"Spiritual Squirt Gun or Bazooka?"
By Steve Backlund
“And forget not all His benefits” (Psalm 103:2). Can you imagine an employee forgetting he has the benefits of vacation time, lunch breaks, health insurance, or having an office space to work in, and then complaining about how hard work is? We would probably want to get in his face and say, “Why have you allowed yourself to forget your benefits!”
It is one thing to forget your benefits, but it’s another to be ignorant of your benefits. I heard a story of a man who ate cheese and crackers on a cruise ship while others were feasting at the ship’s restaurants. On the last day of the cruise, someone asked him why he did not join them for meals at the restaurant, and the man said, “I did not pay for the meals.” Unbeknownst to him, he was told, “All meals came with the price of the ticket you paid!” I can imagine that would be no fun to hear, but I believe we will also find out in heaven of the benefits that were available to us that we did not access.
Here are some incredible benefits made available to us to empower our faith journey with Jesus:
Baptism in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8)
Praying in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:4, Jude 20)
Fellowship with other believers (1 John 1:7)
Gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)
God’s word (John 8:31-32)
Let’s look at the last one in my list. God’s word is incredible in its strength as we abide in it, speak it out, meditate on it, and hide it in our hearts:
“Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). God’s word has power in itself to propel us into righteous behavior.
“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32). The truth WILL make us free. It is not our effort, but the truth that does the work.
“This book of the law shall not depart for your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may do according to all that is written in it. Then you will make your way prosperous and be of good success” (Joshua 1:8). Meditate means to mutter.
“Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). Our soul is our mind, will, and emotions. The implanted word brings health to our soul.
“But what does this all have to do with the title of this blog, ‘Spiritual Squirt Gun or Spiritual Bazooka,’ you might ask. Well, I am glad you asked!
All of the above benefits I mentioned will determine whether you have real spiritual fire-power or not, but I want to get to the heart of what is in our lives and through our lives: Revelation.
Paul prayed for the Ephesians for revelation on three things - “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your [understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Ephesians 1:17-19).
There are three things for us to know that will give us a spiritual bazooka in our lives:
The significance of who we are and what we do - “The hope of His calling.”
The unlimited resources available to us - “The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”
Our unlimited potential - “The exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.”
As we abide in this prayer of Paul in Ephesians, we will know these three truths and it will give us great spiritual power in our lives. Some would say it will equip us with a spiritual bazooka to blast away complacency, powerlessness, joylessness, addictions, prayerlessness, and boring Christianity.
Right now, God is releasing a real spiritual fire-power that will release true revelation in each of our lives!