Psalm 44:1-3 (NIV): We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago. With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish. It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.
God’s people today have expectations that are far too low! When they read about the things that Jesus did, and the things done by the early Church, they wish they could have been there to see them. Then they move on, with no expectation of miracles or wonders in their day.
But the people of the early Church were simply people, just like people today. Even Peter and Paul, and all of those shown as mighty and powerful in the pages of Scripture were just regular people. What made the difference between them and people now was 3 things:
- · They consistently listened for and heard God’s voice, so they could respond immediately when He commanded them to go someplace or do something. That means that God’s power could flow through them unhindered. They were no dead end. When God told them to speak healing to someone, they heard and responded. No doubts or fears made them hesitate. They knew God’s voice so well that they didn’t have to spend time wondering if it was Him or someone else. God had spoken, and so they acted at once. And mighty miracles happened.
- · There was great expectation that God would do mighty miracles through His people. They knew the prophecies by heart, and were delighted to know that the time had arrived in their lifetime. Again, there was no fear of failure that made them hesitate to obey God’s voice. They had read and heard of all of His mighty acts in the past, and they knew that His hand had not grown shorter or His arm weaker over the intervening centuries. They went forth each day, stretching forward to see what God would do through them.
- · Most importantly, they were continually filled with the Holy Spirit. To them, this was not a theological construct or an event that they looked back on. See if you can find the disciples reminiscing in their words or their writings about Pentecost after it happened. They didn’t. It was reported in Acts as a historical event, but the disciples understood that Pentecost was just the beginning. Each moment of each day they experienced a continual renewal of God’s Spirit in their lives. With the fullness of the Spirit in their lives, they had two things that were essential for God’s people:
- · Courage. They feared nothing and no man. They had a job to do, a commission to carry out, and they did it regardless of imprisonment, persecution, or suffering. This courage erased all self-interest, and overrode all self-preservation. Whatever God needed them to do, they did!
- · Power. God’s power coursed through them like blood through their own veins. They understood clearly that it was not THEIR power or ability. When God called on them to do something , they never paused to take stock of their own abilities. They knew that what God called them to do, He would do through them with His own abilities. So when He commanded, they simply obeyed.
In the 2000 years since the early Church, God has not grown any weaker. His power in His people is the same now as it was then. The reason we don’t see mighty miracles through the Church today is not because God has changed, but because His people have changed.
- · Few of God’s people listen for or hear His voice. Most Christians’ prayers times consist of them talking. Very rarely does God find one who is willing to listen until they have heard His voice. Of course that means that they never hear what he wants to do through them, so they never are where He is working! As they go through their day, they are so busy, and surround themselves with so much noise and music and talk, that God’s voice gets lost in the mayhem. And when they read God’s word, they do so with such an agenda, that they never slow down long enough for His words to really speak to and guide their hearts and minds. If God’s people do not hear God’s voice, there can be no miracles.
- · Most of God’s people have no expectations that He will do miracles in this age. Many have been taught that miracles were only for the early Church, just to get things rolling, but now the growth and effectiveness of the Church is at the mercy of what mere men can accomplish in their own strength. Who in their right mind would believe that God would come up with a stupid plan like that! The spread of the gospel and the growth of the kingdom is God’s top priority, the most important item on His whole agenda. And He will use all of his power to accomplish it through whoever is willing to be used by Him. The age of miracles is not over. But the people who believe that God will work miracles through them is scarce indeed!
- · Surprisingly few of God’s people are actually filled with the Holy Spirit. Some point back to a day or time when they were filled, but there is no expectation of being continually filled on a day by day basis. Jesus, when He spoke of the Holy Spirit, spoke of Him like a spring, continually rushing through the lives of God’s people. God often used the imagery of a river for the same purpose. Jesus also used the imagery of a grape vine. He said that the branch must remain in the vine, attached to it in vital relationship, in order to be fruitful. (John 15:4-8) When the branch is connected to the vine on a continual basis, it is filled with sap, as the sap continually circulates through it. The branch is not filled once, but continually. To have the courage and power to be the Church, God’s people must be continually filled with His Spirit.
God so wants to make us, His people, powerful and effective at spreading the good news, redeeming the world, setting things right, freeing those in bondage to sin, raising the spiritually dead, even doing mighty miracles through them. But to do that, it will take a change in God’s people. We must want these things as much as He does, so that we will take time on purpose to hear His voice. So that we will know what God has done, and have great expectation that He will do the same things through us in these days. So that we will seek to be continually filled with God’s Spirit, so that He can give us the courage, the power to do what He has called them to do.
Father, thank You for this word today. Lord, I long to see Your power turned loose in our world and in our nation, and it’s clear that You long to do that through Your people in the 21st century just like You did in the 1st century. Help us today, Lord, to become the people You need us to be to do Your work. Amen.