Believing in the Power Of God
God asks people to believe his word. ‘The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes’. What are we called to believe in? To believe he has the power to save us. Believing is expressed in the Bible in many different and beautiful ways. It’s expressed as ‘calling upon God’ (Psalm 50:15); as ‘trusting in the LORD’ (Psalm 32:10); as ‘leaning upon God’ (Isaiah 10:20); as ‘looking to God’ (Isaiah 45:22); as ‘relying on God’ (Isaiah 50:10); as ‘submitting to God’ (Romans 10:3); as ‘calling on the name of the Lord’ (Romans 10:13). Believing in the power of God to save is believing he has the power to something we can't do for ourselves. Consider these words from the powerful God, ‘Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me’. (Psalm 50:15) How amazing that the creator of the universe is asking us cry out to him when it gets too hard for us, so that we can experience his power to rescue us. Among the countless lessons we can learn from this invitation from God there are two which should be not be overlooked; firstly, we have believed God at his word, this pleases God; and secondly, by his response God demonstrates that he can be trusted, this produces trust, gratitude and thankfulness in us. In the days of Jesus' ministry he openly demonstrated the way his father, our powerful God, quietly and continually responds to the needs of people. Jesus said, "whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise" (John 5:19) 

Jesus Christ, the power of God
Ultimately the power of God is the means of eternal salvation for every person who will be saved, and this saving power was demonstrated openly to the world in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The man who God sent to the world to be its salvation was created by the power of God. Salvation exists because the power of God made the Saviour Jesus. The apostle Paul wrote, "unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." (1Corinthians 1:24)  Jesus is the salvation, and God made Him. ‘The Angel answered Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the holy child which will be born of you will be called The Son of God” (Luke 1v35); ‘And you will call his name JESUS, for he will save his people from their sins’ (Matthew 1:21)  ‘And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mankind by which we must be saved’. (Acts 4:12)

Jesus Christ, the power in the life of a believer
Does this mean that the life of a believer is empty of any "works"?  Is there no need for us to do anything for ourselves or for God? After all, it has been clearly seen that we cannot save ourselves. By no means. It is obvious from the word of God that the believer is called upon to demonstrate their belief and appreciation by a commitment to love and serve Jesus Christ. If one was to ask, "how much?", the answer is to commit to the death if necessary. This puts a responsibility upon the believer, to avoid the trap of believing we can save ourselves, by constantly reminding ourselves that we are saved by grace, and our ability and the strength necessary for our commitment to serve our Lord is by the spirit power of God. The remarkable apostle Paul, whose labour as a believer was extraordinary, wrote of himself, "In all my labour and toil, I do it all by his (Jesus Christ) energy which he energises within me powerfully". (Colossians 1:29) In another place it is written of God's power to save, "You are being guarded by God’s power through faith, for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice." (1 Peter 1:5) It is God’s own spirit power that performs everything we need the most — saving, energising, and guarding till the end. The true God is a ‘God of comfort’ (2 Corinthians 1:3) and ‘God of love and peace’ (2 Corinthians 13:11) to those who trust and rely on Him. May our burdens, worries and fears be lifted. ‘Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am 'Power' (Hebrew meaning for God here) and there is no other’ (Isaiah 45:22).

Look to God for His way
Let us not crumble under the weight of a burden that does not exist — namely, the burden of having to save ourselves by our own power. Let that burden be lifted by the good news of Jesus the Son of God. In whatever situation you are in at this present moment, embrace the power of God in Jesus Christ. If you're burdened by sin, if you’re burdened by failure, if you're burdened by worry and doubt about salvation, please realise it was never intended to be about your power, but about God’s power. May we all realise that the things we need most in life cannot be performed by our own power and was never intended to be, but that everything we need most in life is performed by God!