THE GREATNESS OF HIS POWER

I receive reams of prophecies and long, involved “spirit” writings from Christians who claim to be spending days and weeks and even months in prayer. One husband asked me to set his wife straight. She had been telling people she had died and gone to heaven, had danced with Jesus, and then had gone skydiving with Him! She claimed her revelation came to her after praying for hours.

Why are these dear ones not out among the people, preaching a resurrected Jesus? Why are they spending all their time reproving others, with no brokenness for the lost? The best cure for “flakiness” is getting out among sinners and preaching the love of Jesus. We pray, “Holy Ghost, come!” But for what? To simply bless us and meet our needs? Or to equip us and reveal to us the broken heart of our Lord? The last words of Jesus before leaving this earth were, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

We have been praying that God will close down the bar next door to Times Square Church. The proprietor said to us, “You people are in real trouble. You don’t know who you’re dealing with.” No! He doesn’t know that he is dealing with Jesus, who said, “All power is given unto me” (Matthew 28:18). Therefore, “we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:6). Paul prayed that “ye may know . . . what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the workings of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ . . . far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet” (Ephesians 1:18-22).

Satan has made some of you afraid—afraid of falling, afraid of a besetting sin or a hounding habit, and afraid of men. But the Word says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). You are not the one who runs away!

“Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. . . . For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion . . . he shall set me up upon a rock” (Psalm 27:3, 5).