{"id":238,"date":"2011-02-16T10:43:57","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T17:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/2011\/02\/16\/power-africa-style\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T13:03:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T20:03:37","slug":"power-africa-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/2011\/02\/16\/power-africa-style\/","title":{"rendered":"POWER – Africa Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our present condition
\n<\/strong>\u00b7\u00a0 Power outages most days, either for the whole day or for several hours at night.
\n\u00b7\u00a0 Oftentimes there is \u201cdirty power\u201d of very low potency, flickering on and off.
\n\u00b7\u00a0 When you call Tanesco to try to find answers, either phone is out of order, or busy, or they hang up on you, or they say they\u2019ll take care of it and just wait.
\nWhy? I just read in the paper today: The amount of power needed to satisfy the national demand in Tanzania \u2013 935 MW.
\nThe amount of power produced by hydroelectric plants due to decreasing water supply \u2013 180 MW. That\u2019s a problem with no quick solution!<\/p>\n

Most of us have become very dependent upon power, in order to do our business, in order to live comfortably, and in order to sleep at night. Loss of power can be crippling, but it also has a significant impact upon our attitudes and disposition. Very few things can so quickly turn an attitude south as a lack of electricity.<\/p>\n

Scripture on power
\n<\/strong>That got me to thinking about what the scripture says about power. God\u2019s power is a frequent theme running through pages of Bible. What are some examples you think of when God demonstrated His power during Bible times? Many passages reference God\u2019s power:
\nEx.15:6 (from song of Miriam) \u2013 \u201cYour right hand, O Lord, was majestic in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.\u201d
\nJob 9:4 \u2013 \u201cHis wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him & come out unscathed?\u201d
\nJob 37:18 \u2013 \u201cThe Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power.\u201d
\nPs.66:3-4 \u2013 \u201c\ufeffSay to God, \u201cHow awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name.\u201d
\nJer.10:12-13 \u2013 \u201cBut God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.\u201d
\nJer.27:5 \u2013 \u201cWith my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please.\u201d
\nCertainly we do not serve a weak God!\u00a0<\/p>\n

So what is our attitude toward this powerful God and His attitude toward us?
\nTower of Babel (Gen.11) reminds us God\u2019s prohibition against getting too powerful and trusting in our own strength.
\n2 Cor.12:1-10 \u2013 God does not want us to get too full of ourselves, become self-sufficient, and stray from Him. He is our strength. When we are weak, His grace is manifest and His power is shown to be perfect.
\nZech 4:6 \u2013 \u201cNot by might, not by power, but by my Spirit!\u201d says the Lord. Whatever we do, we are to do in His strength, by His Spirit.
\nUltimately, his power will be the supply for all lighting as He meets all our needs in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:22-24).<\/p>\n

And when it comes to our own lack of electricity here in Dar, I cannot escape Paul\u2019s challenge to be content in any and every circumstance (Phil.4). As challenging as it may be, we must seek the good, even in the hot, still nights, and rejoice in the Lord always! How do we do this? It helps me to remember we\u2019re on a mission trip during this life, and the fun part is coming!<\/p>\n

Pressing on, often in the dark, by God’s grace. Eric<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our present condition \u00b7\u00a0 Power outages most days, either for the whole day or for several hours at night. \u00b7\u00a0 Oftentimes there is \u201cdirty power\u201d of very low potency, flickering on and off. \u00b7\u00a0 When you call Tanesco to try to find answers, either phone is out of order, or busy, or they hang up … Continue reading POWER – Africa Style<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,11,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional-thoughts","category-family-updates","category-mission-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4270,"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238\/revisions\/4270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/belzglobal.com\/ministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}