The Incredibles


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Last night we had a movie night to watch The Incredibles in preparation for the long awaited upcoming sequel. So, I thought for our short devotional time before the movie that I would share 3 ways to be incredible as part of our continuing series: Stronger.

16 I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit, 17 and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. (Ephesians 3:16-17a)

Let Jesus Dwell in You
Paul’s prayer, and mine, is that Jesus may dwell in your hearts through faith. It is only when we allow Jesus to take up residence in our hearts that we can be forgiven and be truly free from the effects and power of sin in our lives.

You do this by first accepting that you need God’s forgiveness. God said that we have all sinned and that our sin needs to be forgiven if we want to be in good standing with God. Believing that Jesus is God’s way for our forgiveness. Jesus died so that we could have forgiveness and we must believe that He is willing and able to provide that forgiveness.

Let Jesus Be in Charge
Then you must confess that Jesus is Lord. This means that you accept that Jesus will the boss. He will be in charge of your life as He dwells in your heart. This is perhaps the most difficult part of being a follower of Jesus. Many people want to get God’s forgiveness, but they don’t want to actually let God change them. They want to continue to live their life the way they want.

God said that His free gift of salvation requires that we accept Jesus both as our savior and as our Lord. That means that Jesus must be your boss. You must agree to do the things that He has instructed us to do.

Let God Be Your Strength
Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:10 to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. We don’t have to be superheroes all on our own. In fact, we just can’t. We must rely on the strength of God to do the things that God has called us to do. God doesn’t want us to do normal, everyday, routine things. God wants us to do incredible things.

I have found that time and time again when I try to do good things in my own strength, I fail. I may have all of the right intentions, I may want to really help and work hard to complete the things that I know need to be done, but I fail. On my own, I really suck at doing good things. Why? Because Satan knows exactly where I am the weakest and he will attack me there over and over and over.

If we want to be incredible, we must surrender. Surrender to God. Allow God to forgive us, allow Jesus to save us, allow Jesus to dwell in us, allow Jesus to be our boss, and use God’s strength to do the things that He has called us to be and do.

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