He brings out those who are bound into prosperity (Ps 68:6, NKJV). The Lord works to bring us out of our limitations into prosperity and success. God’s nature is one aligned with wellness, prosperity and success. Being “bound” speaks of lack and oppression, falling well short of His glory; in fact, it could be brokered by evil. If we look at it from the perspective of the Kingdom of God, we can say the verse has somewhat the same connotation as Col 1:13 which say that He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (NKJV). From the influence of one kingdom to that of another, that’s the idea.
We need to bear in mind that it is God who “brings” us out, “delivered” us and “conveyed us into”, it is not our work, even for entering into the experience of signs and wonders, or for that matter any other blessings He has in store for us. It is all by His grace. But it is also not right to say that since it’s all by grace then nothing is required of us, we need do nothing and signs and wonders will just manifest in a believer’s life on their own accord. It is simply not true. Or else every Christian will automatically live the life of the Acts of the Apostles. However, I believe what is required of us is not in doing, but in knowing.
I don’t believe you need to fast forty days, pray incessantly, read the Bible all day long before you can move in power. It would be very wrong to think that these disciplines are in themselves necessary works to bring us to power. If they are good at all it’s because they could help us know where we stand as children of God and make us aware of the presence and reality of His Kingdom. We can never over emphasize the importance of this knowing. In my last post, I conveyed the insight of a preacher who practically said that we have a lot of knowledge, but do we really know? The Apostle Paul took this knowing very seriously; in Eph 1:15-21 he prayed that believers might know God and His exceedingly great power towards them who believe. Knowing precedes the walking in power.
In my own experience I find this to be very true. It’s when I am aware of His Kingdom that I see its reality manifest all around me. Every time a power encounter takes place I am blessed and I become a blessing to others. To me, Col 1:13 is a very good blueprint for meditation in this aspect. So I propose to lead you in a series of meditations concerning this through my coming posts. Most of the articles will come from material that I used for a sermon in last October. I welcome you to join me in my second series on this blog: A Tale of Two Kingdoms.
Scripture Link: BibleGateway.com
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