His Power from Beginning to End (Remastered)

Devotional

Day 1: The Miracle of Belief: Power That Ignites Dead Hearts

A man cannot turn to God on his own. The same power that resurrected Christ from the grave breathes life into hearts paralyzed by sin. This divine energy shatters spiritual blindness, making belief possible where only rebellion existed. It is not human willpower but God’s might that awakens souls to surrender. Every Christian’s story begins with this explosive grace. What was dead now lives. What was closed now sees. [03:34]

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4–5, ESV)

Reflection: When did you first sense God’s power interrupting your spiritual deadness? How does that memory shape your dependence on Him today?

Day 2: Sustained by Resurrection Power in Daily Battles

The Christian life is not a sprint but a war. The forces that opposed Christ now target His followers. Worldly allurements, inner lethargy, and ancient enemies conspire to derail faith. Yet the same power that raised Jesus fuels daily perseverance. It is not grit but God’s energy that overcomes apathy, breaks sinful patterns, and lifts weary hands to fight again. Victory lies in recognizing the Furnace already burning within. [13:01]

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you most feel spiritual fatigue? How might acknowledging God’s active power in that struggle change your approach?

Day 3: Standing Against Roaring Lions and Subtle Whispers

The devil prowls, but Christ’s power prevails. Worldliness creeps in through respectable compromises, while old habits drag like chains. Even archangels respect Satan’s strength, yet believers often face him unprepared. The resurrection power that dethroned death equips saints to resist hell’s schemes. This is not a call to self-reliance but to armored trust in the Victor who indwells His people. [30:51]

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. (1 Peter 5:8–9, ESV)

Reflection: What subtle temptation or discouragement has targeted you recently? How does Christ’s supremacy anchor your resistance?

Day 4: Kept by Unseen Hands Through Every Storm

A Christian’s perseverance is not self-preservation. Like a child carried through floodwaters, believers are upheld by the grip that raised Christ to heaven’s throne. Doubts, failures, and trials test faith but cannot sever the Father’s hold. The power that began salvation secures it—not human loyalty but divine covenant. Our frailty meets His fidelity. [19:50]

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3–5, ESV)

Reflection: When have you felt God’s sustaining power most tangibly? How does His promise to guard you recalibrate your fears?

Day 5: Chiseled Toward Glory: Power That Completes What It Begins

Salvation is a masterpiece in progress. The same power that resurrected Christ now sculpts rebels into Christ’s likeness. Chiseling hurts, but the Artist will not abandon His work. Every struggle with sin, every ache for holiness, every faltering step forward testifies to the Spirit’s relentless refinement. The journey ends where it began: in the shock of grace. [40:12]

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6, ESV)

Reflection: What rough edge in your character feels most resistant to change? How does the promise of completion steady your heart?

Sermon Summary

Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians rises to this great petition, that the eyes of their understanding may be enlightened to know “the exceeding greatness” of God’s power in those who believe. Paul measures that power by the resurrection of Christ, for the same energy of the strength of God’s might raised the Lord from the dead and set him at the right hand of God. The Christian life, therefore, is not merely forgiveness and escape from hell, blessed as that is. It is the mighty working of God from beginning to end.

Paul insists that this power is essential even to believing. The natural man cannot turn himself to God with a willing heart. The very existence of a believer in the world is a miracle. But Paul does not stop at the beginning. The same power that brings a man into the Christian life keeps him in it, sustains him through it, and will bring him at last to perfection.

The New Testament spirit is meant to be lyrical, full of rejoicing and wonder. Paul looks at himself with holy astonishment, amazed that Christ lives in him. The Christian’s loss of joy comes from failing to realize the greatness of what has happened, what is happening, and what is yet to come. Too often the Christian gives the impression of “scorning delights and living laborious days,” because the drama and glory of salvation have been reduced to something small.

Paul’s concern is urgent because the forces set against the Christian are terrible. The world presses its outlook everywhere, in subtle, respectable, enticing forms. The flesh drags down through lethargy, bodily weakness, and the hard force of old habits. The devil himself is no slight enemy, for perfect man fell before his subtlety, and even Michael the archangel said, “The Lord rebuke thee.”

Yet Paul’s comfort is that the power is already in the believer. God does not regenerate a man and then leave him to himself, any more than God creates the world and then lets it run alone. God sustains the new creation every moment. God works in the will, stirs desire for Scripture and prayer, subdues sin, chastens when necessary, and will not cease until the work is complete. The great assurance is that the God who began the good work will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Key Takeaways

1. Salvation requires resurrection power The Christian life begins where human ability ends. Paul measures saving power not by moral effort, religious feeling, or decision, but by the resurrection and exaltation of Christ. Believing itself is an astounding miracle, because nothing less than God’s mighty power can make a sinner willing, alive, and submissive to the truth. [10:44]
2. Joy springs from holy astonishment The New Testament Christian is meant to live with wonder, not with the dull weight of mere duty. Paul’s amazement at himself shows that grace does not make a man self-satisfied, but self-bewildered before God. A loss of rejoicing often reveals a deeper loss, the failure to see the greatness of what God has done, is doing, and will yet complete. [07:22]
3. The enemy is not small The world, the flesh, and the devil are not imaginary difficulties for sensitive souls. The world seduces, the flesh paralyzes, habits cling, and the devil prowls with a power that defeated even unfallen man. A low view of spiritual danger always produces a low view of the power needed to stand. [30:51]
4. God’s power is already within Paul does not pray that believers might first obtain this power, but that they might know the power already working in them. God does not begin the new creation and then leave it to run on its own. The same God who gives life sustains life, moving the will, stirring prayer, opening the Word, and keeping the soul from collapse. [35:26]
5. God will finish his work Divine keeping is not sentimental softness, for God will lead, and if necessary, God will drive. Chastening itself may become mercy when the soul has ignored gentler promptings to seek him. The believer rests not in personal steadiness, but in the God who has begun a good work and will stop at nothing less than perfection. [39:34]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:35] - Paul’s Prayer for Enlightened Understanding
[02:04] - The Exceeding Greatness of God’s Power
[03:34] - Power Essential to Believing
[05:14] - The Missing Note of Rejoicing
[07:22] - Amazed at the Work of Grace
[10:02] - Resurrection as the Measure of Power
[12:13] - Power That Keeps Believers Continuing
[15:04] - Scripture’s Witness to Sustaining Grace
[22:15] - Why This Power Must Be Known
[22:57] - Warfare Against the World
[26:10] - Warfare Against the Flesh
[30:10] - The Power and Subtlety of the Devil
[33:14] - Called to Keep God’s Commandments
[35:26] - God’s Power Already Working Within
[39:34] - Chastening and Final Perfection

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Ephesians 1:19-20
“and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” [00:05]

Philippians 1:6
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” [40:29]

Philippians 2:12-13
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” [16:45]

1 Peter 1:3-5
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” [19:37]

Observation questions

In Ephesians 1:19-20, how does Paul describe God’s power, and what event does he use as the measure of that power? [10:44]
According to Philippians 2:12-13, what two things is God said to work in believers? [38:03]
What forces are named as enemies against the Christian life, and what examples are given of how they press in upon believers? [22:57]
In 1 Peter 1:3-5 and Philippians 1:6, what words show that God not only begins salvation but also keeps and completes his people? [20:03]

Interpretation questions

If Paul prays that believers would know the power already at work in them, what does that suggest about the difference between possessing God’s power and being conscious of it? [35:26]
Paul links God’s power in believers with Christ’s resurrection and exaltation. Why is that a much larger view of salvation than merely forgiveness or escape from judgment? [08:42]
Philippians 2:12-13 says believers must work out their salvation because God is at work in them. How do those two truths fit together in daily Christian living without cancelling each other out? [16:45]
If the world, the flesh, and the devil are as strong and subtle as Scripture says, why would a low view of spiritual danger lead to a low view of the power needed to endure? [30:51]

Application questions

Many believers lose joy because salvation begins to seem small. When does the Christian life feel reduced to mere duty for you, and what helps you recover a sense of wonder at what God has done, is doing, and will yet do? [07:22]
Believing itself is a miracle of God’s power. How would it change humility, gratitude, and prayer if a person really saw that he did not bring himself to faith by his own strength? [11:35]
The world often presses its outlook in subtle and respectable ways. Where does that pressure show up most clearly in your week right now—in entertainment, ambition, approval, comfort, money, or something else? [24:32]
The flesh often works through tiredness, delay, and old habits rather than open rebellion. What patterns most often keep you from prayer, Scripture, or obedience, and how have you seen those patterns weaken your soul? [26:41]
God works in his people “to will and to work.” Have there been moments recently when a fresh desire to pray, read Scripture, confess sin, or seek God seemed to rise unexpectedly? How might that be a sign of God’s power already at work in you? [38:15]
God does not begin the new creation and then leave it alone. When you are discouraged by slow growth, what helps you remember that God is still sustaining and shaping you even when you cannot see much progress? [37:11]
God’s keeping may include chastening as well as comfort. Looking back, have there been painful seasons that awakened you to your need of God and brought you back to him? What did those seasons expose, and what mercy did they finally reveal? [39:34]

Sermon Clips

Are we aware of our need of this power of God? Are we aware of the fact that this power of God is working in us? Do we realize this moment that we are what we are solely and entirely by the grace and the power of God? Do we realize, I say, in our own personal lives and experiences, that it is this exceeding great power of God that accounts for everything in the christian life? [00:04:41]

We are in the hands of God, and he's working in us. He's given us this power to believe. He's working in us now, fashioning us, molding us, bringing us to perfection. And we can't avoid it. We can't escape it. We are in his hands, and he will go on with it. [00:41:00]

The power I say is in us. What the apostle is praying for, the Ephesians, is not that they may realize their need of the power and then ask God for it and get it. That isn't his prayer. He prays that they may realize that it is in them. [00:35:36]

I say it again, it's a remarkable fact in this world that there's anybody at all who is a believer in the christian faith. It's a miracle. It's an astounding thing that there is a single Christian in the world this morning. [00:11:27]

We would not stand for a single hour in the christian life were it not for this power of God that's in us, even though we have believed and even though we've come into it. We wouldn't stand for an hour if it were not that the power of God is in us and is working in us. [00:13:01]

But if we stop at forgiveness, if we just regard the christian message as something which assures us of forgiveness of sins and avoidance of hell, well, that won't give us this thrill and this sense of wonder and astonishment. [00:08:54]

The Christian is meant to be a rejoicing person. And yet let's be frank and honest. Have we not to admit that far too often we give the impression, not so much of rejoicing as of depression, as if to become a Christian is to carry a great load upon your shoulders and to have endless cares. [00:06:09]

And then we come to the resurrection and we say, marvelous. Wonderful. Yes, but according to the apostle here, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was the greatest manifestation of the energy of the strength of God's might that the world has ever known. Do we realize that? [00:10:32]

I must know this and realize this because of the power of the forces that are set against me. The Christian in this life and in this world is like his Lord before him. And there are certain things that we have to face. The Christian in this world is one who is waging a constant warfare, first of all against the world itself, the mind of the world, the outlook of the world, the whole way of the world. [00:22:49]

All things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. And that's an absolutely true statement. Yes, but the christian convert very soon discovers this, that it doesn't mean exactly what he thought it meant. It's his understanding that was wrong, because he begins to find that there are certain habits within him, and he finds it rather difficult to break them. [00:29:09]

We are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, because it is God himself with this illimitable power that is working in us both to will and to do. [00:17:01]

I put my question again for this reason, that somehow or another I have a feeling that the main trouble with all of us is our failure to realize the greatness of the salvation into which we have been brought and which we enjoy together. [00:05:06]

Now that's, I say, a very good test. We all ought to be amazed at ourselves, and we ought to stand and look at ourselves and say, is it possible? Is it rarely I, yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me? [00:08:00]

How easy it is to feel that, well, you're not quite fit, physically or intellectually to read the Bible. You were prompting to read the Bible. Something within you suggests you should read the scripture, but you say, well, I'm rather tired, I've had a heavy day in the office, and my mind isn't quite up to it. [00:26:50]

There is nothing that is so dangerous to the soul as just that and or how subtle it is. It meets us at every turn. You start with it in your newspapers in the morning. They never confine themselves only to important international or national news, matters of urgency and of crisis. [00:23:58]

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