Power Outage

When Paul wrote the church at Corinth, he made his position very clear: "And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." {1 Corinthians 2:4-5}

Attention: Many churches in America are without power. This is not an outage of electrical power. They are lacking the power of God.

What do you do when there is a lack of power in the church? I guess you could sing louder, pray longer, or preach more eloquently. However, none of these things will matter. If things get bad enough you could try better programs. Some even try recasting a vision. But there is one thing that all of these ideas have in common: They are built on human wisdom and engineering.

Powerlessness should not be tolerated in the church. God has made it clear that we are to walk in His power. It is about His Spirit at work in our lives, our ministry, and our message. For the preacher of the gospel this is especially true. I want to say to my fellow preachers that it doesn't matter how many letters precede or follow your name if you do not walk in the power of God. I want to say to my fellow church goers that it doesn't matter if you have a bus ministry, serve coffee and doughnuts, or have the greatest music if you are lacking in the power of God. Our faith should be built on nothing less that God's power at work in our midst.

The apostles knew very well the need for God's power. They prayed for it, cried out for God to extend His hand, longed for displays of His goodness in their midst and in the world. The church was birthed out of a prayer meeting that was established to wait upon the Promise. Jesus had said that God would pour out His Spirit upon them. They waited...the Spirit came...and the world was never the same.

It's time to start over. We don't need to go back to the drawing board. We need to go back to the power source. It's not our lack of ability, our lack of resources, or even our lack of vision. What is missing in the church today is the demonstration of power. And it's the demonstration of power that the world is looking for. They are looking for something that is real, something that will change their life. If we are not walking in the power of God then we are not giving them anything visible to believe in. They have heard our messages but they haven't seen the lasting results of what it means for a person to be a follower of Jesus Christ. They have witnessed the hypocrisy that comes out of the church and they are not impressed. What they need is an invasion of heaven upon their lives.

Bill Johnson says it this way in When Heaven Invades Earth: "Do not make excuses for powerlessness. For decades the Church has been guilty of creating doctrine to justify their lack of power, instead of crying out to God until He changed them. The lie they came to believe has given rise to an entire branch of theology that has infected the Body of Christ with a fear of the Holy Spirit. It deceives under the guise of staying undeceived. The Word must go forth with power. Power is the realm of the Spirit. A powerless Word is the letter not the Spirit. And we all know that the letter kills but the Spirit gives life."

Let's ask God for more!
Let's seek His face!
Let's get back to what works...His Power!!!