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Embracing or Denying the Power of God

Embracing or Denying the Power of God

Have you ever sung the old Christian hymn There Is Power in the Blood? Consider the first verse and refrain:

Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood. 

Refrain:

There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

Have you ever had to explain to someone who wasn’t raised a Christian what these lyrics mean?

Is there power in the blood of Jesus? If you said “yes,” do you mean the red corpuscles?

If we could find a piece of Christ’s burial cloth (which some allege is the Shroud of Turin) stained with His dried blood, would we obtain divine power to overcome sin? Is the power of God found in dead blood cells?

Jesus said the following to the Jews in Capernaum:

“I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:53–58 NIV84, emphasis mine).

When Jesus said these words, was He speaking about cannibalism? The Jews apparently thought so and were offended.

What about today—what do we understand Christ’s words to mean?

 

The Metaphor

Is the power in the literal blood, or is the power in the One who shed His blood? And if the power is not in the literal blood, then what does the blood represent? How does one access the power?

The flesh and blood are symbolic of something else, and if we fail to understand the reality to which Jesus’ symbolic language is pointing, we are vulnerable to believing in the idea of Jesus, engaging in religion, and church but being devoid of the actual power of God. The apostle Paul warned that at the end of time, this would be the case and that we would need to be on guard:

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them (2 Timothy 3:1–5 NIV84, emphasis mine).

People with a “form of godliness but denying its power”—what does this mean? It means they do not deny the forms—the formulas, rituals, ceremonies, symbols, sacraments—they deny the power. In other words, they do not deny the “power in the blood,” they do not deny the symbol, communion ceremony, the Eucharist, or singing the song. But they do deny the truth, the reality, the actuality, the experience, the internalization of the life of Christ, for the Bible tells us that the life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11). The power that is in the blood is the power of the life of Christ, not His red corpuscles. And the life of Christ is the lived-out truth of God that exposes and refutes the lies of Satan and wins us back to trust. This is represented by the flesh:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1, 14 NIV84, emphasis mine).

Jesus is God in humanity, and in Him is revealed the truth about God. He is the living Word of God. To eat His flesh means to take into our hearts and minds the truth about God that dispels the lies and wins us to trust. This is the eternal gospel, the eternal good news, that God is not like Satan has alleged, that God is not an imperial dictator who makes up rules and then uses His infinite power to inflict torture, pain, and death upon rule breakers. In Jesus, we see the majesty and glory of God revealed, that although He had all power, He never used it to advance self but only and always to serve. And even when the grossest evil and most abusive injustice was being perpetrated upon Him, He still would not use power to take freedom away from His intelligent creatures.

Why not? Because what God wants is our love, trust, loyalty, devotion, and friendship, and these can never be achieved through law and law enforcement, but only through truth, love, and freedom. In fact, any attempts to promote love through external enforcement, through punishment, only destroy love and incite rebellion. Thus, the power of God, the power in the blood, is the power of the truth and love of God fully revealed and lived in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the good news, this is the gospel, and this is the power of God that we may freely receive—just as Paul wrote:

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:16, 17 NIV84, emphasis mine).

The power is in the good news about God that destroys the lies and wins us to trust; this is partaking of the flesh, which is symbolized by the bread. And once we partake of the truth and are won to trust, we open our hearts and the Holy Spirit brings us the life of Christ, which is symbolized by the blood. We receive a new life, a new identity, a new animating power—the pure, holy, righteous, life of love for God and others, which is the life (blood) of Jesus. As Paul wrote, “It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). We become partakers of the divine nature—the nature of love (2 Peter 1:4).

 

Applying the Metaphor

So how this works in day-to-day, practical life is that the Holy Spirit brings truth to human hearts and minds in ways we can understand that truth—truth essential for our healing and salvation, truth that leads us away from sin-sickness and back to Jesus for eternal life. This truth will always include truth about God, what Jesus has done, God’s methods and principles, but it will also include real-world, practical, applicable actions that each of us needs to take in our lives to experience healing of our hearts and minds.

We must first know that God is love, that He loves us, and that through Christ, He provides everything we need for our healing and restoration—and that with Jesus, our case is never hopeless. Then in that love, in the truth of who God is, the Spirit of truth will bring to our minds the truth about ourselves, where in our lives we are out of harmony with God, of things or people in our lives that are destructive, along with the truth about what is healthy and what choices we can make to harmonize our lives with the good, the right, the healthy.

We will find ourselves in various circumstances and situations in which some truth will be before us and we will know what our duty is; we will know what the right and healthy action is, and then the Holy Spirit will leave us completely free to decide what we will choose to do, choose to believe, choose to internalize into our heart.

And this is the key to accessing the power of God: We do not receive divine power to succeed until we choose to say yes to the truth and apply it to our lives.

However, it is not the truth comprehended, cognitively understood, that matters; it is the truth chosen by the individual to be taken into the heart and applied by the will to the life that opens the individual to receive the divine power of God—the animating, motivating, and transforming power of God.

The demons believe the truth of who Jesus is, but they have closed their hearts to the truth and do not love and trust Jesus; thus, their cognitive awareness of the truth has no saving power for them.

Many addicts accept the truth that they have an addiction, even that the addiction is harmful and that their lives would be better if they were free of the addiction, but they have not made the choice to get into recovery, to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ. Thus, many will pray for deliverance from their addiction, but what they are actually doing is praying for God to change them before they have chosen for themselves to give up their addiction. They are praying for their feelings to change, for the power of God to deliver them from something to which they are still clinging in their heart. They have not yet chosen in their own heart to say yes to Jesus and die to the old ways. We do not get the power until we make the choice. But when we make the choice to say yes to the truth, we are never left to win the battle in our own power; the power to succeed is always supplied by God through the indwelling Holy Spirit, but that power only becomes accessible to us when we choose to follow and apply the truth by our choice.

So I encourage you to choose to spend time with Jesus every day, to internalize (ingest) His Word into your heart and mind and to daily invite the Holy Spirit into your life to empower you with the life, the love, the motivation, the power of Jesus and, moment by moment, choose to do what you know is the right, healthy, loving, truthful action that is your duty in governance of yourself. For the power is in the truth and love that comes only from Jesus, and we receive that by our choice to trust and to act in that trust upon the truth we know and understand—it is then and only then that we receive the divine power to succeed.

 

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Testimony 14

We really appreciate your views on the judgment and they make good sense considering our free choice.

Anonymous

 

Testimony 44

We were given a gift of the DVD set, “God and Your Brain,” and we just finished watching it. The truths in this are so powerful and truly an answer to a prayer. We’re seeing hope where once we thought God wasn’t answering our prayers to be free of certain mindsets. He answered with these DVDs and we are hungry for more. Thank you!

Daniel T., Easley, SC, USA

 

Testimony 27

Your teachings about our heavenly Father have changed my life. Thank you sooooooo very very much! I know He’s doing some serious healing in my heart and life and I look forward to each new day to learn something new about Him and to just hear you speak about Him. Thank you, forever.

Nancy S.

 

Testimony 59

I’m a native Ghanan, but am currently in France for my master’s degree. Prior to this, during my final years at undergraduate studies in Ghana, I was introduced to your ministry and I’ve been immensely blessed by what you share, especially about the Design and Imposed Laws. God richly bless you for that.

One of the first things I did when I arrived in France was to buy all four of your books. They not only helped me, but those I shared them with. I shared the message with an atheist student and I marveled at how God worked mightily in his life. Today this person shares the Love of God with others and debunks theories of who God is not. I want to share what you present in your “Heavenly Sanctuary and Investigative Judgment” pamphlet, because the message brought rest to my soul and I live today as a healthy person.

God bless you so much and your ministry.

Michael A., Ghana

 

Testimony 71

When I was 9 years old, I remember setting at our devotional table with a hunger and thirst for God that wanted more, deeper, BETTER. I can remember literally crying and pounding on the table, “I know these teachers didn’t mean to give us error. They taught what THEY had been TAUGHT, but didn’t ANYBODY READ THE BOOK?!?!?” It mattered to me then. It mattered to me as a teenager. It matters now as I teach bible classes. It didn’t have to be so hard as I watched so many give up and lay God’s great plan and gift of salvation aside as being “impossible.” Then, a friend sent me a link to Come And Reason’s website. I grew excited. YES! FINALLY! Then another friend told me to stay away, saying her son had just broken up with a girl because she was involved with Come And Reason and that “Tim Jennings preaches a false gospel.” But, AFTER many years of developing an authentic and, dare I say FUN relationship with Jesus, through the Holy Spirit I see this message has been around a LONG time, since the apostle Paul, Ellen White, Graham Maxwell, Ray Foucher, and yourself (though I admit, you’ve made me back up, rewind and replay the clips, and get out my well-worn Bible on a few things.) I’m so thankful I have found LIGHT during these DARK days. I am not alone.

Vicki DiNitto

Testimony 64

I’ve been reading the bible and walking with Jesus since I was around 16. I’m 42 now. I’ve mostly been alone in my walk although I went to several churches in different denominations. For the past 3 years God has been showing me His character of agape. It’s been a blessing and changed how I view God and my walk with Jesus. About a year ago I came across the power of love and the principles of design law. These teachings changed how I read scripture and have been such a beautiful blessing. I’m very excited and grateful for these truths. We share these truths of agape, design law and the reality of the principles of the two trees in the garden of Eden with people on Facebook and YouTube. People all over are learning to trust God and His agape design law which makes life possible. Thank you for everything you shared with me. May God continue to bless your ministry and lives.

Bradley M., Hinsdale, NY, USA

 

Testimony 29

Thank you for all of your work to correct misconceptions about God’s character. So many people that my husband and I have talked to seem to be against the natural law construct and view it as “errant” and “dangerous.” Having learned more about it through your blogs and lessons, I don’t really understand why they view it that way, except that it means they have to relearn theology they have known for their entire lives. But I’m so excited to relearn this. For the past few years I have been questioning how I could trust a God who punishes arbitrarily and is full of wrath for those who don’t obey His commands. That view made me afraid to “mess up” or “not be good enough,” even within my relationship with God. I really appreciated the point you bring out about God not wanting us to serve Him because we are afraid, but because we love Him.

Melissa H., IN, USA

 

Testimony 65

I have been tuning into your weekly study classes for a while now and wanted express my appreciation for the teachings that ha been a huge blessing in opening up the true message of the word. Viewing scripture under an imposed law theory always, without fail, raised more questions, concerns, and conflicting scripture interpretations that were discouraging at the very least. Looking at scripture through the design law lens has brought more truth to light for me personally and an understanding of our Heavenly Father that places Him “above all others,” where I am now more than thrilled to witness and serve Him.  I “stumbled” across this ministry a year or so ago and would only watch a few minutes at a time. But the more I listened and the longer I paid attention, the more my spiritual eyes were opened to the ever present truths of scripture. The comprehension of the great controversy and it’s origin by the lies perpetrated and perpetuated throughout the Bible on the attack of God’s character and government is truly priceless. Keep up the Good Work! Your servanthood is desperately needed in such a time as this!

Jeff D., Reading, MA, USA

 

Testimony 23

I would just like to add my voice to the many people who, I believe, must have contacted you to express their appreciation for the “Healing the Mind” DVDs. I’ve been listening to your Bible study class discussions for many years and I’ve been personally blessed by your research and teaching about the character of God.

L. G., Oakland, MI, USA

 

Testimony 24

I wanted to thank you very much for presenting your understanding of God. I’ve always been troubled by this question: Why did Jesus have to die? Since my conversion I understood that The Father & Jesus are one, I did not have issues with that. But was there not any other way to save us than for Jesus to die? I guess I actually had a question about God – if He is so wise, how come He did not find another way? I did not see the real ‘beauty’  in the cross. Only when you explained the picture in the medical context, Jesus providing medicine for my selfishness, have I started to finally ‘see the light’. Thank you so much. Your seminar, “Healing the Mind,” are absolutely marvelous & have shared them with my family and many other people, including colleagues at work. Thanks, thanks, thanks. May God bless you abundantly in your ministry.

M. W., Australia

 

Testimony 22

I have found your Bible study class lectures to be very inspiring and useful as I prepare to teach class every other week. I subscribe to the podcast and download your notes on the weeks I teach. The audio and notes are such a great help in preparing. My own understanding of God’s character has grown as I teach the class. Commendations on the thought-provoking and well-prepared material Come and Reason provides. Personally, I get excited by the tie you make between the spiritual and mental/physical domains.

A.A. Corrales, NM, USA

 

Testimony 61

I grew up in a prominent protestant church and had what I like to call religious anxiety. I’ve always had questions about God and Salvation that no one could seem to answer.  I didn’t know how to find resolution. During 2020, at the height of my anxiety, I fell to my knees and begged God to show me truth and light and to give me the hope that I’ve been longing for. Days later, I stumbled upon your online videos and it was like a veil was lifted and EVERYTHING made sense! For the first time in my almost 39 years of life, my religious/spiritual anxiety has lessened. I feel a sense of freedom and peace I’ve NEVER had before… and it’s all because my view of God has changed. Thank you!

Ashleighn C.

 

Testimony 35

I am so pleased with the response your message is receiving at my church from the middle-aged to the young adults. I have given out 100 copies of the first two seminars and there are more request every week. One of my [class members] came to me after viewing the series, grateful and impressed with how easy the message was retained. He had been a Seventh-day Adventist in fear all his life, and felt like the scales were removed from his eyes after viewing the seminars. I am so impressed by the change I see in members who have received this message, we are in one accord. However, I am sadden by the negative response of the older people. I am verbally attacked anytime I talk about imposed laws, but I believe my mission is to enlightened everyone I can. I watch your Bible Study Class on YouTube every Friday night and I feel like I am apart of the class. All of you are in one accord and I am so blessed to have found you. I pray that all of you continue to spread this message and I am committed to doing my part.

Clara S., Westfield, MA, USA

 

Testimony 66

I am incredibly grateful for the transformative impact you’ve had on my life, and words cannot fully express my appreciation. Over the years, I have been an avid listener and follower of C&R and extend my heartfelt thanks for creating the C&R mobile app. It has allowed me to immerse myself in your lessons repeatedly, enabling me to grasp the profound significance about the Character of God, Design Law, the protocols for life, the reasons behind the current chaos, and Christ’s mission to restore everything. They have deeply touched me. Having studied with various churches, I came away with the perception that God is no different from the deities of ancient Greek or Roman mythology—demanding sacrifices and taking pleasure in bloodshed. Thanks to your transformative teachings, I have experienced a profound awakening to the true nature of God and the immense power of His love. It is truly a remarkable and liberating sensation to finally grasp the truth and embrace the empowering nature of God’s laws. My self-perception has become brighter and more infused with love. My journey of growth continues on a daily basis.

Chris P., Lake Mary, FL, USA

 

Testimony 25

I just want to say thank you so much for your conversations via YouTube. I regularly tune in to your lectures, “Let’s Talk” sessions, and many others. Through these I’ve found greater depth and meaning to God’s word. Thanks for all that you do and please continue. I’m currently working in the middle of Silicon Valley at Stanford University. I feel like God really has me in the right place right now and I’m sensing that your teachings might be part of it.

B. F., Silicon Valley, CA, USA