Power bigger than an earthquake

Power bigger than an earthquake

We can face any challenge with the power that flows from God’s glorious might, writes James Glass

Close to the Lebanon border and 25-miles west of the city of Homs in Syria stands the great mediaeval fortress of Krak des Chevaliers. Now a world heritage site and tourist attraction, its impregnability as a military fortress made the castle a strategically important feature of the mediaeval landscape. In the year 1141 it was given to the crusader knights, the Hospitallers.

For the next 30 or so years, they set about transforming an already impressive castle into the premier fortress of its day. Building castles was slow work. Each block was sculpted into shape by stonemasons who could take days to accomplish the task. Completion of the project no doubt was welcomed, perhaps as much with a sense of relief as satisfaction.

Thirty years of hard work had, it might well have been thought, ‘future- proofed’, to use a modern term, an already impressive edifice. And then disaster struck. One afternoon the entire area was rocked by an earthquake – including the castle. Thirty seconds of shifting tectonic plates was enough to inflict serious damage on 30 years of hard, painstaking work.

There is no record of what happened immediately after those 30 seconds of devastation. What we do know is that sometime after this massive setback the decision makers at Krak decided they would rebuild what had been dam- aged. More than that, they would build something even stronger than what had previously existed. Their resilience proved greater than any disappointment created by the earthquake.

Resilience is a key quality for anyone who wants to follow Christ. It is a key quality for any church that is serious about fulfilling its mandate. The apostle Paul was keenly aware of the value of this quality as a key component if churches were to become a prevailing presence in the life of the communities they served. He had this quality in mind when he prayed for the Colossian church.

Promiscuous and pluralistic, Colossae had some of the hallmarks that define 21st century Western society. Such a spiritually corrosive culture no doubt created pressure for the church. The need for resilience was as great then as it is now.

Paul said that he was praying for the Colossian church that they would be “strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience” (Colossians 1:11).

The prayer is for ‘great endurance and patience’. Endurance is the ability to keep going. Patience might be described as the ability not to be discouraged because you’re not going fast enough! In our language, that’s resilience.

This doesn’t rest on your ability to tap your hidden inner strength. It is about drawing on God’s power on an ongoing basis. Notice the tense of the verb ‘strengthened’. Paul says ‘being strengthened’. It’s not a one-off strengthening that you received on your conversion or when you were baptised in the Holy Spirit. It is strengthening that God provides for any and every situation where it is needed.

And that strengthening is resourced by ‘all power’ that in turn has its source in ‘his glorious might’. We can face every unexpected earthquake and emerge stronger because we are strengthened with all the power that we need, a power that flows from God’s glorious might.

Eugene Peter son’s rendering of these verses in The Message sums it up powerfully:

“We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul – not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.”

That’s more than enough to keep us going and growing through every season in life.

James Glass is the Regional Leader for Scotland and the North West of England, as well as a member of Elim’s National Leadership Team