I want to pass on to you what I have experienced, a dynamic faith from a life committed to Christ. For over 60 years I have lived and live to fulfill the command of Romans 12:1, offering my life in 'reasonable service'.
Current Podcast: Sunday 1 February 2015 (13 minute audio)
There is power in the Gospel
My father was born in Morriston, South Wales, in 1892 and was there in the great Welsh Revival. When the power of God fell, the churches were filled, there was not enough room for the people. The power of God was so strong that ungodly coal miners would go down in the lift and fall on their faces under powerful Holy Ghost conviction. We are seeing the same today across the former Soviet countries.
Click here to listen (to download right click on the player and select 'save as')
Not every experience can be 'prayed' away. When God's heavy hand is upon you, nothing can change the path He has chosen, even though it is one we would never have taken. If after all your praying you've ended up some place and you don't know why, that place is where God intended for you to be. God will do what is appointed for us in accordance with His plan; therefore we'd be wise to submit to it. It must be as God wills. Scripture teaches us 'Whatever God does is final; nothing can be added or taken from it' (Ecclesiastes 3:14).
Jesus too was in agony and tried to pray away the path chosen for Him, to the extent that He sweated blood, yet He submitted Himself to God's plan and prayed 'Yet not My will but Yours be done' (Luke 22:41-42).
God has a dynamic, divine purpose in everything He does, with a clear beginning and end. His plan is a kaleidoscope of movement with innumerable processes, each with its own character and period of sowing, blossoming, ripening, harvesting and pruning. His actions are not simply arbitrary, but appropriate, not simply confining, but releasing. From the beginning God determined there to be set times and seasons as clear evidence of His providence.
If we could see from God's perspective, we would see that His plan is perfect; for there is nothing unnecessary in it, nor any experience that can be spared. It has all been designed by a master architect. As the Word of God is final and settled in heaven, so the works of God determined for us must be fulfilled. It is presumption for us either to add to them or to diminish them. It is therefore as much our interest, as our duty, to bring our wills into accordance with the will of God. As the hymn writer wisely wrote: 'there is no other way but to trust and obey'.
The sense of touch is one of the most important emotional bonds we have. Touch directly affects the way we view the world. The softer the touch, the happier and more content we are; the harder the touch, the more aggressive and defensive we become. When we greet one another, the sense of touch instantly determines our emotional response to them. When we are in trouble and need reassurance, touch can ease the fear and calm the torment. How does a parent bond with their child? Through touch. How does a relationship breakdown? Through lack of touch. What a difference touch can make.
The woman with the issue of blood in Luke 8 was desperate just to reach out and touch the hem of Jesus' garment. She knew that touch would change her life. The moment she touched Him Jesus asked, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and the disciples who were with Him said, Master, the multitude press You, and yet You say, Who touched Me? But Jesus knew somebody had touched Him. We have all experienced that moment in a crowd when someone touches us differently; our body immediately identifies that something has happened. It was the same for Jesus. She was the only one to touch Him with faith; it instantly singled her out from the crowd around.
I want to encourage you. Like with this woman, whatever the crisis in your life, reach out to Jesus. In your darkest moment, when you are hurting more than you've hurt before, Jesus is there. He's not forgotten you. He is one touch away. Jesus said, 'I will be with you always'. Every day, every hour, in the middle of every storm, in the middle of every sickness, or lying on a road as the result of a car accident, Jesus will always come. Whatever the crisis, there is never a moment when He's not there. Jesus is only one touch away from you. One cry, one call, and He is there to answer.
How can you live the abundant life of God if you don't know what that life is? How can you take the blessing if you don't know what it is? How can you speak with tongues, prophesy, heal the sick without the gift of the Holy Spirit? How can you receive the Holy Spirit without first seeing it in the Word of God?
God speaks to us through the Bible. It is important we search the Scripture to find the answers we are looking for. If I am facing a specific situation, I will search the Bible for an answer to that problem. An easy way to start searching is a key-word search in the concordance, or do as I do, I read a specific book in the Bible until God speaks to me. If something is in your heart, then God will lead you by the Holy Spirit to what He wants to say to you, if you will search the Scriptures.
We have to look into the Word of God - we have to possess every promise with the same tenacity and faith that Joshua had when he conquered the Promised Land. 'Eat' your Bible for breakfast, for lunch and at night. Do you know the promises of God? Have you seen the promises of God? Before you read the Bible pray, 'Lord, open my eyes. Speak to me through Your Word. Give me the faith to believe and possess every promise.'
God's promises are wonderful and available for you in this life, not merely when you die. You can call on the Lord and be healed, you can be filled with the Holy Spirit. For the believer it is the most wonderful life, so full of the joy and the glory of God, you will never want to go back to the old way.
God has a clear plan and strategy in everything He does. From creation to salvation, nothing has happened in heaven and earth without the foreknowledge of God. You are an important part of His strategy. He knew you before you were formed in your mother's womb. He has planned out all of your days. No experience is wasted. It has all been designed by a master architect. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:3 that it is by faith we understand that our lives are framed, fashioned and formed for their intended purpose by the Word of God (Amp).
God's plan for your life is for good, to give you a future and a hope. His plans always bring blessing. When you look at the historic sufferings of Israel, we can see how God brought them through persecution and slavery into blessing. There is always a deliverance; He will always bring you through every difficulty. God has a tremendous future for you. I want you to move forward with a renewed sense of purpose and hope. Our God is a God of power, miracles and deliverance. He will not leave you in your tragedy but has come to bless you.
An important part of God's strategy is that He wants to show His power is not just in heaven, but also on earth. God wants to use you to fulfil this plan. But God can only use willing, obedient, committed people who will make His glory the first priority. God needs the right men and women in the right place in order to do what He wants, to bring glory to His Name, to bring deliverance to nations, to build His church. Do you want to be where God is? Do you want the power of God? Then go where God is telling you, do what He is telling you to do.
The power of God is absolutely without limit! Yet His power is only as big as our ability to believe. That's why Ephesians 1:19-20 talks of the 'exceeding greatness of His incredible power to us who believe'! The power is only released according to what you believe. At the start of this year, I want to encourage you to be bold in your praying; if God has revealed a promise to you for 2015, have the same attitude as David who declared in 1 Chronicles 17:25, 'O my God, I have been bold enough to pray to You because You have revealed to Your servant that You will build a house for him, a dynasty of kings!' David only dared to pray such an outlandish promise because God revealed it to him. Just think for a moment, unbeknownst to David, contained within that promise was the birth and resurrection of Jesus, and its fulfilment is found in Revelation 19:16 where Jesus is declared to be King of kings!
When God raised Jesus from the dead, that wasn't an ordinary miracle. Our annual rituals and repetitions can make it seem meaningless. We've got to come back to the realisation as to how big the miracle actually is! Jesus was dead and buried in a tomb, but God through the power of the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead - and He is alive today! That same resurrection power is in you and me! I need this incredible power, you need this power of God.
In the Bible we read what God did with Israel in Egypt: the plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, it's a nice encouraging story. But do we realise that Egypt was the greatest power on earth at that time, one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen?! God overthrew the power of the greatest empire, destroyed all Pharaoh's army and delivered Israel! What a triumph! Moses said to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 4, "Don't you see, this is the greatest miracle ever seen on the face of the earth?!"
I am talking about the absolutely incredible, unbelievable power that God has! If only we understood! That power is available to every one of us who will believe.
