Is Solar Power The Answer?

The energy crisis is in high gear and we may have seen just the tip of the iceberg! The cause is basically a simple one - supply and demand. Several larger, and key, nations are now using and craving the limited energy resources that were once primarily bought up by heavily
industrialized countries. Simply stated, there is a growing market on the limited supplies, and economics 101 shows how that typically means rising prices.

Aside from that painful reality, one of the greatest energy sources imaginable literally showers itself down upon the planet on a daily basis. It source - our own sun. Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, says "Every single day when the Sun comes up we are bathed with enough energy in one day to supply all the power we need for five years across the globe.” That’s the stunning good news. The not so good news is that solar technology is still quite expensive thereby limiting its usage, growth and staggering potential. Even so, some experts say that solar power could provide 10 percent of the nation's power needs buy the year 2025, but only if the government would allow incentives to make the pricey technology more attainable and worth pursuing.

While the energy produced by the sun is amazing, it is fully dwarfed by the power of God’s Son. In just one of his many references to God’s undeniable power, the Apostle Paul tied the energy of God to the redemption of men. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

God’s power is seen on two prime spheres. His control of all things physical and material is shown in Romans 1:20. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.”

But the extent of God’s mighty power goes far deeper than even creating and maintaining the universe. It extends to the lives of those who make Christ their own Savior through faith. Ephesians 1:18-20 records, “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.” And then in Philippians 3, Paul reveals his deep desire to know more than a mere surface level of the power spoken of in Ephesians chapter one. His passion was to know divine power on an internal and personal level – something made abundantly clear in verse 10. “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.”

But then the apostle voiced what should be the norm for and desire of any new creation in Christ who desires to experience the energy of the His or her Creator. Both Paul himself and Peter presented the undisputed effectiveness of the literal power of resurrection when properly channeled through the life of a committed believer. First Paul shares, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us." (Ephesians 3:20) But Peter takes it a step forward by revealing the extent of what God’s power is capable of. 2 Peter 1:3 reads, “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.”

The Greek word for power is ‘dunamis’ from which the English word dynamite is derived. It speaks of a miraculous and explosive energy. And while the world seeks the crucial energy to power their natural world, all who are spiritually perceptive will set their priorities on a higher plane. They will also learn about, harness and utilize the supernatural power which can fully fuel a godly lifestyle through an energy source that never fails nor will ever be in short supply!

Bill Breckenridge