Power Insights from Gary - 2

Continuing Gary’s power observations:
One of the tragedies of the Testaments is the frequent manifestation of power, and event that we read as a milestone, but which does not change the hearts and souls of the nation. God’s miraculous displays never had a lasting positive impact upon the lives of His people who witnessed this testimony of God. I am afraid we are mistaken to think the manifestation of power in our day would have more than an event result. It is not the display of power in the Cross and resurrection that changes lives, miraculous as they are; rather it is the working of the unseen power of God within the heart and soul that changes any of us. As much as we would like to believe that the demonstrative would change lives or draw people closer to God, we have few examples of that being true.

If we go back and read through the miracles of Jesus, we should notice that the miracle is seldom his focus. Most frequently he points them to changing their course of life, a change of heart and soul which is indicated as enduring beyond the moment. It is that idea that we clean the house of the demons but don’t fill it with something better and end up with the end worse than the beginning.

Check how often Jesus did not want the healings and miracles to be publicized; yes, it would have further restricted his movements, made it more difficult to get people to hear his ultimate message, gotten their eyes rather than their hearts. See the number of times that he, Jesus, told people not to tell but they went telling anyway. Would this age not also tend to elevate the event and not the heart of God? Are not men more taken with the obvious Creation than with the Creator? Are not there too many who emphasize the healing and not the Healer? Does not the physical healing seem larger to us than the spiritual healing of the reborn man?

Which demonstrates more about the essence of God: the miraculous display of event power or the abiding change of a life touched in the soul and spirit by God. While the miraculous event power is not exclusive of the abiding life change, power does not imply inner change. Yes, it should be followed by inner change as Jesus usually counseled but all too often the participant becomes anchored to the event rather than to the One behind the means of the event.


Too often we want God to fit a particular role, to use us in a particular role, something we can become comfortable with, something dependable for its regularity. God is more than my expectations, my conceptions, my perceptions; every time I find Him fitting my standards, I find Him becoming too small to be God and I become Lord of my life. I need God to be more than me. I also need Him to be in control of the power and its use on His schedule, for His purposes, at His direction. I need not know why not because He is God and He does not have to answer all my questions in my time, to satisfy my desire to know what He hasn’t revealed.

Thanks Gary Cottle, for your wise words of admonition. One of the concerns I had for my seeming lack of power was praying for and with an athlete last school year who was unable to compete at maximum strength because of injuries. I thought that if God would just heal him (through my prayers) that the man would see God’s power at work and want to give his life to the Lord. Gary’s reminder that the power for changed lives comes from the Holy Spirit with intrinsic movement not necessarily through the manifestations of extrinsic motivation.

One more thought about power in tomorrow's post.