John Bevere - Desire and Power (A Journey to Intimacy with God)
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Remember, the fear of the Lord affects our inward desires, which gives us the ability to do His good pleasure: the grace of God. Okay, chapter 21. We’re at the end of the third week, and I love this chapter because it kind of brings the whole section together. It emphasizes desire and power. Now let’s move into that a little deeper. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord will work in us both the ability to will and to do His good pleasure.
Now, I want you to think about this: will and do. Will is your desire; do is the power you need to do what God has asked you to do. The Bible states that the fear of the Lord provides this. Now, I want to break it down a little further. Let me quote Philippians 2:12 again: we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work within us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Now, let’s break it down. Will, will, will is desire. What affects our will? The fear of the Lord. Remember, the fear of the Lord affects our inward desires, which gives us the ability to do His good pleasure: the grace of God.
You say, «The grace of God?» Yes, the grace of God. I thought the grace of God just forgives my sins and gives me salvation. Yes, it does. However, the grace of God empowers us to do what we couldn’t do in our own strength. If you look at 2 Corinthians 12:9, God said to the Apostle Paul, «My grace is all you need, for my power works best in your weakness or human inability.»
So, the grace of God gives me the ability to do what I couldn’t do in my own strength. If you look at 2 Peter 1, you will see that Peter says, «Grace be multiplied to you as His divine power.» He identifies grace as God’s divine power that gives us everything we need to live a godly life. So, this is really a cool package. God gives us a holy fear, and then He gives us His grace. The holy fear gives us the will, the passion, the desire to obey God, whereas the grace of God gives us the ability to actually carry it out.
That’s why the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 3:20, «Now unto Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think, according to the power that’s at work in us.» He didn’t say according to the power that comes periodically from the throne; He said according to the power that works in us. That’s the grace of God. The grace of God has the ability to go far beyond what we can ask, think, or hope for in regard to living a life like Jesus. So, they’re the powerful twins of the fear of God and the grace of God that give us the ability to glorify Jesus on this earth.