The Power of God rests in Jesus' leadership

While on earth, Jesus gave many radical claims that still challenge humanity's natural reason. Most of Jesus’ teachings were His goal to make us understand how the principles of His reality and Kingdom work.

Think about it for a moment from Jesus' perspective: He is Almighty God who came from a reality that has infinitely more dimensions than our own three-dimensional reality. From a world with even more colors, tones, tastes and smells than is even possible according to the laws of physics. The challenge He faced ( which He performed perfectly ) was to explain His reality in such a way that it would not only open us to understand, but we would also learn to operate in it. Jesus chose to speak with parables. He picked up themes from our natural reality, which were already familiar to us, using them to helps us understand how man's inner world, spiritual reality, His Kingdom, and God the Father work.

Unfortunately, sometimes we try to rationalize Jesus' teachings to fit our current understanding, instead of accepting with an open mind that we are hearing something we have never thought of before.
Rather than considering Jesus' teachings as instructions, we may accept ( i.e., believe ) only some of them and end up rejecting the rest as if they were just filler words that Jesus wanted to color his stories with.

Jesus described this phenomenon in his parable of the sower:

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.”
Matt. 13:18-19 (NIV)

I have noticed some Bible scholars and teachers, or aspiring to be ones, having this temptation trying to be a thousand percent correct in their knowledge of the Bible. I understand that no sincere believer would like to think of himself as not believing everything God says, but without proper humility to acknowledge his own limitations in the continuous learning process, this attitude can, on the contrary, cause us to compromise on what we believe from the Bible.

I'm talking about situations where we don't necessarily immediately see certain things Jesus told us come true. It is in such cases that we may end up drawing our own conclusions to satisfy our own uncertainties that end up contradicting what the Bible actually says.
The most well-known notions produced by this phenomenon are the claims that certain principles established by God are no longer valid today. God would supposedly have withdrawn significant portions of the New Covenant principles from which He never said they had ended, such as gifts, miracles, or ministries.
There are also beliefs going around that God has no sincere desire to heal or even save all people in the world.

I call any behavior in which a person chooses which Bible passages he chooses to believe in and what passages he replaces with his own explanations, as making his own Christianity.

“Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Matt. 5:19 (NIV)

Some are very happy with the comfort zone offered by their self-shaped Christianity, but some of us are well aware that in order to evangelize a perishing world and address the difficulties in our society, we need God's intervention and power.

We want what the early church had. They didn’t have the technological advances of our time, such as the widespread media to make instant connections or fast transportation vehicles to travel more difficult places. Yet they turned the world upside down because God intensely influenced breakthroughs and miracles among and through them.
Our only dilemma is our desire to preserve our own Christianity ( traditions and customary practices ) while at the same time wanting God to join them. However, it is something He never agreed to commit to.

Pastor Dan Mohler once described the same thing by saying very sharply:

"…because we want a Gospel that benefits us rather than transforms us."
Dan Mohler

The Kingdom of God and His power belong only to Jesus. He won them for Himself through hundred percent obedience and loyalty to God the Father during His walk on earth and by agreeing to be our atoning sacrifice on the cross. Only by agreeing to the Lordship and leadership of Jesus Christ will we release the benefits of His Kingdom on earth and in our lives.

The benefits of God's Kingdom are part of our heritage as children of God in Jesus Christ, but we must remember that we are co-heirs, not primary heirs. Because we are heirs in Jesus Christ and not outside of Him, neither do we receive and operate in His inheritance in ways outside His principles.

In the kingdom, it‘s not the servants who make the rules, but the King, Jesus.

In the family, it’s not the children who make the rules, but the parents, God the Father.

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,"
Romans. 8:17 (NIV)

“Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.”
Joh. 13:16 (NIV)

Jesus said He come to build His own church and promised that the Enemy, Satan, would not be able to win His church:

“…and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Matt. 16:18 (NIV)

He also promised His presence to manifest ( and His power is in His presence ) if we align to His will in obedience and faithfulness:

“The person who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and *reveal Myself to him [I will make Myself real to him]”
Joh. 14:21 (AMP)

( *The original word contains the meaning of "to manifest" or "to reveal", "to show." )

God has never combined the benefits, inheritance, influence, and power of His Kingdom with our own doctrines or versions of Christianity. Yes, His benefits can be found in all Christian denominations, local churches, and even in the lives of individual believers, but mainly in areas where they have surrendered to God's principles and leadership.
Alternatively, in all the areas in which we build on our own human abilities and reasoning, we have to rely on our own strength, and human capabilities are limited, temporary, and easily disintegrated, but God's capabilities are solid, eternal, and invincible.

“But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
1. Cor. 3:10-15 (NIV)

“…but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
2. Cor. 4:18 (NIV)

The principle is very simple: human practices produce human results, God's practices produce God's results:

“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”
Joh. 3:6 (NIV)

“ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”
Matt. 7:16-18 (NIV)

Related to all this, let me share few growth guidelines:

1.
Let us move toward the standard of spiritual life set by God without seeking to change it according to our own experience, background, denomination, or opinions.

2.
Let us study in God's Word what is according to His will and proceed toward it.

3.
Let us practice humility by acknowledging that we don't know or understand things that have not actually opened up to us yet.

4.
Let us exercise faith by learning to agree with God on what He has said.

5.
Let us accept that we are in a continuous process of growth, without viewing it as something shameful that supposedly defines our value because we don’t feel like already knowing everything.

6.
Let us repent of those things in which we have found ourselves fallen to build some kind of Christianity of our own.

7.
Let us learn to see Jesus not only as our Savior, but also as our Lord, and so on would also become learn His way of leading.

Follow the Freedom!!