08 Sep Persuasion and Power
John 10:36b-39 – “Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father. Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.”
When I was a little boy, God began a tremendous turn in my life and our family when he healed my mom. My mom was raised Catholic, but then started participating in a charismatic renewal that swept through numerous Christian denominations bringing people together for worship and prayer from various churches. My mom had a recurring health problem that made her life painful. So, she asked for prayer and some women filled with the Holy Spirit prayed for her and my mom was healed, never to struggle with that issue again.
Growing up, I did not know the Lord. What I was sure of, however, was that there was a God, and my mom knew Him. Her prayers were answered, and she had supernatural revelations and actions from God in her life that she told us kids about. My mom came to know the Lord and grew in her relationship with the Lord through power. To this day, her relationship with the Lord includes a lot of supernatural elements.
My conversion to Jesus Christ was less about power, and more about persuasion. I had a lot of questions and objections about Christianity, interest in other philosophies and spiritualities, and needed answers. God in His providence connected me with a group of strong and learned Christians at a state university of all places. This included a philosophy professor who loved the Lord, and a pastor with what I think is a PhD in Hebrew. These men, and others, patiently and kindly answered all of my questions and objections. Once I came to saving faith in Christ, every season since has been filled with supernatural activity – both from the Lord and from the Enemy.
Jesus used both persuasion and power during His earthly ministry and continues to use both to this day. His words said He is God. His works showed He is God. In John 10:36b-39, He says, “Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.” Jesus’ rule over the physical world shows Him as Creator God. Roughly 40 miracles He performed are reported in the four gospels. In Mark’s Gospel, roughly one-third of all the verses deal with miracles. The Jewish Talmud, and later Celsus, who opposed Christianity, charged that Jesus “practiced magic.” The noted Jewish historian Josephus also reported that Jesus was “a doer of wonderful works.” Jesus’ resurrection is also the greatest miracle in world history, never repeated by anyone. Jesus did so many miracles that the Bible only records some of them. John 20:30, 21:25 says, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written…Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” The reason why the miracles recorded in the Bible were chosen is for the purpose of helping people believe in Jesus as God as John 20:31 says, “these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
Did you come to know Jesus more through persuasion, power, or a mix of both? Thank Him for saving you and giving you the greatest gift possible!
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