Today there's a good deal of misunderstanding about the issue of spiritual power. Some people think that many external things, in and of themselves, are primary signs that God's power is at work. Among the more common yardsticks used today are personal health and wealth, church size and attendance, the dynamism of the leadership, or the level of emotion in the church service.
The problem is that these and similar yardsticks of spiritual power are unreliable -- and un-Biblical. Many unbelievers possess health and wealth. Many large churches are spiritually cold. Some of the most dynamic leaders on the church scene today have proved to be charlatans. Behind the manufactured emotionalism in many church services is spiritual weakness.
Christians need to understand that the only yardstick that counts when it comes to spiritual things is the Word of God, and the only evaluations that matter are the ones made by Jesus Christ, the righteous Judge and Head of the church.
Colossians 1:11 tells us that we should seek to be "strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power." God doesn't impart spiritual power based on external considerations. God is concerned with the issues of the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).
As we study this passage, we're going to examine four essential factors about spiritual power, in the life of the Christian individually and in the church corporately:
1.) the nature of spiritual power, 2.) the need for spiritual power, 3.) the magnitude of that power, and 4.) God's purpose for that power.
That's our focus this week as we continue our series, Christ Above All: Studies in Colossians.
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