Jesus ties his power to the confession of faith, and when we confess faithfully, we gain the power of God. He promises to work through our problems to produce life, and if we're faithful, we're unstoppable in advancing God's kingdom. However, Satan tries to distort Jesus into a comfortable, Americanized version who keeps us from suffering, but Jesus says he'll work through our pain to bring life. He seeks committed followers, not anonymous consumers, and asks us to deny ourselves and take up our cross to follow him.
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