What is power?

Power is the ability to achieve, obtain, and retain what you desire. God has all power because he achieves,¹ obtains,² and retains³ what he desires.

Modern people misdefine the concept of power. They presume it means the ability to dictate the actions or seize the property of others through force and chicanery. Those who use such an evil definition of power can only seek more of it through violence and dishonesty, and will always see those with the ability to resist them as their enemies, erecting considerable barriers between themselves and God or any of his servants. Those who believe that power can only be gained and exercised through force or deceit can only grow in power through becoming more violent or dishonest than those more violent or dishonest than them.

Evil power spreads like a cancer throughout any society where it is permitted to be practiced.⁴ Power through force catalyzes a race to destruction as contenders vie to exert the greatest tyranny, and as increasing numbers of those increasingly subjugated by it do the minimum required to avoid punishment rather than their best. The spiral downward continues until a critical mass is reached, where the problems presented overwhelm society’s ability to overcome them.⁵

Godly power differs from evil power in its essence and effects. Godly power leverages persuasion and merit rather than manipulation and force. Godly power functions through hard work, courage, and wisdom. Godly power can come through increases in any virtue that contributes to your ability to obtain what you seek,⁶ that modifies what you seek, or changes the degree of desire with which you seek it. Those who seek godly power do not destroy people or things, but improve themselves and others.

Godly power is distinguished from the power of evil by its independence from the choices of others. The power of evil relies upon people to manipulate and subjugate, but godly power functions and grows whether others yield to it or not.²¹⁶ The dependence of the power of evil on those who yield to it is one reason why good always eventually triumphs over evil. Any power dependent on others is unavoidably transitory, as it can only endure for as long as they choose to fulfill your desires. A person can have the support of the majority only to find the majority turn against them, turn against itself, or face its demise at the hand of a greater superior force.²¹⁷

The Lord’s life demonstrated the power of good. Jesus’ perfect emulation of the character of the Father gave him power over death, in spite of the fact that the masses rejected and killed him. In resurrecting himself from death into immortality, he established himself as the unique possessor of what no other person could obtain without him. Jesus learned and lived the character of the Father independent of—and in spite of—the decisions of any other person. We can learn about and live the character of the Son independent of the decisions of others. Jesus obtained all power through maintaining adherence to the character of the Father, and we maximally acquire and access that power through maximal adherence to the character of the Son.