Where’s the Power?

Have you ever looked across the landscape of your family, church, or personal walk and wondered, “Where’s the power?” I do. I look at myself, my friends, and the church I help shepherd and ask that question all the time. I’m convinced beyond doubt that what is recorded in the book of Acts sets a standard against which we should measure our own experiences. Though I don’t entirely reject the concept that Acts is descriptive but not prescriptive, I indeed reject using that paradigm to say that we shouldn’t expect similar experiences in today’s church. The Book of Acts provides parameters for expectations, not templates for carbon copying. We can expect to see the LORD work in ways like He did then, but not precisely in a formulaic repetition that lets us create patterns where if we do x and y, we can always expect z.

With that said, I ask again. Where’s the power? Paul’s statements in 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 and 1 Corinthians 4:20 always stirs my heart.

“… and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,  so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

“For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.”

Before I press further, let me tell you what I’m not asking. Many, even some of my closer friends, may respond with an answer like this. They would appeal to the Gospel as the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). Therefore, the preaching of the Gospel is the only power I should concern myself with. That’s not what I’m talking about, and neither was Paul in the verses I quoted above. Paul spoke of power that accompanied his preaching that served as a witness to the authority of the Gospel. He called it the “demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” Why? “So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” Put simply, Paul didn’t want people to believe him because his rhetoric made sense, but because of a demonstration of God’s power that backed up His message.

Where is that power? Where is the power that Paul spoke of that backs up our Gospel preaching?

Preaching alone cannot be it, or else Paul would not have bothered with all this power business. Hear me. I love preaching. I listen to good preaching most days of the week. I love being built up by solid, expositional preaching of God’s Word. And when I preach, I do my dead-level best to be faithful to the text and not go beyond what is written. But if good preaching was enough, would we continue to hear about struggling marriages, broken friendships, and bitterness within the body of Christ? If solid preaching was enough, would we continue to have a pornography pandemic within the ranks of the church?

For all the solid preaching, there is not much power on display from those who preach it and those who hear it preached.

Consider the disciples. In Mark 9:14-29, they could not cast out a demon from a young boy. When Jesus arrived, he cast it out, no problem. You could say, “Well, of course Jesus could.” That’s not wrong, but when the disciples asked Him why they were unable, his answer suggested that perhaps they could have. His answer: “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer [and fasting].” (The ESV doesn’t include “and fasting” but some translations do, so I added it in brackets.) Now, the point isn’t whether fasting should be included here. The point isn’t even whether they forgot to pray before they tried to cast out the demon. It has more to do with whether they had been praying and fasting as a part of their regular spiritual disciplines. Were they people of prayer and fasting?

For me, this drives home the point. What kind of believer am I? Am I the kind who attends church, hears good preaching, gives, attends Bible studies, and all the things, but doesn’t pray, doesn’t fast with any consistency? Let me pose it like this. If I understand this correctly, Jesus is laying their failures to cast out that demon upon their failures to be the kind of people to whom demons must respond. Demons only respond to greater authority. Had the disciples been the kind of men who prayed and fasted as a part of their love and devotion to the LORD, they would’ve possessed the authority that demons must obey.

Let me offer an example of the positive kind. Acts 13:2-3 gives us an example of how prayer and fasting enable us to hear the Holy Spirit speak.

“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.”

Notice that these believers were already fasting. At some point in their fast, they all gathered for worship, and the Holy Spirit spoke to them with very specific instructions concerning Saul and Barnabas. After hearing that instruction, they continued to fast and pray, presumably to ensure they heard correctly, then sent them off. This event likely didn’t happen in one day but instead over at least a few days. The believers previously agreed to fast for a set time, gathered to worship during the fast, heard from the Holy Spirit, finished their fast, and sent Saul and Barnabas on their mission once their fast was over.

What’s the point? Because they were people of prayer and fasting, they heard clearly from the Holy Spirit concerning Saul and Barnabas.

Here’s where I’m going. Where’s the power? It lies in intimacy with the LORD. It isn’t something that exudes from you just because you’re a faithful church member who attends everything and gives above and beyond the tithe. Attendance, serving, and giving are too easy to do for lesser reasons. But unceasing prayer and regular fasting are intimate acts with the LORD. Can they be done wrongly? Of course, and Jesus warns about that. But for the hungry heart, there’s no more intimate way of spending time with the LORD. Remember this?

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus”. – Acts 4:13

Demons will take note that you’ve been with Jesus when you pursue intimacy with Him through unceasing prayer and regular fasting. It seems to be the model we see in Scripture, so why would we not pursue it today?

This is where the power has gone. It rises and falls on intimacy with the LORD. The bottom line is this: We’re too busy for power. We’re too inconvenienced by what it would take to avail ourselves of it. Until we unbusy and inconvenience ourselves, though we may have the greatest message in the Gospel, we won’t walk in the power that should accompany it.