The Gospel Is Still a Power Message
Christianity was never meant to be powerless
Yes, the Lord Still Moves in Miracles, Signs, and Wonders.
There is a huge swirl and controversy surrounding the truth of supernatural ministry and the things of God. It seems everywhere we turn, someone is trying to defend another person, or a church is trying to declare why they are the one that has a corner on truth.
Openly, I admit that I do not have all the answers.
My prayer in this hour is that my Heavenly Father would grant me a wise and discerning heart.
We need hearts that remain open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit and to the leading of His hand. With this being said, what I hope to do in this short article is shine a light on what I perceive as truth, whether you agree with me or not.
My debate is not about a person, a church, or a group.
It is about the truthfulness and veracity of scripture, which is what I feel is being undermined in quiet and also overt ways.
The whole Bible is true cover to cover. There isn’t a piece of it that is untrue. If one book, one chapter, or one word of scripture is a lie, then the whole book is worthless and to be thrown out. The problem is, instead of looking to the character and nature of God, we are looking at the fallibility of man and judging the truth of God by the deeds of men.
Man has never been the measuring rod by which we are to judge the goodness, mercy, character, gifts, or love of God. So often, man gets it wrong, but God never does.
There is a growing push to actually remove the things of the supernatural from the hearts and minds of those who would believe in the miracle working power of God. Allow me to say that from Genesis to Revelation and everywhere in between, the Bible is an unapologetically supernatural book.
From water flowing out of a rock and food falling from heaven to the judgment of Satan and the new Heavens and new earth, the Bible is built upon a bedrock foundation of supernatural truths and experiences that go beyond the comprehension of man’s limited understanding.
God Himself declares, “For I am the Lord. I do not change.” (Malachi 3:6)
If the Lord never changes, it also means that His character never changes. Who He is and what He does is part of the makeup of His nature. We trust in a changeless God because His unwavering nature gives us strength and stability in a shaky world.
But what this changeless nature also means is that everything written about Him is still true. The entire ministry of the New Testament church was built around the supernatural moving of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus came and fulfilled the Old Testament law, becoming the embodiment of what it means to live in true obedience to the Father. Then Jesus introduced a new covenant based upon better promises. One of those better promises was the gift of the Holy Spirit given to the church. This took place on the day of Pentecost when the early disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit and power, with fire. They spoke in tongues, and the entire city ran to see what had taken place. (Acts 2)
The entry of the Holy Spirit into the world did not happen in a quiet stable like the way our Savior came. Instead, the Holy Spirit came with power, wind, and fire. He moved the city, and His ministry through the church turned the world upside down.
People were healed, delivered from demons, and set free from bondage. Entire cities burned their witchcraft books and dark art materials. Scripture declares that even the very shadow of the Apostle Peter walking down the road caused people under the shadow to be healed.
Not once was it even hinted that all the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit has or would just disappear from the church one day.
With this being said, it also makes sense that the gifts of the Spirit listed in First Corinthians are still real and available to us today.
While we should not build our spiritual life upon experiences, to claim that God is so silent that we never have experiences is to reduce Him to a dumb idol. Just because there are excesses by some does not mean there is not truth that Scripture supports.
I am personally thankful for every experience I’ve ever had with the Lord.
Several years ago, my earthly dad, my father-in-law, and I built the house my family now lives in. We contracted out parts, but most of it was built with our own hands and hammers. We crawled through the trusses and helped hang the sheet rock. We drove nails, cut boards, and put in windows. Not everyone has this kind of experience with their dad, but I did. It is something we shared. To say that because most people simply buy a house, that my experience of building a house never happened would be crazy.
Your experience cannot erase my experience, neither can my experience erase yours.
As a young believer I sincerely desired to be filled with the Holy Spirit along with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. I prayed and prayed, yet nothing ever seemed to materialize. I grew up in a church where this was practiced, and I personally knew the lives of those who prayed in tongues. It was a small, close-knit church where everyone knew all about the others in the church, so I had no reason to doubt their experiences or to disbelieve it when they prayed in tongues, even though my experience had yet to happen.
I vividly remember having a dream one night. In the dream, I could see myself outside, and it was night. All at once, the Lord filled me (in the dream) with the Holy Spirit, and in the dream, I began to speak in tongues. I could hear my own voice praying in the Spirit in the dream. This seemed to last for hours. When I woke up, there was a tangible presence of God in my room that I will never forget.
As I sought the baptism in the Holy Spirit, another experience began to happen. I would have glimpses in my mind of myself praying in tongues. I could hear my voice praying loudly in the Spirit in an unknown tongue. At one point, I thought, “This is crazy. I don’t know anyone else this has ever happened to.” I hesitated to tell anyone but eventually told my fiancé about what was happening, but I told no one else.
At one particular church service, everyone was being prayed for. Usually, back then I was a shy person who never sought to be in the fray or have any attention drawn to me, so I sat back and tried to be as invisible as I could. A trusted, precious friend, a man of God much older than me at the time, called me out and wanted to pray for me. I never told him that I desired to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I never told him I had never prayed in tongues. But as he prayed for me, suddenly he stopped, looked intensely into my eyes, and said, “The Lord is telling me you are hearing it in your mind, and if you will let it out, He will fill you with the Holy Spirit.”
The fact that this man knew what was actually happening inside my head freaked me out! Had I not known him personally, and still know him today, I might have thought something crazy was happening. However, I knew instantly the Lord showed him something about me.
I didn’t “let out” what was in my head.
What I did do was pray when I got alone in my car on the way home. I told the Lord, “You know that I didn’t tell that man about what I’m hearing. That had to be You. Lord, I’m going to try it.” So I quietly began to say the words of the Holy Spirit I heard in my mind, and all at once, a rush of power filled my body, and I began to pray in the Spirit more deeply. I cried out, “That wasn’t me! That was YOU!”
Since that day over thirty years ago, I have prayed in the Spirit nearly every day of my life.
Now, not everyone has had the same experiences I had. Not everyone has had a dream or received a prophetic word of knowledge to be filled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Apparently, these were things my Heavenly Father thought I needed for whatever reason, so He gifted me an experience that was mine alone.
Not once have I ever preached that my experience was the norm or the biblical way in which everyone has to be filled with the Spirit. Yet, my experience does not undermine the truth of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
In the same way, all the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit are still true, real, and available. We cannot pick and choose to simply throw away certain fruits or certain gifts because of the excesses or even abuses of some. Scripture is still true from cover to cover.
My experiences with the prophetic gifting have largely been positive, but not completely. For instance, my wife and I were once prophesied over, being given a very specific personal word. This prophetic word was given in front of the whole church. Guess what? The word did not come to pass.
However, as we prayed about this specific area of our lives on a personal basis, God gave us specific words of knowledge about it. My wife and I received these prophetic words during a prayer time in our home between just the two of us. These words didn’t come through someone else; they were given to my wife and me as we prayed over our desire and need. Guess what? The words He gave us came to pass. They proved true down to the last sentence.
When we received a word that should have and could have disrupted our spiritual walk, we were left with a choice.
We could either judge that all prophetic words were not from God, lay down our belief in the supernatural nature of God, and walk away, or we could realize that men and women are never perfect, and they will undoubtedly “miss” it sometimes.
Let me also say, prophetic words are in NO WAY on the same level as scripture. Scripture will always remain superior to any prophetic word a person may receive.
If a word is not backed up by scripture, you should not believe it. If a prophetic word speaks to the supernatural nature of God without having a certain scripture, you should pray into it.
We prayed into the word we received many, many times.
Ultimately, we felt the Lord had a different plan for our lives.
When you plant your faith in man, you will always be led down a pathway that is shifting and swaying. But when you plant your faith in the unshakeable nature of God and His word, there is no reason to be shaken when someone comes along with a “word” that seems off.
Scripture says something very important about spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 14:31-33 NKJV—For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. [32] And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. [33] For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
We are supposed to judge the gifts of the Spirit, and we should. It also declares to us what Gifts of the Spirit are meant for: encouragement. They are not meant to bring confusion, but encouragement.
As believers, we all have the Holy Spirit inside of us. He speaks to us. He leads us. He gives us guidance.
What this means for us personally is that we do not need another person to come along and give us a “word” in order to hear from God. Your Heavenly Father will personally speak to you. Prophetic words come alongside in order to confirm or bring clarity to what the Lord has already spoken.
There are many believers who do not believe God can still speak.
If you mention something about how the Lord spoke to you, they roll their eyes in disbelief, yet I wouldn’t trade my experiences of the Lord’s voice or His presence for any amount of money. His voice is my precious daily delight. He speaks in my heart like a Father, and I would never want to give up His presence or His voice. I know it is real.
If ever there is a moment, and there have been, when it seems that what I heard may not agree with scripture, I instantly begin to pray into what I heard. I ask for clarity and discernment. I don’t assume I get it right every time. There have been a few times when I’ve had to say to myself, “Maybe I didn’t hear this correctly.” I’ve also had to say on occasion, “I don’t completely understand what the Lord is trying to say here.”
So I set aside those “words” and go back to “the Word” and seek His face.
But what I do not want to do is mistake my fallibility for God’s inability.
He is supernatural in every way and able to speak. I am fallible, not always hearing correctly. However, if scripture is my bedrock, I will declare along with scripture, “You will work INTO me what is well-pleasing in Your sight.”
Never assume you have arrived. Never assume you know scripture perfectly. Never assume you get it right every time.
But always assume there is something more about the Lord you can learn. Always assume that you have been given an ability to hear His voice, and cultivate your hearing. Always assume that the Lord seeks to press you more deeply into the things of God and into His nature.
I’m not really sure how to end this article, other than to say, “I pray for those who have been blatantly abused spiritually. I pray their hearts and lives will come to a place of healing. I pray that they will still cling to the goodness of God even though they have experienced the hurt and sinfulness of man.”
But I also pray that the church will not throw away the gifts of the Spirit or the supernatural nature of God because of the excesses or abuses of man.
Man’s stupidity and ignorance never cancels the Lord’s wisdom and power.
We are in the beginning stages of the greatest revival in the history of the world.
Jesus is about to return.
The church wins!
Let’s do everything in our power to see lost people come to repentance and for the church to wake up spiritually.
Let’s pray like we have never prayed in order to see the miracle-working power of God reach people who are hurting, truly heal them, and bind up their wounds.
Let’s allow the precious Holy Spirit to be who He longs to be among us and not quench His working or stop His hand.
Today is still a day of miracles, signs, and wonders for those who will press into the Lord and seek His face.