PERIODIC OBSERVATIONS Whisper Power Tuesday 08.26.14 Power is the commodity for dominance. It is the capacity to act effectively; the ability to influence others to attain desirable outcomes. As kids we understood power by the games we play. The ancient hand game, scissors, paper, rock or Jack en Poy is one of them. You won based on the following rules: Scissors cut paper, paper covers rock, and rock breaks scissors. Growing up we shifted our sights for strength from the simplistic – play-by-the-rule – trio of scissors, paper, and rock to the – no-holds-barred – trilogy of technologys magic, money and military might. And history is littered with ugly events of nations dominating others by military might. Our once non-violent playful expressions of power and dominance evolved into destructive devastating war games. We have shifted from backyard soldiers to beyond the shore combatants; from sticks-for-swords and hands-for-guns games to high powered gunnery encounters. It is quite unimaginable how technology could transform the global arms race. Power equals dominance. Then theres Soft Power. Joseph S. Nye Jr. a professor at Harvard said, you can coerce others by threats; you can induce them with payments; or you can attract and co-opt them to want what you want. This soft power – getting others to want the outcomes you want – co-opts people rather than coerces them. But how and what does that really translate into for most of us? Gods notion of power has always been a bit different. John Piper said it well, It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself. God stretches the northern sky over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing... He created the horizon when he separated the waters... By his power the sea grew calm. By his skill he crushed the great sea monster... These are just the beginning of all that he does, merely a whisper of his power. Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of his power? (Job 26:7, 10, 12-14 NLT) How big is God? How big and wide His vast domain To try and tell, these lips can only start Hes big enough to rule His mighty universe Yet small enough to live within my heart. ~ Stuart Hamblen ...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you... (Acts 1:8)
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 15:47:09 +0000
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