A Form of Godliness

But There’s Something Missing

“Having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5).

A certain man had a very nice looking antique car in his driveway. He spent hours washing and waxing the car and taking care of every detail of care for this automobile. People passing by would compliment him on his car every day. It looked so good, but there was one problem. The car did not have a working engine. It could not serve the purpose it was designed for. It could not take the man anywhere.

This is what religion is like. Religion is man trying to approach God by what he does. Man has no power within himself to live a life pleasing to God. Man is dead in his trespasses and sins and has no power to lift himself out of his fallen condition.

The power man needs is found only in the Holy Spirit. He is our power source – the engine that gives power to live a life pleasing to the Lord. So how do we appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit. Well, first we must acknowledge our hopeless state and realize our need for a Savior. We then must repent of our sins and admit that we have been going the the wrong way, that is, that we have been living our lives without God.

The Lord has provided a solution to our problem in sending His Son to pay the price for our sins and offered “Newness of Life” to whosoever comes to Him in faith believing in His work at Calvary. Once we have done that we are born of the Spirit and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us.

The power that gives us victory comes to us as we place our faith daily in Christ and the Cross. This must be done daily. Christ and Him crucified must be the object of our faith. Otherwise we will live a life of defeat. We have no power within ourselves to live a life pleasing to the Lord. Victory comes only by faith through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The man in our introductory story knew that the car had no power and could not take him anywhere, but he continued to do what he was doing. Those who knew the true condition of the car tried to convince him that his efforts would not result in the car being used as it was intended to be used without replacing the engine, but he did not address take.

There are some today in the church that believe that they can work on their lives to bring victory even though they know that they have no victory. They continue on in their false hope that their efforts will bring about a change that is pleasing to God. They have failure after failure as they walk out this life but refuse to go God’s way. There’s no engine there and they know it. Jesus made it clear that we have no power within ourselves but must abide in Him to bring forth fruit and to live in victory. The Lord makes it crystal clear in the following verses from the Gospel of John:

“Abide in Me (Jesus), and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in Me (by faith in Christ and Him crucified). I am the vine (Him alone), you are the branches (must be totally dependent on Him): he who abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit (no other way): for without me (faith in anything else) you can do nothing” (John 15:4,5).

Prayer Changes Things

The Lord wants us to come to Him with all our needs. Prayer requests can be left on the comments page of this website.

“For the eyes of the Lord are on the Righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers…” (1 Peter 3:12).

The Lord hears our prayers and is faithful to answer.

Always Remember,

God Loves You!

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Here I Am, Lord – Tom Quinn Ministries – tqministries.com 2025