not ἐξουσία (eksousia), “authority” or “right to rule.” Rather, the word is δύναμις (dynamis), “ability to endure”, “power”, “supernatural power” to rule. It contrasts with “weakness”—as, in the case of Jesus, death. Jesus, Paul tells us, “was crucified in weakness.” In what sense was He “weak”? Only in that He withheld His supernatural powers and allowed His enemies to crucify Him. But that season of weakness was not the final word on Jesus. After three days He flexed His power and brought His dead body back to life. Now He lives and reigns forever in the power of God, and no “weakness” has any claim on Him.
What a display of supernatural power that was! A dead heart revived. The cells and sinews and bones of a dead body were jump-started. A dead mind sprung back to life. And the whole earth shuddered to experience such power, the explosive and dynamic power to give life to the dead.
That power has been given to all who believe (Acts 1.8). It has been given to us, we who are in so many ways still weak. What is the nature of our weakness? Meager faith. Little feeding on God’s Word. Paltry prayer. Merely sometimes obedience. Not much excitement about Jesus.
Turn your eyes to God, your heart to God, your mind to God, your priorities to God, and all your day’s activities and work—turn it all to God. Then step out on the water with Jesus. The power of God awaits your next and every next step of faith, to take you exceedingly abundantly beyond anywhere you’ve ever been before—in the resurrection power of Jesus!
Live each day with Jesus, and, whatever your weakness, know His power in everything you do.
Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162.
To fully know His power, we must be dead to ourselves and alive in Him.
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5.17).
“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6.8-11).
“For though He was crucified in weakness,
yet He lives by the power of God.
For we also are weak in Him,
but we shall live with Him
by the power of God toward you” (2 Cor. 13.4).
It is all about the power of God.
Nothing happens without it;
however, everything happens with it.
“For with God nothing will be impossible” (Lk. 1.37).
“For we were slaves.
Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us…” (Ezra 9.9).
“For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.
For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord.
Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again,
that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living” (Rom. 14.7-9).
We will always be overcomers, victorious over our enemy by the power and the “blood of the Lamb” when we keep our eyes on Jesus, live our lives on the Jesus Path—always reverent and obedient—trusting in Him for all things. Then we will share this same attitude with those written of in Scripture, who “did not love our lives to the death” (Rev. 12.11). We only love and serve Him, come what may, to the end (Ps. 119.112).
“Live each day with Jesus, and, whatever your weakness, know His power in everything you do.”
For reflection
1. How do you experience the power of Jesus’ resurrection in your life?
2. In which areas of your life would you like to know more of His power?
3. Whom will you encourage today to die to themselves so that they can live in the power of Jesus?
In Scripture weakness can refer to bodily illness, and it can also mean not being securely grounded in faith. But there is a third possibility, and that is what we find here. Weakness can mean persecutions, trials, plottings and the like. Christ was not weak in body or in spirit, but he was persecuted and put to death. It was not because of any inherent weakness that he went to the cross; on the contrary, he chose to die in that way in order to give us life in the power of God. John Chrysostom (344-407), Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians 29.2-3
Pray Psalm 34.3-9.
Whatever your weakness, whatever your fear, call on the Lord for the power of Jesus to enable you to live above the troubles of this world and taste the joy and power of the next.
Sing Psalm 34.3-9.
(Alleluia [Lowe]: Mighty God, While Angels Bless You)
When I sought the LORD, He answered and from fear delivered me.
Those who look to Him are radiant; shamed their face shall never be.
Refrain v. 3
Magnify the Name of Jesus!
Let us lift His Name in praise!
When I cried to God, He heard me, and from trouble rescued me.
‘Round their camp His angel lingers that they may delivered be.
Refrain
Taste and see how good is Jesus; blessed are all who in Him hide.
None shall lack for any blessing who in Christ will e’er confide.
Refrain
T. M. and Susie Moore
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter, available by clicking here.
