God is a God of Power

Recently I was reading a profile to a “Bible School”; they were very interested in letting their inquirers know they were serious and dedicated to following the word of God, the Bible. They also were very intentional in stating that they were non-charismatic and believed that the sign gifts of the New Testament were not normative for today’s church. I was struck by the obvious contradiction. You see the Bible they so enthusiastically uphold is a book chalk full of signs and wonders. And nowhere in that Bible does it say, or even insinuate, that signs and wonders where meant for a specific age and not the ongoing operation of a wonder working God. It is sad that people so deeply committed to the truth of the Bible are so blind to the clear teaching of the Bible. God is a God of power. Christianity is based upon the miraculous. Jesus’ conception was a miracle. His ministry was one miracle after another. His resurrection was the great miracle upon which we build our hope. The early church grew upon the testimony of miracles done by Christians. Good Bible believing Christians affirm all this, but they stop short of believing God is still God by denying He is still regularly doing miracles today. Much of western evangelicalism believes in the Great I Was and the Great I Will Be, but they deny the Great I Am. God did it back then; He will do it again in heaven, but don’t expect much from Him now. The sad thing is we get what we expect. Not believing in the miraculous becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Jesus taught if we don’t have faith for miracles we won’t get miracles. In fact because the church is a unit, because we are all connected, the unbelief of some Christians becomes a ball and chain upon all Christians. The stated unbelief of the above Bible school makes miracles harder to do in Africa and harder to do for you and me. Jesus could do very few miracles in Nazareth because of their unbelief.Paul said, “The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” We have turned it into a matter of talk instead of power. If you say you believe in the Bible then believe in the whole Bible and believe in the God of the Bible. Start pressing into the miraculous, start believing God for miracles, start praying for miracles and don’t stop. It is time for our culture to see that the kingdom of God is still a matter of power and then they may listen some to our talk.

Love Drives Out Fear

So if fear is such a negative thing and so detrimental to our faithfulness and fruitfulness in Christ how do we get past it? Faith is the antithesis to fear but love is the antidote. The Bible teaches that “perfect love drives out fear”. This makes perfect sense. Faith requires living by taking risks based upon God’s voice and God’s promises. Fear is simply the state we live in when we really don’t believe the voice or the promises. Love is the answer. If we know that we know that we know God loves us, then we know He won’t let us down when we step out in faith. If we know He loves us we’ll pursue and have a level of intimacy with Him to know His voice so we won’t doubt when we hear Him or even be afraid of hearing wrongly. After all if we make a mistake trying to listen to Him and do His will, if He loves us He’ll put us back on the right track. We will believe His promises, act upon them, see His faithfulness and rejoice in His goodness. The answer for the overwhelming and paralyzing fear that grips a control bound Western Christianity is nothing other than the love of God. We are like little children on the edge of the pool wanting to jump in for the first time. Daddy is in the water with His arms extended and promising to catch us. How do we know He’ll catch us? He has a track record of love and faithfulness, but the only way to be sure is to jump. How do we get past the fear into the arms of a good and loving God, trust His love and take the plunge. Give the money you are prompted to give, start the class you have been nudged to start, reach out to the neighbor or co-worker God has placed on your heart. Base your next decision not upon the fear based prognosis of the current economy but on the voice of God revealed in your heart and in the scriptures. We can live lives of adventure and freedom outside of fear and in the arms of love. Jump.

More on Fear

One of the worst ways we hide fear is by hiding behind our Bibles and theology. This happens when knowing all the right answers and being able to correct others becomes more important then knowing and loving God and knowing and loving people. This is often the way of the religious who are afraid of real relationships. We all have been hurt by life and instead of risking more hurt we decide being right is more important than being real and vulnerable. The Bible, and theology can then become tools to actually keep God and people at arms length. This is the way of the Pharisees. Don't get me wrong, the Bible is true and good theology (what we think about God) is important. In fact if we truly understood the word of the Bible and had good theology we would be set free from fear and hiding. Sadly that seems to be too hard for all of us sometimes and for some all the time. So we use our knowledge of the Bible and theological correctness to bully people and keep threats away, we use phrases like 'where is that in the Bible' to protect us from God encounters, and 'that's not biblical' to protect us from changing our minds. As I said, I believe this kind of Pharisaical thinking is rooted in fear. It keeps people isolated, unchangeable and mean. The very antithesis to the heart of God, who wants us in real community, repent, teachable, kind and lovable.