Call Us: 423 661-4734 | Email: requests@comeandreason.com      
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.

 

Email me the blog whenever a new one is published.

Donate online, securely via PayPal using your credit or debit card (no PayPal account needed, unless you want to set up a monthly, recurring payment).


cancel recurring payment

 

Want to use zelle instead?
See how on our
Support and Donations page.

Upcoming Events

calendar

Testimonial Post Slider

Testimony 62

I would like to express my thanks to the C&R team for creating a platform from which people can learn to trust in God and grow. My life is a witness to the effectiveness of this ministry. Without believing the truth about God as you have shown, I don’t know what my life would be like. I had given up on God helping me with certain sins – it was all useless. Given that the scripture is clear and God is so good, how could I have betrayed him so many times? I was a yo-yo christian; spinning up and down. My faith and enthusiasm was driven by discoveries/threats that prophecy is about to be fulfilled. But when I watched your “Healing the Mind” seminar, it was like a light finally went on. I could see God had no plan to hurt me, the danger came from sin, and that He is working to protect me and strengthen me. Thank you for allowing God to use you. The message God gave C&R saved my life!

Antony N. – Hobart, Australia

 

Testimony 7

Ok, so last night I listened to “The Law of Liberty” and “How to Achieve Victory: Freedom, Truth and Spirtual Warfare.” These are both MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITES so far! The logic is just soooooo beautiful. I had to re-listen to them a couple of times. I just want to EXPLODE! (<< we assume with joy and happiness)

N. B., Canada

 

Testimony 30

God lead me to your book “The God-Shaped Brain” while I was searching for another book about the brain and then to your interview about your book on HeartWise Ministries [where] I found out about [Come And Reason Ministries]. I’m now devouring the webcasts of your Bible studies. I have been so greatly blessed and I thank God so much for your courage to speak the Truth in love no matter what. Listening to you contrast the two opposing systems (laws) and digging deep to unearth the hidden treasures in the Bible makes me so incredibly happy and I feel very blessed to be part of your Bible Study Group although I live far away. I am just so excited that there is a group of people that is spreading the Truth about the character of God and it saddens me how few realize what our Father in Heaven is really like.

Kessy B., Australia

 

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 54

I had a lot of pressure, as a pastor’s kid, to conform and be “good.” I was good at being “good.” I thought my life was going along well until it all started falling apart and I could not figure out why! In my search for “why is this happening to me, God?” I came across your book, “Could it be this Simple,” and God started revealing to me the many distortions I held about His character, His principles, and how He has designed His universe to operate. I remember thinking, “Wow, I have had this all backwards.” I was happy and angry all at the same time. Happy to have the light of truth break through the darkness, revealing a wonderful, beautiful way of understanding God and His plan for His children, and angry, because I felt deceived and cheated by the church, my family, and myself!

My heart thrills when I listen to your bible study lessons. Literally I have gone from death to life. It is a journey I look forward to every day, as God reveals areas this distortion affects. Praise GOD! I will ever be grateful to God for this ministry and your cooperation with the Spirit!

Karen S., Portal, AZ, USA

 

Testimony 50

After coming into contact with Come And Reason Ministries, I can finally say that many of my unanswered questions have fallen into place. I discovered that my view of God’s Law was “imposed laws and rules” with “imposed punishments” and that this was the major culprit of my many unanswered questions. Thanks be to God for using you and those around you to help us who have struggled with this “infection” of thought. I have now rejected the “imposed law” concept to fully embrace “Design Law”… to look thru “Design Law,” instead of “imposed law,” is a relief.

Viliami L., Australia

 

Testimony 37

Hearing Dr. Jennings’ presentations in person came at a pivotal moment in my spiritual journey that began about nine months ago, when the fault lines inherent in my belief system began to crack under questions that most reasonable people end up asking about God and His nature. These were questions I couldn’t find answers to, and they shook my faith. I was unable let it go any longer and be satisfied. My Christian experience became distant. I was afraid; the fear in me rose like thorns, pushing me away from Jesus. And then someone heard my questions and introduced me to this ministry, and my life has totally changed.

I can tell you that this new, “present truth” message is far grander and life-changing than when I shifted from being an agnostic and then a nominal Christian. It has radically altered my worldview, because it reveals a God that makes sense. It is a revolution. I believe that Dr. Jennings’ message is the final message that must go to the world. If any message could be called “righteousness by faith,” as abused as that term is by the right and the left, this is that message, because Jennings’ biblical message identifies a God who is different, whose character isn’t an impossible contradiction.

I walk this path now without fear. I see people differently, and the Holy Spirit burns in my heart. Many call Dr. Jennings’ message false and compromising, but it isn’t false, because I’ve seen the fruits within my mind and body. It is not compromising, because in this message is the only road to holiness that makes any sense. No longer do I behold a pagan god who is always angry and suspicious. Instead, I behold a God who is freeing and loving, always working for our good, and giving me every reason to love my enemy even to my own death, just as Jesus pleads with us. God is good.

Anthony L., CA, USA

 

Testimony 70

I have been watching you for many years and have learned to love God with all my heart. I was raised by a loving Christian mother that had been lied to about who God really was, so our religious upbringing was hell fire and damnation. As soon as I was old enough and moved out, I not only left the church, I ran as fast as I could to get away from it. Sad to say, it wasn’t until the past couple of years that I learned and understand who my Father really is and how much He loves me. I understand God’s Design Laws (which make sense) and when I’m teaching my church Bible study class, I’m able to really put to use the things I’ve been learning and Holy Spirit is leading. Thank you for introducing me to my Father of true, pure love. Everyday with Him is new and exciting. One thing that breaks my heart is that I didn’t know Him sooner. God Bless you and your ministry!

Judy Phelps, Reno, NV, USA

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 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 6

I got the book “Could It Be This Simple?” a few months ago and the reading was wonderful and I was fascinated. I lent the book to a friend at work. She is having a difficult time and the book is helping her to find Jesus and I found this very exciting. She has asked me questions and I can see her life changing.

H. S., Australia

 

Testimony 69

After reading your book, ‘Could It Be This Simple,’ someone was explaining Christianity in a way that made sense to me for the first time in my life. One morning, I simply prayed “I’m sorry and I love you.” As soon as I silently said that, I could literally feel God’s presence and light flood down on me from above and fill me up with love and joy. I sat there crying my eyes out, because I was so overpowered with this feeling of love and joy. It was just so incredible. I hope that more people can read this book and get a blessing from it. It’s really amazing.

Rachael H.

Testimony 15

I have been sharing Come And Reason Ministries Bible study lessons with several folk. You have such a beautiful view of the plan of salvation. If we had this message preached when I was young, my generation would still all be in church.

H. R., New Zealand

Testimony 51

I Love This Ministry!!!!!!! I see first hand how this message is desperately needed, how erroneous beliefs about God and His Character negatively affect humanity at every level. I thank God for your ministry, as I was searching on my own and was discovering some of your same beliefs and was blown away when I found your ministry. I know you hear it all the time, but it is truly life changing. May God continue to reveal His Will to you and Bless you!

Eric S., Sanford, FL, USA

 

Testimony 46

Over the past couple of years God has been expanding my view of Himself and His character. Along my approximately 40-year journey, I have often had questions, but was hesitant to voice these and step outside the traditionally accepted thinking, for fear of admitting that I may in fact be eternally lost. In the recesses of my thinking has been the thought – if one blindly accepts (which is widely regarded as “real faith”) and does not question, is this really ‘truth?’ I often find it challenging to grapple with very theological ‘speak,’ but Dr. Jennings has a real gift of explaining spiritual concepts with clear practical examples. The weekly discussions are growing my Christian experience and slowly changing my view of how to live as a child of God in today’s complex world. Finally the whole Old Testament sanctuary teaching moved in my mind from fantasy to reality!

Beverly S., South Africa