Oh, friend, what good news! The power of the resurrection not only raises us from the dead, lifts us out of sin, and draws us up to Jesus, but it also shields us, protecting us from the attacks of the evil one!
The evil one shoots a fiery arrow at us in the form of a food image or thought, but we are safe from harm because the same power that raised Jesus from the dead now shields us from the arrows of the enemy, and we can war against the flesh and win. God uses His power to protect us, which means that Satan’s attempt to set our flesh ablaze fails! This is resurrection power at work in our lives!
Question 5. According to 1 Peter 1:5 NIV, how do we access resurrection power?
Yes, “through faith,” we are shielded by God’s power. When we believe God raised Jesus from the dead, it gives us hope that He will also raise us, too! To help us understand how His resurrection power works in us, God has given pictures and promises of the power of the resurrection throughout His Word so that we might believe it and look to Him to work His power and His protection in us.
Consider some of these pictures of the resurrection from the Scriptures:
The earth rose from its watery grave on the third day (Genesis 1:9-13). Abraham received his son back, “as from the dead,” on the third day. Jonah was raised out of his watery grave on the third day (Genesis 22:4, Genesis 22:19, Hebrews 11:19). Hosea said we would be raised and restored to live in God’s presence on the third day (Hosea 6:1-2).
God revealed this pattern of life on the third day, repeatedly, for a reason. He wants us to believe in the resurrection and experience His power. For when we believe in the cross/resurrection event and look to God for this same power, we, ourselves, are raised out of our grave of sin, and we experience God’s power as a protective shield.
Believing in the resurrection, and looking to God for resurrection power, fills us with a living hope and protects us with a divine shield.
Question 6. How does believing in the resurrection give us the power to overcome overeating and laziness?
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We don't have many mentors, but the ones we do have pour out their hearts, and God's truth, to their students. I wanted to show you a wonderfully encouraging and instructive response from our mentor Joce to one of her students who answered the above question:
"_________ (students' name), we can BELIEVE that we HAVE that Holy Spirit power that HAS brought us eternal change - just a little tweak to your comment here. It makes all the difference.
We know our flesh has nothing good in it and we need power to overcome. If we think we are without any source of power, then we will go searching for it. Is it outside of us? Is it in the world? Is it something we have to 'will-power our way into' or guilt ourselves into?
We have access to this power. We have the place to go to to find this power -the cross. We have had power applied to our hearts to make us new and transferred us from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God! We are citizens of heaven! We have had our sins removed from us in power. We have had every reason for guilt and every stain of guilt taken away from us forever!
We have been washed IN power- imagine the power of a cycle of a washing machine going round and round - and we come out as we have been made to be - perfect in Christ. Perfect by the blood of the Lamb! The clothes (we wear the clothes of righteousness now not rags of self-righteousness) as an illustration were perfect but just had some dirt on them from daily walking in the world. The cross made us clean and keeps us perfectly clean if we would just walk into the power of His presence over and over."
And wow, take a moment and really digest Wende's answer here, it left me celebrating!
"Looking to to Jesus' death on the cross, His burial (for 3 days) and His resurrection from death, darkness and the grave is a awesome thing to behold! It is the greatest expression of God's power that creation has ever seen. And to think that I have participated in that death, burial and resurrection, is amazing! But even more mind-blowing is that my participation and God's power are on-going in real time! I am able to experience this power everyday at any moment. This is my shield of faith that extinguishes every flaming arrow of the evil one. It is available 24/7. And if an arrow happens to get through due to a lapse in my faith-shield, then Jesus jumps in front of me and takes it for me. The powers of overeating and laziness don't even seem worth recognizing in the presence of the resurrection!"