Spirit and Power
“and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 NASB
Dawn and I began earnestly seeking a better understanding of the Kingdom of God in 1990. I was a youth minister at a Church of Christ in Dallas. In January of that year, we had our first encounter with someone deeply tormented by demons. As a young evangelical minister, my mind had no grid for what I witnessed. But more shocking to me was the spiritual authority I was able to exercise, even though I had very little faith in my ability to face the forces of darkness. When I spoke, representing my Jesus, the demons obeyed! Since that time, God has given my family many more experiences of what the apostle Paul called “demonstrations of the Spirit and power.” We’ve had many experiences of casting out demons, seeing illnesses, injuries, and emotions healed. We’ve been a channel of freedom from addictions, fear, and bitterness.
And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” Matthew 21:21-22 NASB
Praying for More
But here’s the thing. Even though my family may have had “many” experiences of the Kingdom’s supernatural ability to break into the physical realm, the teachings of Jesus and the apostles invite us to continue growing in demonstrations of the Spirit and power. Compared to what we have available to us, my experience represents just a trickle. My King is inviting me to live a lifestyle filled with His daily expressions of the miraculous. He isn’t satisfied for us to drink from a dripping faucet; He wants us to be consumed by the waterfall! And since He isn’t satisfied, we are not satisfied!
What about you? Are you satisfied with an occasional taste of Kingdom power? Would you be willing to join my family in our hunger for more of the Kingdom? If you are, then pray this with me now, “My Father in heaven, create in me a lifestyle of your supernatural Kingdom reality. I want to be your ambassador of the miraculous daily. Draw me, Jesus, from the trickle to the deluge. In the authority of your name, Amen.”
Note: Our highest motivation and desire must always be to know Jesus, the anointed one and to be known by him. But to love the King is also to love His Kingdom. I will never suggest that we pursue something apart from Jesus, but I am suggesting that we learn to want what Jesus wants.