We Have The Power That Jesus Would Be Revealed To The World

We have been given the authority and power to reveal Jesus Christ to the world through signs and wonders. Most of the Church no longer believes this because we have become like old musicians who have forgotten how to play music. As soon as man started to control and dictate to the Spirit we saw the political power rise and the spiritual power fall. What fools we are to think we can define and control the Holy Spirit, the Living God within us. All we can do is obey and disobey, so the moment we begin to control the Spirit we are entering the realm of the disobedient. This is not a good place to be because some of the strongest warning Jesus gave was against disobedience to the Spirit.

It is a tragedy in the Church that we have become masters of our own destinies. Jesus once described people of the Spirit as ones who come and go as the wind comes and goes. The wind cannot be controlled and those who are under its power realize that they must do as the wind dictates. When we are submitted to God the Spirit, we lead a life of obedience to him. When he tells us to go over there that's what we do. When he tells us to stop for a while that's what we do. We speak when he tells us to speak and we say what he tells us to say. We are soldiers taking orders from the general, or we should be. Instead, we are rogue agents doing whatever we "feel" like doing. So some days we don't get out of bed and other days we are climbing mountains. There is no consistency so when we get in trouble we start ordering the Spirit around as if he serves us. The angels may serve us but we serve Jesus Christ, his word, his instructions and his will which he conveys through the Spirit in us.

We are more than "do gooders". Living our life with compassion and grace is a major part of what we do. Filling the world with acts of kindnesses is a must but we are more than this. We are spiritual warriors. We are fighting for the salvation of the world and we have been given the power of signs and wonders, through the Holy Spirit, to draw people to Jesus. Signs and wonders are not for the faithful, it is the faithful who are suppose to be doing the signs and wonders by the Holy Spirit. This is the tool we have been given so Jesus does not end up appearing like a Gandhi,a wise man with wise sayings and a compassionate heart who thought well of humanity. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, with authority over all things. Signs and wonders reveal to the world that Jesus is no ordinary man. But we have forgotten how to let the Spirit work through us with his power.

This is a dangerous thing because Jesus gave us a warning about the Spirit:

He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 12:30-32)

Considering that the great majority of Christians won't even acknowledge the place of the Spirit in their lives and faith, this is a frightening thing to hear from Jesus. Christians need to lift the Spirit up from under their feet and lift him to a place of honour in their lives. Imagine this, we can say things against Jesus and be forgiven but if we come against the Spirit there is no forgiveness. What have we done and what are we doing? If Jesus says the Spirit is this important what are we doing ignoring him completely?

The fact is that we have been given a mission to present Jesus Christ to the world. People are not going to be convinced by our words alone. Paul explained this to the Corinthians:

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 men's wisdom, but on God's power. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

That's where most of us are, using wise and persuasive words to put forward an argument on the existence of God based on man's wisdom. God cannot be explained by man's wisdom. Only when men are absolutely convinced of the power of God will they begin to believe that he is able to change their heart. When they are confronted by the reality that God goes beyond our understanding and that his power is governed by his love for us will men then break down and surrender their hearts to him. Jesus said it must be this way. It was written by the prophet Joel a long time before that God would pour out his Spirit into his people, men and women. He did that nearly 2,000 years ago and here we are still arguing over the power of God.

There are those who say that the age of the apostles and miracles passed away with the death of John. Then they set up a system where there was only one apostle who dictated to the Church. We set up a political system whereas the Spirit was suppose to be running the show. The age of the apostles never passed away and miracles are done by the living saints not the dead ones. Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest prophet, even greater than Elijah who performed miracle after miracle for the nation to see the hand of God. Then Jesus said that the least in the Kingdom is greater than John. It's time to shake ourselves from our slumber, to put on the mantle that we have been given as the witnesses of Jesus Christ and allow the Spirit to have the freedom to do what he wants to do through us. Pray, Lord baptize me with your Spirit that I may be filled with your power to convince the world that you are who you say you are and that you will do what you have promised to do. May the lame walk, the blind see, the mute testify that Jesus is everything.