It’s all about the power! It always has been and always will be the main issue.
Everything operates from a power source. Without power, or metabolized energy from food, a human being cannot operate, cannot do any work. Food supplies the energy for the body to function. Plants operate in the same way, as they need certain nutrients supplied by the soil to grow and live.
An automobile has an engine, a power source that gives it the ability to function properly. The engine has as its source of power energy supplied from either gasoline, diesel, hydrogen, or electricity. Without a power source an automobile would be nothing but a big yard ornament.
The engine develops torque to get the automobile going and horsepower to keep it going. So the engine is what gives an automobile value, and that value is based upon the weight it can pull as well as how fast it can travel with a load, or sometimes both. The more fuel you give to an engine, the more work an automobile can do.
Electricity as an energy source has great value, as it has changed forever the history of man because of all the inventions tied to it. Electricity also adds value to whatever device it supplies power to. Electrical appliances have their value because of the electricity that causes their electric motor to function, such as kitchen appliances, or a TV, or an electrical musical instrument, to name just a few.
However, if you take away the electrical energy from the items that run on electricity, those items become totally useless, in the same way as an automobile engine without fuel makes an automobile totally useless.
Again, the power source verifies the value of whatever it supplies power to. Every being in creation, from physical to spiritual, displays some sort of power, be it a star in the heavens, or an angel or demon, or even an atom. All of creation has a power source that causes it to exist and be of value.
God’s power
God, who created all things, displays His power through His creation. The Bible is full of instances where God has done so, from the creation to raising Jesus from the dead. And God continues to show His power through the recent revivals, from the Great Awakening to Azusa Street to the healing revivals to the charismatic revival. In any great move of God, as in revivals, God will display His power over the work of the devil, verifying His position as the only God.
Why does God display His power?
1) to verify that He is God, the only God.(Mt. Carmel, Dagon- Philistine god)
2) to verify His Word. (signs and wonders followed Jesus, as it verified who He was as well as the Word of God which He spoke)
3) to verify His chosen or anointed ones (prophets of the nation of Israel- Micah 3:8; and believers, with signs and wonders –Mark 16:17&18)
4) to verify His working on the earth (revivals and other miracles that bring His kingdom to Earth)
God displays His power today primarily through the Church
As electricity is to an electric motor and gasoline is to a gas engine, so God has the Holy Spirit’s power working through His Church.
This is done in three primary ways:
1) the offices of the church – (Romans 12:3-8, I Corinthians 12:27-31)
2) the giftings and fruit – ( I Corinthians 12:4-12; Galatians 5:22-22&23)
3) special workings, or divine intervention – (miracles throughout Biblical and secular history)
Last days issue is about power!
What did Paul warn Timothy in II Timothy 3:5 about men the last days? The church would have “a form of godliness but denying its power.”
With a few exceptions, this is the state of much of the church today, claiming to walk in Christ but having no power to back up their gospel. They talk a talk, but their walk does not line up with Jesus. Jesus spoke the words given to Him by the Father and the Holy Spirit backed up the Father’s words with signs and wonders.
The same with the early apostles and disciples – Stephen, Peter, Philip, Paul to name a few whose gospel message God verified through miracles.
Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in I Corinthians 2:4&5, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
Paul wanted them to realize that God’s power was to be their foundation of their faith in Jesus, not just what men would say about Him, as the power displayed in His name verified who Jesus was.
Just like engine power is what verifies the value of an automobile, so God’s power is what verifies the value of the Church and the gospel of Jesus Christ that she preaches.
There is no other religion in the world that can give power to its followers, as all who started their religion are dead and they are not able to back their words up. But God is alive and verifies His existence by the “words of His power” (Hebrews 1:3).
The Holy Spirit –God’s gift, His promise of power
Jesus gave authority and power to his disciples (Luke 9:1) when He first sent them out. While He was with them, they had all that they needed for ministry..
Jesus had authority because of His being sent by the Father and He kept that authority by His living a sinless life. The devil had no control over any area of His life, which gave Jesus authority over him. Then the Holy Spirit gave Him power when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist.
After His resurrection, He breathed on them and told them to receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:21&22). With this He commissioned them, giving them authority just as the Heavenly Father had given Jesus authority when He was commissioned, or sent, for His work on Earth.
With the disciples now having legal authority of the Kingdom of God, Jesus told them to wait for the promise of the Father to receive power to carry out their assignment, the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).
Jesus told His disciples that they would be endowed with “power from on high” through the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5&8).
Just like a policeman who has a badge to represent his authority, and he also has a gun to back it up, now all His disciples have the authority of the name of Jesus over the devil and power to back up their mission. Jesus “sent” them (and sends us), as we see in verse 21, in the same way the Father sent Jesus.
Is Today’s church in a power outage?
If Jesus had to be baptized in the Holy Spirit to carry out His ministry (Matthew 3:16&17), then what makes the church think that they can continue to carry out His work on Earth without the same power baptism?
The church is trying to carry out the great commission today but is not as successful as God wants it to be because it has neglected its power source – the Holy Spirit. To get the same results that Jesus had in His ministry, and the early church had in carrying out the Great Commission, the Church today needs to reacquaint herself with the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to control and empower the work.
It is human wisdom and catchy phrases that preachers use today to try to build churches, but the Lord is not in it, as they have only limited success because there is no display of God’s power to verify their message.
While the Gospel will get people saved, life in Christ is more than that. A victorious life in Christ is made possible by the Holy Spirit, and His power will establish the Kingdom of God and destroy the works of the devil.
The majority of church today appears to be like the Temple was in Acts chapter 3, concerning the healing of the lame man at the gate called Beautiful, the very gate into the Temple.
Until Peter and John came along with faith in the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit within them, the lame man stayed unhealed, right outside the Temple gate.
Are people coming to church today and enduring the same condition as the lame man – right at the House of God, at the very door, or even inside, of where the presence of God is supposed to be revealed and no healing available?
Unbelief hinders the release of God’s power
So, what is the reason there are no signs following believers today? The big reason why the Holy Spirit is not displaying the power of God in the Church today is unbelief. Add pride to this and the devil has easily convinced the Church that there is no need to let the Holy Spirit display God’s power; that it was only for the early church. Do they not believe that God never changes, that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow?
Unbelief was what hindered Jesus from doing many miracles in His own home town, and it kept the first generation of the Children of Israel from entering the Promised Land and enjoying its benefits. Unbelief did not change who Jesus was, but it did change the field on which He could operate. Today, that same spirit of unbelief has crept into the Church and hindered the Holy Spirit from moving in the Church, and kept believers from fully enjoying the benefits that Christ purchased for us on the cross.
As a result, so few Christians have experienced the power of the presence of God that they have gotten used to the idea that it is not real, so they do not expect it to happen. “Healing and deliverance is for past years” the devil whispers. They feel that it is natural for there to be no display of God’s power in their services.
Deceptive display of power
The devil knows that people are drawn to a display of power and that is why he uses such as voodoo and witchcraft to gain converts. Although he has limited power, he will be using that in the last days to deceive the world, and even try to deceive the elect (Mark 13:22).
The Last Days revival
The church has to rise up and display God’s power. That is why the Holy Spirit was given to the Church: not just to sit back and be happy with God’s gift, but to use that gift for God’s glory.
Man cannot glorify God like God’s own power can. That is why the Holy Spirit indwells us and fills us. In II Corinthians 4:7, Paul makes this statement, “But we have this treasure (referring to the Holy Spirit) in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” Micah 3:8 states, “But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord.”
When I give a gift to my children I expect them to use what I have given them, not to place it on a shelf or put it in a drawer. That is why Jesus called the disciples light, and told them “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16).
Jesus also told them “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to the Father.” (John 14:12).
When Jesus went back to the Father, the Holy Spirit was poured out to enable believers to continue the work the Jesus started – establishing the Kingdom of God and destroying the works of the devil.
So here is today’s problem
There is a power outage in most of today’s Church! It is so bad that even entire denominations, ones that were formed because of the power of the Holy Spirit working among them, are now silent! The early Church would have a hard time finding a resemblance to itself in todays Church.
Just like those who have experienced the benefits of electricity lighting up a light bulb and desire its light, so those who have experienced the presence of God, having seen His glory revealed, there is a deep hunger to be in the glory presence again.
There has been a cry from God’s people for God to make Himself known to them and the world once again. It’s the anguishing cry, like that of a child who deeply misses his father’s presence.
It’s time to turn on the power
The Church needs to activate the power of the Holy Spirit that is within her. Many notable prophets, with excellent track records, say that God has shown them that there is coming a worldwide revival that will be the likes of which the world has never seen before. The glory of God will be revealed and it will be accompanied with signs and wonders, just as Jesus promised in Mark 16:17&18.
Just as Jesus glorified the Father through the Holy Spirit working through Him, so the Church needs to seek and pray for the filling, or baptism, of the Holy Spirit so that she will be available to glorify God with power through what the Holy Spirit does through her.
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