Living Boldly for Christ: Daily Reflections on Faith, Prayer & Spiritual Life by David Hathaway
In Acts 1, Jesus spoke to a group of ordinary, imperfect men – including Peter, who had denied Him only weeks before. Yet Jesus made them an extraordinary promise: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." In other words, the Holy Spirit would transform their lives and empower them to fulfil the ministry He was entrusting to them.
The power of our faith is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We do not speak enough about the resurrection. At Communion we remember His death and celebrate His resurrection. At Easter we proclaim His victory over the grave. But the heart of the Gospel is this: God raised Jesus from the dead! Everything we believe, everything we preach, and everything we hope for rests upon that glorious truth.
In the Church, we need to return to the power of personal testimony. There is too much religious preaching and not enough declaring what the Lord has done in our own lives. People need to hear the evidence of God's transforming power. In my own ministry, I make it a priority to share testimonies of all that God has done.
In Acts 4, the religious leaders were astonished by two things: first, the miracle that had taken place; and second, the boldness of Peter and John. It is time for us to stand with that same boldness and declare the truth we know. The leaders recognised that these ordinary men had been with Jesus – and that made all the difference.
When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive power from God, and that power is meant to be demonstrated. What I sense today is that much of the Church is not living in that power or demonstrating it to the world. So, I would ask: if you have received the Holy Spirit, what difference has it made in your life?
The first time I began major evangelism in Siberia in 1994, I took four hundred co-evangelists and spent three months there, 16,000 km away from home. We didn’t have enough money when we went, I had just enough for one-way tickets. Some asked me where were the return tickets, and I told them, in the Gospels Jesus said ‘Go’ many times – He never once said, ‘Come back!’ But God did provide – we came back – by faith!
We need the power of the Holy Spirit to see miracles! There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12: – three vocal gifts, speaking with tongues, the interpretation of tongues, and prophecy – three intellectual gifts, the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and the discerning of spirits – three practical gifts, the gifts of healing, the working of miracles and the gift of faith. The gift of faith is NOT an intellectual gift! If you see faith as only an intellectual gift, you will never see its power. It is a practical gift; it’s the one I ask for – more than any other gift!
We need the power of the Holy Spirit to see miracles! There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12: – three vocal gifts, speaking with tongues, the interpretation of tongues, and prophecy – three intellectual gifts, the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and the discerning of spirits – three practical gifts, the gifts of healing, the working of miracles and the gift of faith. The gift of faith is NOT an intellectual gift! If you see faith as only an intellectual gift, you will never see its power. It is a practical gift; it’s the one I ask for – more than any other gift!
Formal Christianity has totally moved away from the miraculous, and the moment that you do, you’ve lost the purpose of our Christian faith and its power. If there were no miracles in the life of Jesus – the virgin birth, the resurrection and the miracles of His ministry – then He is no different from any other so-called god or prophet.
In this story, Jesus was asleep, a storm arose, so the disciples woke Him, ‘We’re all going to die, it’s the end of the world…’ But Jesus just got up, He bound the storm, the winds stopped, the boat was safe, nobody died – and when those strong fishermen saw the demonstration of the power that this Man had over the elements, they said, ‘What kind of Man do we have in the boat?’
Matthew 8:23 says, ‘Jesus entered into a ship... and behold there arose a great storm in the sea, so much that the ship was covered with the waves, but Jesus was asleep. His disciples woke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us, we’re going to die!’ And He said, ‘Why are you so afraid, O you of little faith!’ Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm. The men marvelled, and said, ‘What kind of Man is this?’’
So many people do not understand who God is. He is not just a great Being in Heaven. If unbelieving people try to draw pictures of God, often they liken Him to an old man with a beard. But God is not an old man, nor does He look like you, He can only be recognised by His actions! And God is not just in Heaven, He is everywhere
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