THE PURPOSE OF THE POWER OF GOD...

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Romans 1:16

I want to see more of the power of God in our church! I pray that God will manifest His power in healing, deliverance, provision, and refreshing. I long for the spectacular aspects of God's presence to convince the sceptical of their need for a Saviour. If you're interested in reading about the recent history of God's power in Australia, there is a very inspirational book in our foyer called "The C.L. Greenwood Story". While we can all be open for God to do the spectacular and pray for God to manifest His miraculous power, there is an even more powerful manifestation of the power of God that we should be craving....

If you have the luxury of having some advanced Bible software, you could check out the following statement: The New Testament epistles use the expression "the power of God" in quite a different way than how I have described it above.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God..
First Corinthians 1:18

Rather than the power of God being reduced to an emotional experience, it seems that the New Testament authors regarded the power of God as the transforming work of the Holy Spirit wrought by the Word of God. It causes some to wonder whether the apostle Paul would balk at the use of the expression in the way most Pentecostals use it today. This is because the power of God is meant to transform us into the likeness of Christ so that our character is radically changed. If anyone claims to have encountered the power of God and yet they still lie, swear, cheat, slander, gossip, or abuse others - they have not genuinely encountered the transforming power of God. It is quite possible that you could be touched by the power of God so that your heart is filled love for those you were previously cold towards, or, so that you can now encourage those you once despised - yet carry on with the same physical ailment you had prior to your encounter with the power of God. Jesus curiously said that it was better to enter Heaven with one hand or one eye than to be totally whole yet go to Hell. Our eternal destiny is what matters immediately to the power of God, and our satisfaction with Jesus in this life (measured by our Christ-like character- who we are on the inside) is what matters most since this is what we take with us into eternity.

For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.
Second Corinthians 13:4

WOW! Without the transforming work of the Holy Spirit through the ministry of the Word of God to our souls- "the power of God" - we can't even live the Christian walk. While we pray and crave for the power of God to overcome all that enemy puts in our way, we have the promise of the Bible that the power of God is able to transform us through the preaching, reading, and ministry of God's Word into our lives as the Holy Spirit renews our hearts, minds and souls.


Andrew Corbett