What does it take to see the power of God?

I have recently been in conversation with a new believer in Jesus and he is all kinds of excited about his new belief in God. He says he has seen people cured of diseases. He says that Christians say they believe in God but don't see the power of God because they have not separated themselves from the world enough to see it.

Do you think this is true or that there is more to it then just separating the heart from the world? In America, what does it take to see the Power of God? By Power of God I refer to see events take place in which you know it isn't just a natural occurrence but that something unexplainable happened. Something that causes an individual to know it wasn't just a random circumstance.

The answer may be so simply that I don't understand it or see it. Maybe I have too much of a worldly mindset that I am not able to comprehend it?

input?

John

In John 14, in the context of doing miraculous works (see verses 11-13), Jesus tells us that He will manifest Himself to those who believes on Him. The manifest token of our belief is our obedience. If I truly believe, I will align my life in accordance with what Christ commands me to do, and I will cease to live unto myself, but rather have my life through Him. So verses 14-21.

So yes, I think there is some truth to the need to separate ourselves from the world and live a holy and separate life. But the motive behind that separation is much more important than the act of separation. The Pharisees lived a very separate life, but their separation came as an act of human will in an effort to attract God's approval. These efforts are misguided and vain. But, a person who is in relationship with God, whose life is hid with God through Christ, who has died to sin and is alive unto God will have a great desire to live a holy life.

Holiness does not earn or attract, in and of itself, the manifest presence of God or the manifestations of the Spirit of God. But I do believe that compromise with the things of the world will prevent the manifestations of the Spirit of God. Primarily because it will prevent us from walking before God in faith. See 1 Tim. 1:19. After all, everything we receive from God will be appropriated through faith. A man with a guilty conscience cannot have pure faith, but will doubt his own worthiness. Secondarily, I believe God may withhold His manifest presence because our compromise could lead to our destruction as well as many others who may follow us.

But, I have seen men who walked in the genuine power of God, who saw God do great and mighty things, who failed morally. Some of these men continued for a time, even in the midst of their failure, to minister and see the power of God manifest. I do not totally understand this, and my idealistic, human mind has trouble wrapping itself around this.

But I do know one thing. God desires that we seek Him for His own sake, and seek to have His heart in our desire to minister to others. If we sincerely seek Him, and if we are motivated by His motives out of a pure heart, we can believe by faith for Him to use us in mighty ways to accomplish His purposes.

According to Acts, the purpose of miracles is to allow us to preach the gospel. (Acts 4:29-30: "and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.") That is why we hear of many miraculous healings from far away places where people are witnessing for Christ.

"but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (Acts 1:8).

All those that have received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit have received the power of God from on high. It should not be an abnormal thing for a believer to walk in the power of God, but this should be normal Christianity. The Word of God says that believers shall lays hands on the sick and they shall recover, that believers shall cast out demons.

Of course holiness is part of the Work of the Holy Spirit in the believers life. The fruit of the Spirit should be evident, because without the fruit, the gifts can be used in the wrong way and can cause much damage. A believer that is filled with the Holy Spirit will be holy. He will be seperated from this world, and will repent of all known sin, but as our brother said, there can be those that are not living holy lives and still have signs and wonders that follow them for "For the gifts and the calling of God are not subject to repentance." (Romans 11:29).

Mike

I don't necessarily mean seeing someone healed of something but more but more like seeing it around your own life. Seeing a path open up that was seemingly impossible Events in which you don't have to wonder if it was God and others would try to hard to make something up to explain it.

"I don't necessarily mean seeing someone healed of something but more but more like seeing it around your own life. Seeing a path open up that was seemingly impossible Events in which you don't have to wonder if it was God and others would try to hard to make something up to explain it."

Brother,

I believe that what you are talking about is seeing and experiencing God move in situations where it was impossible with man. I believe that this is more common to most of us than healings, miracles, and signs and wonders.

The Lord's strength is made perfect in our weakness, and it is in that place where we know that if God doesn't move then it is over for us. That has been my life experience brother, being put in situations that were beyond my strength or ability to overcome, yet seeing the all sufficient grace of God come through, and this has happened time after time. When it is this way, God gets all the glory, because there is nothing that we can do, but stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. God is faithful.

Mike

DEADn wrote:
He says that Christians say they believe in God but don't see the power of God because they have not separated themselves from the world enough to see it.

One of the many other things that Jesus did was that He was “MOVED WITH COMPASSION” for those suffering. What I have found in most churches is a lack of compassion but plenty of judgment, example, “They made their bed, let them lie in it.” Etc. No compassion to help ease their suffering.

That’s just one aspect of what does it take to see the power of God!

God bless,
Lisa

John, I have been mulling your question ever since I read it a couple days ago...

It has been my experience that when 1Peter 5:7 is operative in my life I will be the recipient of God's mercy, grace in ways that defy logic, common sense. Many of these are ways I do not wish to share but they are events that strengthen me, encourage me. I just know God is real, He cares for His children. I also know that when He leads you He will lead you into a lot of difficult situations. These situations reveal to me how utterly helpless I am and how I need the sustaining power of God to live. It also exposes to me my weakness in areas that need changing. In other words it is a process that Brother Paul describes as being changed from glory to glory. Getting a grip of the holiness of God facilitates this process as well.

Have I experienced divine, instant healings? No, but I do attribute my general good health to making 1 Peter 5:7 a priority when it is threatened. My husband has prayed over me many times when I was in severe pain (back pain/arthritis) or for other ailments. We rarely go to doctors, not that we do not believe in their expertise, but we feel compelled to trust the LORD instead - not saying that going to doctors is evidence of a lack of faith.

I will share one incident that I have shared many times...

I was staying at my uncle Mel's house who were neighbors to our daughter and her husband when I got a call from our SIL that Gina is to go to the hospital in the morning because she is experiencing paralysis from the waist down.

My husband had taken me up there - 750 miles from our home in MS - to help care for Gina who was battling glioblastoma. He left me with little money but this did not worry me because I was not going anywhere. Now Matthew says he is leaving for Saginaw in the morning and that I may want to go as well, so how am I going? I had no vehicle...I called my uncle and asked if they would take me and they said they would. Problems solved, or so I thought. I had little money but figured it would hold me over until my husband got there in a could of days. Before I went to bed that night I prayed, talked to the LORD about this situation when the Holy Spirit impressed upon me to pray for money. I felt it was unnecessary because my husband was coming and I did have some. "PRAY FOR MONEY!" came the command. I thought OK, I will pray for money. And I did.

I went to bed and slept soundly until my alarm went off the next morning. When I left the bedroom, my uncle met me and asked, "Do you have any money?" I hedged, "sure I have some." "But do you have enough?" "Rollin is bringing me some." "Sandra, last night after I was in bed I got the strong urge to give you money and I could hardly stand it that I was not aware of this...I am going to put some on the desk and you are to take it and do not worry about repaying any of it!"

On that desk laid $300.

I was awed...

Did God care that we were dealing with terminal illness in the life of our daughter? He sure did. We were the recipients of God's intervention, comfort in many ways. This assured me that if she died it was God calling her home and when that happens his comfort will be there for us to cope. Now that is another story...but this is long enough - you get the idea.

God bless.

ginnyrose

John, I have written a lot on SI about me dealing with our daughter's bout with glioblastoma and her eventual death. This happened in January 1996, 17 years ago...[EDITED-Dates]

This was a traumatic time for all of us. As I look at life, how the "church" is getting more wicked each and every day, morality is scoffed at, common sense rare, stupidity the norm, sin accommodated in the church apart from repentance I am glad Regina made it home. She ran the race faithfully. She does not have to live with the vexing things we do day by day.

I miss my only daughter. All we have left are four boys - now men - plus grandchildren. Gina had birthed two children and now the oldest one is coming to spend some time with us. This girl is so special to us, my family - it is like Regina incarnate - if we are not careful, will call her by her mother's name!

How is it possible that I can be grateful, and thankful after all these years? That I can be at peace with Regina's passing? John, it is only, ONLY by the mercy and abiding grace of God. ONLY. The LORD giveth and the LORD taketh, blessed be the name of the LORD. So said the Psalmist a long time ago and is still true today in 2013.

The comfort from God is awesome. But to experience it you must submit to the suffering that comes your way.If you fight it you will make it impossible to experience the mercy and grace of God that is inherent in His comfort. And brother, people fight suffering like a plague, getting angry, staying angry thus becoming infected with bitterness. In suffering people are confronted with two choices. One leads to life and the other to spiritual death. It is up to us how we choose.

God is good.

ginnyrose

____________________________________________________________
QUOTE:
"“They made their bed, let them lie in it.” Etc. No compassion to help ease their suffering."
____________________________________________________________

Maybe it would help if you showed some compassion on these people? Try to understand where they are coming from. Just a thought.

I heard this statement from many of my single, pregnant clients at the Crises Pregnancy Center. All of them defied Biblical commands for moral purity but then expected family and the church to help them support the results of their sin with little thought of repentance. They wanted to keep living in the pig pen and wanted friends and family to make that stay comfortable. We must be like the prodigal's father: stay at home, leave them alone until they come to their senses which is facilitated by experiencing the horrors of their sin. Only after this has run its course will they be motivated to return home to the comfort of the Father.

Lysa, I have worked in this ministry for many years. I have observed a pattern and there is a need for all the gifts to be operational in dealing with these people: the ministry of the prophet and the gift of mercy. They may appear to be at odds with each other but they are not, they compliment. Let us be careful we do not stifle the working of the Holy Spirit in bringing about repentance in the lives of people given to sin.

ginnyrose

John,

One important aspect of the power of God being manifested in our life is "God's keeping power." Just as Jinny has given witness that God has kept her in good health for years, it is God's keeping power that after many years of victories and defeats that we are still following the Lord, not because of our determination and will, but He has kept us. However, there are conditions for God's keeping power to work in our lives, and this is explained very well by an excerpt from one of Watchman Nee's writings on "God's Keeping Power."

An excerpt from Watchman Nee's God's Keeping Power

"It is a distressing fact that some Christians believe in God's saving power, but they do not believe in His keeping power. They have received God's saving grace but have not yet received His keeping grace. They do not realize that He who is the Giver of grace is also the One who maintains us in His grace. Let us see from the Scriptures how we who have been saved by God can be kept by Him.

Joshua 14:11 says, "I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in." This is Caleb's word. "To go out, and to come in" refers to everyday life; "for war" refers to life under exceptional circumstances. Caleb's strength was the same as it was in the day he spoke with Moses, in coping with the ordinary demands of daily life as well as with the demands of life under conditions of special stress. Though forty years had elapsed in the interval, he was as strong as he had been in his earlier days. Here we see God's keeping power. Caleb's strength was the same on that day as it was forty years earlier. He was as strong at this time as he was then. He was no less vigorous at eighty-five than he had been at forty. There is only one explanation for this; he had been kept by God. We are totally unable to keep ourselves in the grace of God. There is no guarantee that even five years after we have been saved we will be found in the measure of faith we had in our earlier Christian life. We cannot abide in the grace of God by our own effort; He alone can maintain us in His grace.

What was the condition for Caleb to experience God's keeping power? Let us consider this matter for a minute. Joshua 14:14 says, "He wholly followed the Lord God of Israel." And how did he wholly follow the Lord? We are told in Numbers 13 and 14. Numbers 13:30 says, "Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and possess it; for we are well able to prevail." We are well able to prevail. A person who wholly follows the Lord is one who believes that the promises of God are trustworthy, that He is with His people, and that they are well able to overcome. Brothers and sisters, do you believe this? Many people believe, but their faith is a vacillating faith. They are very timid. They sing their song of praise, but though the words are right, there is something wrong with the tune. In Caleb's case it was not so; he sang the right words in the right tune. He said, "Let us go up at once." A person who wholly follows the Lord and reckons Him to be trustworthy is one who does the will of God and does it at once.

What about the ten spies? They looked at the inhabitants of the land and saw that they were "men of great size" and their cities were "fortified and very large." They looked at themselves too, and in their own sight they were "like grasshoppers." Their eyes were fixed on the difficulties before them. Herein lies the reason why so many Christians fail to experience God's keeping power -- difficulties fill their vision. If one keeps looking at his difficulties, he will surely find no hope in the situation. God does not want us to set our eyes on the mountains obstructing our path; He wants us to say to the mountains: "Be taken up and cast into the sea" (Mark 11:23). It is useless to set our eyes on the mountains. The more we look at the mountains, the higher they become. Many people cannot overcome because their eyes are always set on their failures. Many people are prepared ahead of time for their failures. Defeat is certain if we are constantly contemplating defeat. Many experiences of failure come because we anticipate them. We may think that we can deal with other problems but that there is no way that we can deal with one particular problem. In so thinking, we have paved the way for defeat as soon as the problem comes to us. As soon as our eyes are set on ourselves, we will surely fail. If God is to save us, He must first save our eyes from looking at ourselves to looking at His promises. We are courageous only as long as we keep God's promises in view. Once we see His promises, we will see that we can overcome!

. . .

Let us now look into the practical outworking of this. We must not forget that there is a condition attached to God's keeping power. If we do not trust Him, He is unable to keep us. In order to experience His salvation, and in order to have His keeping power, we must believe wholeheartedly in His promises. If after we have overcome, we doubt whether our overcoming experience can be sustained, we are discrediting His keeping power. We must believe in God's keeping power. Every morning when we rise we should say to Him, "God, I thank You for keeping me yesterday, and today You will still keep me. I do not know what temptations may befall me, and I do not know how I can overcome. I cannot do anything; but I believe You will keep me." First Peter 1:5 speaks of being "guarded by the power of God through faith." God guards those who have faith in Him. We do not have to grapple with temptations and try to overcome them; the keeping power of God will get us through, and we must believe in His ability to save us from giving way to sin. If we implicitly rely on Him, even when we are unexpectedly assailed by temptations, an amazing thing will happen. In a way we cannot account for, something will ward off all the fiery darts of the evil one. It is the shield of faith. It will come in between us and Satan, so that his fiery darts cannot reach us. Instead of hurting us they will beat upon the shield of faith and rebound on Satan himself.

Paul said, "I am persuaded that He is able to guard my deposit unto that day" (2 Tim. 1:12). Paul did something; he committed himself to the Lord. If you believe in Him, then you must commit yourself to Him. He can only keep those who have handed themselves over to Him. Many people fail to experience the blessedness of His keeping power because they have never put themselves into His care. They have never said to Him, "Lord, I hand myself over to you and commit to You the keeping of my life." Brothers and sisters, have you placed yourselves in His hands? If you truly have, then you will be able to say with Paul, "I am persuaded that He is able to guard my deposit unto that day."

If your life is truly in His hands, then the promise of Jude 24--"to guard you from stumbling and to set you before His glory without blemish in exultation" will be fulfilled in you. To stumble is to slip and strike against something when we are unconscious of any obstruction in the way. Praise God, He will preserve us not only from falling but also from the slightest slippage. Thank and praise the Lord, His preserving grace operates beyond the realm of our consciousness. Brothers and sisters, if we commit ourselves unreservedly into His care, we will marvel at the way we are kept. When temptation suddenly assails and love is required, we will find love spontaneously welling up from within. When a sudden temptation demands patience, without giving it a moment's thought, our patience will rise up to meet the need. Praise God, as the life we received from Adam spontaneously expresses itself, so also does the life we receive from Christ. We inherited our bad temper from Adam, and we can become angry without the slightest effort of will. We inherited pride from Adam, and we can become proud without any deliberate decision. In the same way, those who have received the life of Christ and committed themselves into His keeping can be meek without making up their minds to be meek, and humble without any effort to be humble. The same spontaneity of manifestation that characterizes the life we have received from Adam also characterizes the life we have received from Christ. To work out what the Lord Jesus has given us does not require any effort on our part. If we trust in His promises and commit ourselves utterly to Him, we will be kept from this day to the day of His return, and we will be kept without blemish. Thank God, we have a salvation which is worthy of our trust and which will withstand every trial."