Ephesians 1:19-23 - "What is the Exceeding Greatness of His Power"

Today,we need to remember as believers, we are at war. We're not at war with people.We're not at war with ideas and philosophies. My friend, we are at war withspiritual forces in the heavenly places. And Paul reminds us of that inEphesians 6:10-18. “We do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but withprincipalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places”.This spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places, the devil and his forces, areout to rob you. Jesus said, the thief, who is the devil, has come to steal, tokill, and to destroy you.  Thedevil wants you to be robbed of your wealth in Jesus Christ. Now, he can't takethat wealth from you, but he can make you think you do not have access to thatwealth, and for you to feel like you're weak. Even like the people of Israelwhen they were in Egypt, they were stronger and mightier than the Egyptians.But the Pharaoh dealt shrewdly with them, deceived them, and thinking that theywere weaker than the Egyptians, and put them in slavery. And that's what'shappening to believers today. We have lost the sense and the knowledge of ourwealth, our power and strength that we have in Jesus Christ. Inthe Old Testament the people measured God's power by His acts of creation. Pleaseread Isaiah 40. Almost the entire chapter is devoted to God’s creative powerand strength. “Who made these things”? God would answer His ownquestion.  "I made these things.I'm the God who created the heavens and the earth, and you need to know who Iam." And the nation of Israel measured His power by His acts ofcreation. They also measured God's power by His acts of power and His miraclesat the Exodus when He delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt. The 10plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, and even the defeat of the enemies in thepromised land. And the people would look back and say, "What a mighty andpowerful God we have."  Buttoday, we can also measure God's power by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thepower of His resurrection was not only the fact that Jesus died on the cross,was buried, and that He rose again the third day. And also in the truth thatGod has highly exalted Him when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at Hisheavenly places (vv. 21-22). Jesus is not only our Savior, He is also our Sovereign(Acts 2:25-36). He is the sovereign God. There is no authority, power, human orin the spirit world that's greater than that of Jesus Christ, the exalted Sonof God. He is “far above all” and no future enemy can overcome Himbecause He's been exalted “far above all” powers. Oh, how important itis for us to know this.  Buthow does this apply to you and me today? In Ephesians 1:22-23, Paul explainsthe practical application. Because we are believers, we are in the church,which is Christ's body—and He is the Head. This means that there is a livingconnection between you and Christ. Physically speaking, the head controls thebody and keeps the body functioning properly. Injure certain parts of the brainand you handicap or paralyze corresponding parts of the body. Christ is ourspiritual Head. Through the Spirit, we are united to Him as the members of Hisbody. This means that we share His resurrection, ascension, and exaltation.Apart from this power, we cannot draw on our great wealth inChrist. Yes, today our war is not with people all these crazy things going onin America today. Our war is a spiritual war. It can only be fought through thepower of the Holy Spirit and the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christclaiming and knowing that we stand strong in Jesus Christ. We don't reallyfight the battle. He fights the battle. He is our Joshua. We believe thisbecause of His resurrection and the fact we're connected to Him and we are Hisbody. He is the one who does the warfare, and He binds the strong man. He setsthe captive free. He gives us liberty in Himself.  Maythe Lord help us believe and apply this to our lives.