2 Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

What power is Paul talking about here?

Philippians 2:13,16 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

If we treat the bible as a twelve step program, a formula to meet an end, we are making the decisions and choosing what to do because we are only willing to do so much. This is vanity.

If we will take His Word to heart, allow Jesus in, He will change our heart, change our countenance, change our mind and teach us all that we need to be a child of God.

The power of God is the indwelling Christ who can do all things in accordance with the will of God. Humility will no longer be an act of attrition but rather the acceptance of the presence of Christ.

John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

While John the Baptist was speaking of his ministry he foreshadowed our ministry, where we surrender our will to Him and allow Him to do what only He can do.

Try as hard as you can and nothing will happen. Surrender to the love that abides in you and be amazed at what He can do.

Proverbs 23:26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

Love God and see what He can do in you.

Love Jesus and see what He can do through you.

Stop trying to decide what the bible says and listen.

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Notice here a division of assets. Soul and Spirit are not the same thing. Joints and marrow are not the same thing. Thoughts and intents are not the same thing. Paul described it in a very confusing way that often leaves a reader bewildered.

Romans 7:18,23 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

We are both flesh and Spirit and it is the Word of God that separates one from the other. The Word is the Sword of the Spirit and the Spirit has the power to do the work for God because He is God.

Being God, loving and merciful, He will not destroy us, but a skillful surgeon is He that does not use any anesthesia. The truth hurts but how are you to distinguish soul from Spirit if the flesh does not cry out in pain?

How can the Word work as the Sword of the Spirit if you allow the fleshly mind to determine what Truth there is in the scriptures? “I got this!” has to surrender to “I know nothing.”

1 Corinthians 8:2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.

How big is the ego that tries to tell God what the scriptures mean?