ABUNDANT LIFE VISION
THE HAND OF GOD. Luke 4:18-19
“The Spirit of the lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, [19]and that the time of the lord’s favor has come.” NLT.
Dear naijatipslanders, let’s discuss the hand of God. To fully understand this, there are some things we need to understand. The first is hand. What is a hand? The Hebrew word for hand is “yad”. Yad has meanings like power, force, dominion and work among others. I did a teaching in January on this platform titled; “Forces: Miraculous Power. In the teaching, I taught on the force which is the creative power of God to bring things to life and to do anything. Up next is who is God? The Hebrew way of describing God is Elohim and Jehovah. Elohim comes from the place of his power while Jehovah comes from the place of his unoriginated, self-sustaining and eternal existence nature. The life and ministry of Jesus proves the third description as he resurrected from the dead and ascended to heaven where he lives forever. Apostle Paul wrote about this in the book of Hebrews 7:15-24. Paul explained that Jesus is in the order of Melchizedek because he lives forever. The emphasis is in verse 24 of Hebrews 7: But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. NLT.
Now that I have explained what a hand means and who God is, I will move to answering another question which is; what is the hand of God? The hand of God stands for the power of God and his dominion which cuts across the heaven and the earth. Isaiah 66:1. When you look at the old testament, you will see the demonstration of the power of God on his people. One striking thing about the power of God is that in the OT, his power would come upon people for a while. The power did not rest on them as we have it now. Let us look at Samson and Ezekiel as examples. Judges 14:19: Then the Spirit of the lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had solved his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother. NLT. The power of God came upon Samson to perform what he was anointed to do as the liberator of Israel against the Philistines. Also, it was the same with Ezekiel in Ezekiel 2:1-2: “Stand up, son of man,” said the voice. “I want to speak with you.” [2]The Spirit came into me as he spoke, and he set me on my feet. I listened carefully to his words. NLT. The Spirit of the Lord took over and revealed things to him. This system has been upgraded since the prophecy of Joel in Joel 2:28-29: “Then, after doing all those things, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. [29]In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants—men and women alike. NLT. The prophecy was fulfilled in Acts 2 and Peter made reference to it in verses 15-18 of the chapter. Since then, the power of God has been living in his children. NOTE: I need to put this out, the power of God lives in us through the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8, Jesus says that we will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon us. The power of God that lives in us brings up a question which is; what are we to do with the power of God? Our scripture answers it, the power of God primarily works in us to preach the gospel of Christ to the world. Afterwards, it empowers us to deliver the captives and heal sicknesses and diseases.
That is not all, the power of God in us produces the work of righteousness in our lives. You see, when you give your life to Jesus, you receive the righteousness of God through the finished work of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection. You did not do anything to deserve it. Ephesians 2:8-9: God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. [9]Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. NLT. After this, the Spirit of God (the power of God) comes in to produce good works in you. He works this way by ensuring that you do not just have power but you back up your faith in Jesus with good works because you have been born into the family of God. As long as you yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit who is in you. This is the ultimate power of the Holy Spirit in you. It is to ensure that you live your life the way God wants which will take you to heaven to see God. Jude 1:24: Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. NLT.
Therefore, if you are yet to accept the saviour’s work by giving your life to him in order to receive his power, I implore you to do so now by saying this prayer wholeheartedly; Dear Jesus, I confess you as my Lord and saviour today, please save me and be my lord and I will be your witness till the end. Amen. If you have recited the prayer wholeheartedly, I congratulate you and I welcome you to the family of God. Make sure you join a bible believing church as you start your journey in Christ.
God bless you.
