The Empowered Christian Life, by J. I. Packer
Nonetheless, it is not wrong to want to evangelize in a way that impresses and blesses people because it convinces them that all this talk about a new life in Christ through God’s power is for real. Moral and spiritual transformation by the Holy Spirit through new birth remains the supreme miracle and should figure prominently in evangelism. Firsthand witness to Christ doing for lost souls what alcohol and rock music and sex and drugs could not do for them still causes the most fruitful sort of “power encounter” between the sinner and the Savior.
5. It is right to want to be divinely empowered for righteousness, for moral victories, for deliverance from bad habits, and for pleasing God.
The good news is that through the means of grace, all Christians may be so empowered. Through the Spirit, you and I may and must mortify the deeds of the body. Through the Spirit, you and I may and must manifest the new habits, the new Christ-like behaviors that constitute the fruit of the Spirit. I trust this thesis presents no problem except for the practical one that confronts our will: Now that we know this is how it ought to be, what are we going to do about it?
The Power Path
I spoke earlier of the “power path.” Perhaps it will be clearer now what I mean when I say that the power path is humble dependence on God to become channels of his power. We are to be channels, first, through which the power of God flows into the depths of our own being as we open ourselves up to the Lord and his grace. Then, by God’s grace, we will find that repeatedly we are becoming channels of his power into the lives of others.
God’s power is God’s power, and he exercises it. He does not give us power as a gift. He does not give us power as our possession. The power of God is not something handed over to us for us to use at our discretion. Our relation to the power of God should be one of becoming, by his grace, channels through which he exercises his power. We must never seek to possess the power of God for ourselves to use it at our discretion. If ever you hear Christians talking about using the power of God, I hope red lights flash in your mind. If, however, you hear Christians talking about finding the place where God’s power can use them, nod your head.
Category: Living the Faith, Pneuma Review, Winter 2008
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