Judges 16: 6
So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you can be subdued.”
What impudence is for Delilah to ask Samson the source of his great strength or power for the reason so he can be subdued? Of course, Samson was subdued because he gave himself to be subdued. He cast his gem before swine and he was trampled upon.
Samson’s source of power was God and being a Nazarite shows he was consecrated to God. Unfortunately, his lifestyle did not reflect such devotion to God and to his calling to judge and deliver the nation of Israel. Samson failed to understand that the power given to him was not to please himself but to serve the purpose of God. What lesson can we draw from Samson? Is such power given to Samson available to believers today?
The Bible is replete with promises of God that show that today’s believers are not devoid of such gifts and manifestations of power. We know from the scriptures that the gift of God is without repentance (Romans 11: 29), what He gave to Samson under the old covenant, He has given to believers under the new covenant which is with better promises. Scripture also revealed that greater is He that is in us (1 John 4:4), than he that is in the world. Scripture also revealed in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 that we shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon us and we shall be witnesses to Christ. The gift of God is always for a purpose and the purpose is to edify the people of God, to break the yoke of bondage, and to be witnesses to Christ. This was what Samson failed to understand. Rather, he made friends with the world and he lost focus.
As born-again believers, we are spiritual Nazarites, that is, people who are consecrated to God and have no more fellowship with the world. Friendship with the world is enmity with God; there is no middle of the road. The born-again believer is to be in constant pursuit to know Christ and have the power of His resurrection life manifested in his or her soul and body. They die daily to the world with its ungodliness and worldly lust. Our Lord Jesus, who Himself is a Nazarite said in the gospel, “The Prince of this world cometh but he has nothing in Me”. Such should be the testimony of every born-again believer, we have to be that distinct in our severance from the world and the things of this world. The Prince of this world has one purpose, being our mortal enemy, to subdue us.
The people of God need to know the tremendous power bequeathed to them in Christ and for what purpose.
At the Lord’s resurrection and before His ascension, He declared in Mathew 28: 18: And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”. This awesome authority and power has He bequeathed to us as it is written ” When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men” (Ephesians 4: 8). We also have on the authority of the scripture in John chapter 1 verse 12: “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” Inherent in every believer in Christ is power, for that, is the mark of the kingdom which reside in every believer. Whether the believer lives up to this power is a personal thing but what ought to distinguish the children of God, who are children of the kingdom is power. For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power (1 Corinthians 4: 20).
For the born-again believer, the guarantee of our power is the Holy Spirit. There are diversities of power gifts as there are diversities in their operation and administration but it is the Holy Spirit that distributes for the common good of the body. The book of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 gave a list of the diverse power gifts guaranteed to the believers in Christ. Our Lord Jesus also said in Mark chapter 16 verse 17: ” And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name, they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” This also gives additional insights into the power every believer in Christ has.
Two things are worth mentioning here. First, the power given to every believer is to demonstrate the glorious, superior kingdom that is in them.
Secondly, the power given to believers overrides the power of the devil as we have in the scripture. In Luke chapter 10 verse 19 we read: “Behold, I give unto you the power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” This is our heritage as believers in Christ who have received the Holy Spirit. We have to believe to have this power in manifestation and we have to live and walk in the Spirit for this power is not given to fulfill anything of the flesh.
Our Lord Jesus invited us to learn of Him. The Apostles one day in Mathew chapter 17 asked the Lord why is it that they could not manifest the same power as Him and He told them in verse 21: “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Prayers turn our gaze on God and it is our expression of dependence on God. We also humble ourselves in fasting. Thus, in humility, we turn our gaze on our Lord Jesus declaring our dependence on Him, for He also has said in John 15: 5: “Without Me, ye can do nothing” and thereby learn of Him. Our Lord Jesus had the gaze of His soul on the Heavenly Father and He humbled Himself even though He had a form of God. When the devil came to tempt Him to show forth His power: ” If Thou be the Son of God turn this stone into bread.” First of all our Lord Jesus knew that man does not live by bread alone but by every word of God. Secondly, He knew that His power was not to show off as in turning stone into bread, or to get presumptuous as to jump down from the pinnacle of the temple since angels have been given charge to bear Him up always in their hands. We have to learn of Him through prayer and fasting that the power given to us is not an end in itself and we must be obedient and faithful to God who has bestowed such gift on us.
James and John, the “sons of thunder” (Mark 3: 17) who were notable disciples of Christ asked the Lord one day in Luke chapter 9 verse 54 if they could command fire on a people that did not receive the Lord. But the Lord rebuked them and told them they do not know what manner of Spirit they are of. One cannot emphasize enough the need for believers to know the Lord and His Spirit that they are of if they want to stand and manifest this power. Apostle Paul prayed in Philippians chapter 3 verse 10: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” We must know Christ sufficiently that like Him we die once to sin and live thereafter continually in righteousness unto God. We must be made conformable to His suffering by taking the cross and following after Christ daily and then becoming like Him in death.
We must become like Him in our total obedience to God and shunning every ungodliness and worldly lust. The power we receive from Christ by the Holy Spirit is not for us to cast before the world like a magician, it is not to show off. Rather the power is to, first of all, help us bring into subjection every vestiges of the flesh and sin. It is to help us overcome every dart of the wicked one, and navigate victoriously through the landmines of temptations, idolatry, and all ungodliness. Secondly, the power we have is to help us accomplish all that our Lord Jesus declared in Mark chapter 16 verse 17 and establish that the kingdom of God indeed has come.
The seven locks on Samson’s head which is the source of his power is a shadow of the seven Spirit of God. Our Lord Jesus declared what was written in Isaiah chapter 11: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me” namely, the Spirit of Wisdom, of Understanding, of Counsel, of Might, of Knowledge, and the Fear of the LORD. The seventh is God Himself, a Spirit and the Father of Spirits. The source of a believer’s power is God through His divine nature and it is available to every believer who lives by the Spirit and does not walk after the flesh. The power of the believers is real and it is unquantifiable. It is a power that divided the Red Sea, it is a power that shuts the heaven from given rain, it is a power that held the sun from going down, it is a power that causes a shadow to heal the sick, it is a power that blinded an entire Syrian battalion, it is a power that raises the dead, it is a power that defies the enemy, it is a power that walks on water, it is a power that calls down fire from heaven it is a power that remits sin. Believers are the arm of the LORD, it is time for people of God to awake and know Him and be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.
No matter the manner and the operation of the power that is given to us, we must recognize God as Sovereign and as the ultimate Dispenser of events. The three Hebrew men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew that the furnace had no power over them for they knew that God was able to save them. Yet they deferred to His Sovereign will, they declared that God can save them but if He chooses not to, He is still God and they will not fall into idolatry. Though we are endued with power, we must learn this ultimate lesson, that God is the ultimate Dispenser of events. It is His Sovereign will that must prevail. Our obedience and faithfulness to God’s will must be total. Like our Lord Jesus, though He had the power to lay down His life and the power to take it, He chose submission and laid down His life for the ultimate will of God.
Believers have power that is superior to that of the world but our power is not for self-aggrandizement, but it is given to glorify God, to edify the body of Christ, and to bring the creation to liberty from the bondage of the devil.
2 Samuel 22:33: “God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.”
