Boldly and Judiciously!!

So I'm working through a Max Lucado study about the Book of Ephesians along with a friend of mine. The passage we were to read this week was Eph. 1:15-23. I have been mildly skeptical about this study (as I am of any study not written by Beth Moore, haha!) because I am looking for some depth or serious epiphany and haven't just been blown away yet. However, I've done a Lucado study before and was not disappointed then; I've resolved to allow Max to "do his thing" and be a diligent student nonetheless.

There were two questions from this week that I actually considered pretty profound once I thought carefully about my answers. The questions were:

1) The same power that raised Christ from the dead works through our faith. In what way should we be using the power of our faith?

2) If God is over all rulers, kings, and powers in this world, why do evil dictators exist?

Holy mackerals, Batman! You really gotta stop and carefully consider how to answer these two questions. I took some time to ponder them and would like to share my answers. I would also love to hear your answers:

1) We should be using the power of our faith boldly and judiciously! That is some cosmic power! The same power that allowed my Jesus to descend into death, awaken unto life again after every cell in His body hadn't had oxygen, blood flow, nourishment for 72 consecutive hours, and then ascend to a place that defies human conceptualization and rationalization is able to work through me when I share my faith with other people. HELLOOO!!! ANYONE HOME?!?!? THIS IS FREAKIN' AMAZING!!! When we open our mouths to explain how and why we believe, when we keep our mouths closed and display selfless acts of love, when we come alongside others and offer to yoke ourselves to them to help them through a hard time, that same power is flowing out of us and toward them, straight from the Hand of God! Not only should we be directing this Sacred Power in the general direction of non-believers for them to interact with, we are also called, I believe, to aim this Power at fellow believers to keep them encouraged in their faith. Dang! You go, LORD!

2) Under this same category, I think we will find the questions of why there is cancer/disease/abuse/murder/etc., in the world. God, if You're Almighty and can do anything You want, You must not be all that if there is still evil in the world -- You can't even handle that. How many times have we heard people say that as an argument that there is no God, or that the God of Christians is weak, blah x3, ad nauseum. Here's what I say to that: Everything exists for a Kingdom purpose; now let me explain. God created all people to have free will. People are free to choose whom they want to follow, right from wrong, etc. Look at Satan. One of God's most beautiful angels, He chose to defy God. Just because evil exists in the world doesn't mean that God isn't still sovereign over both good and evil. I believe that evil is allowed a time to walk across the earth and wreak havoc because God has a reason for it. He is refining us and growing our character in the short-term; in the long-term, He will receive unmeasurable glory and honor and praise from the victory over evil that will be seen by all in the endtimes. I never really saw it that way before. Evil has a purpose. I knew that trials had a purpose in our lives, but now I am thinking that even evil has a purpose and there is something to be learned from its mere existence in our world. Crazy, huh???

OK, I certainly don't have a degree in Biblical interpretation, nor do I claim to have all the answers. These are just the ideas that sprang to mind as I read the passage and moved on to answering questions. What do you think???