Empowered

Life Lessons Devotional Series

Scripture: 1 Cor. 2 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. ² For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. ⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

Life Lesson:  Reliance upon eloquent speeches or human wisdom is a fool’s game when it comes to our witness.  The secret of our authority to witness is found in our reliance on the Spirit’s power and enabling.

– Paul writes, “My message and my preaching”.  Paul owned the words he spoke, however one crucial fact that separates Paul from most others is this, he attributed his messages and preaching to the empowering of the Holy Spirit!

– How many of us feel ill equipped to witness to anyone?  Right away we dismiss any ability in and of ourselves to share our witness.  Moses also felt this way when God called him to go to Egypt and speak before Pharaoh.  Moses felt this way for a reason not foreign to or own thinking on the issue of witnessing; he said, “I speak with faltering lips”.  God’s response? “I will be with you”.  The fact that God promised to be with him is all that really mattered!  And that fact is all that really matters even for us today! 

– Moses certainly had excellent training growing up a prince in Egypt, as did the apostle Paul, yet neither relied on their inherent capabilities to be an effective witness.  This is not to dismiss the value of education or learning, as we are called to 2 Tim. 2: ¹⁵ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”  Studying the scriptures is very important for our spiritual growth, but our power and authority comes from a first-hand knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ which can only happen as we walk in daily reliance upon the Lord. The Word of God declares, Prov. 10: ¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Paul writes in the above text, ² For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.”   Paul’s fear and trembling came not from his concerns over his audience but his reverence for the Lord.  The walk of faith requires vulnerability.  It is only when we are weak that we are made strong through the power of the Spirit.