“He Gives Them Power” ( Luke 9: 1, KJV ) by Carley Evans

Jesus calls together the twelve He chose along the way, and “gives them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. And He sends them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.” (Luke 9:1-2)

Eric Liddell, an Olympic champion in the 400 meter, whose Scottish parents and sister are missionaries in China in the 1920s, asks a crowd, “From where comes the power to see the race to its end?” Then, answers, “From within.”

And what is within? If we are Christians, then God as the Holy Spirit is within.

“Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to those who have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31)

When Eric runs, he says: “I feel God’s pleasure.” And the further he runs, the more he feels it.

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