The incredible power of God in us!

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.

Reasonable Service

Is this reasonable? Get to work for the Kingdom. 

God so impressed Romans 12:1 on me when I was a teenager: 'I beseech you to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.' God is talking about reasonable service, nothing exceptional - for every believer - the norm. Today the churches are talking about being normal, taking care of yourself, not working too hard... But the challenge is 'reasonable service' - giving your whole life as a 'living sacrifice'! Everything! God didn't call me to be an evangelist or a preacher - He said He wanted all of me!

A few years ago to celebrate my 60th anniversary in ministry, I revisited the place in Brighton where God first spoke to me when I was 15 years old. I was with a group of young Christians walking along the beach, but God was speaking to me, challenging me. God was saying, "I want you David!" And the devil was saying, "Don't you realise you're saved, you got baptised in water, filled with the Holy Spirit - that's enough!" But God was saying, "I want you!" He didn't say, "I want you to be a preacher, I want you to be an evangelist, a missionary..." God said, "David, I want ALL of you, EVERYTHING! - Your life, your family, your time, your house, every single thing - I want the lot!" People talk about tithing, the Biblical pattern of giving a tenth of your income to God, but a long time ago I tried the opposite, keep a tenth and give God 90%! You cannot out-give God! Give everything! The more I give Him, the more I receive in return! - Give and you will receive 'pressed down and running over!' - This is why God says, the only 'reasonable' thing is to present your body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God! - And this is only the beginning, the norm, the 'reasonable' bit! I want the un-reasonable, the extra-normal! I don't just want to receive the Holy Spirit like everybody else, I want a double portion, a treble portion, ten times, a hundred times more! I'm hungry for God! I need that anointing, that power! Jesus told the servant who did everything that was expected of him, what was reasonable - but the master did not thank him - he only did what he was employed to do (Luke 17:7-10). But I want to receive! The more you give, the more God gives back! I remember that tremendous challenge when God said to me, "David, I want YOU!" That night I had to say, "Lord, I'll give you everything!"