UNLEASHING GOD’S POWER
If anything, the current pandemic presents an opportunity to showcase God’s supernatural power. It can be argued that the last pandemic involving the Spanish Flu of 1918 ended because cohorts of faith-driven believers stretched a desperate faith into awesome reality with Pentecostals leading the charge. After all, the Azusa Street revival had occurred only 12 years prior. The scientific metrics of that day tell us that not enough people caught the virus to qualify for what we today call “herd immunity,” though that has been given as the answer for that plague’s end. I resolve instead to give credit to the outpouring of God’s merciful power. Before his ascension to the Father, Jesus said that we would be conduits for the flow of this incredible power. Consider these two passages:
“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:12-14 NIV)
“He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” ….Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.’” (Mark 16:15-18, 20 NIV)
The mandate and the assurance were clear: As we preach the gospel, Jesus would express his power. And while the power itself does not save, it clearly confirms the power of the gospel to save. As we mark the 120th anniversary of the Pentecostal/Charismatic renewal triggered in 1901, we ponder the original moment when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon 120 original Christ followers in the upper room of the early church in Acts chapter two. They received the power and then left the upper room to express both the power and the gospel in the fabric of a pagan society. Most of the healings, miracles, and deliverances took place outside of believers’ meetings as the church became the church while obeying Jesus’ command to “go.” The promise of his power manifests as we engage the mission. Signs and wonders are to follow us and not the other way around.
Today, I have often asked myself mostly regarding the church in the west, “Where is the power?” The question is not “Who’s got the power?” We know God does, but scripture says he also wants us to have the power, hence the promise of Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NIV) Stated clearly: The power was for the purpose of embodying the witness of the gospel.
The Apostle Paul realized that the word of the gospel was to be accompanied by the demonstration of the Spirit: “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5 NIV)
Again in 1 Thessalonians 1:4 he declares, “For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.” (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 NIV) In other words, proclamation and demonstration would work together, Word and Spirit in divine tandem.
With the explosion of the internet has come the explosion of knowledge. While there has been no shortage of various iterations of gospel knowledge, in my humble opinion there has been a shortage of matching gospel power. We hear great stories of the astounding in the Middle East, Africa, and China among other places but not enough in America where knowledge and presentation takes pre-eminence. I believe that through consistent prayer and the practice of obedient intentional faith we can go to a new level. Hebrews 11:6 tell us that we cannot please God without faith, and I believe it involves the activation of a living faith based on seeking him. As stated in that verse, such faith God yearns to reward. Some quick thoughts on application:
Make many attempts at praying for the miraculous. The late John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard movement, went from being a cessationist to becoming a continualist by making many attempts at praying for the sick and demonized. He decided to literally believe what the Bible said. Only after several hundred prayers did the first healing occur. A consecutive string of more than several hundred successful healings and deliverances followed that helped spawn a movement. The lesson: Keep standing in faith and keep acting in faith while holding scripture at the center. Pray for everything and anything that moves, and make prayer for God to move the first move.
Dare to put God on the spot. I believe he loves it when we take scripture literally and respond with childlike faith without the obstruction of grown up analysis. Our church grew significantly after two people returned from experiencing death and the news got out. That only happened because people dared to pray big prayers. We cannot let our expectation be reduced to the level of our logic. We must instead activate our faith to the level of God’s promise.
Remember, our part is to pray, and it is God’s part to answer. It is his name and reputation on the line and not ours. I was once asked to pray for a Polynesian chief who had passed for an hour. News had gotten out about our church’s successful breakthroughs. Long story short, I succeeded! That is, I succeeded in obeying God’s Word, but the honorable chief remained dead. I prayed for 30 minutes before declaring he was in heaven to stay. As a dozen men twice my size with fearsome tattoos looked at me, they nodded with full understanding. The leader warmly expressed his gratitude for my attempt. I relaxed my inner gulp. They had done their part, I had done my part, and God had done his. Peace filled the room. They then invited me to dinner. After swatting away the ridiculous thought that they might actually have me for dinner, I smiled.
I believe God smiles when his sons and daughters obey him with simple childlike faith. God gave the power, and we’ve got the power. Let’s unleash the power. Allow, as renowned author RT Kendall has often said, the Word and Spirit to work together. It is both/and, not either/or.
