I’m not impressed with anyone’s life unless they have integrity. But I’m not happy with their life until they are dangerous.¹ As much as I have the ability to do so, I’ll not let those around me get away with just being nice people!

     Many believers have made it their primary goal in life to be well-respected citizens of their communities. Good character enables us to be solid contributors to society, but most of what is recognized as a Christian lifestyle can be accomplished by people who don’t even know God. Every believer should be highly respected AND MORE. It’s the and more part that we’re often lacking.

    While character must be at the heart of our ministries, power revolutionizes the world around us. Until the Church returns to Jesus’ model for true revolutionaries, we will continue to be recognized by the world merely as nice people—while it is overcome with disease and torment, on its way to hell.

    Some Christians actually have considered it to be more noble to choose character over power. But we must not separate the two. It is an unjustifiable, illegitimate choice. Together they bring us to the only real issue—obedience.

    Once, while teaching a group of students about the importance of signs and wonders in the ministry of the gospel, a young man spoke up saying, “I’ll pursue signs and wonders when I know I have more of the character of Christ in me.” As good as that may sound, it comes from a religious mindset, not a heart abandoned to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In response to this student’s comment, I opened to the Gospel of Matthew and read the Lord’s charge: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.”² I then asked him, Who gave you the right to determine when you are ready to obey His command?

IMPRESSING GOD

    Does anyone think that God is impressed with us when we tell Him, “I’ll obey You when I have more character?” Character is shaped through obedience. Jesus commanded His disciples to go, and in going they were to teach all that they had been taught. And part of what they were taught was specific training on how to live and operate in the miraculous.³ They were commanded to “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons.”⁴ And now they were responsible to teach this requirement as the lifestyle for all who were to become followers of Jesus Christ. In this way, His standard could remain the standard—the norm for all who call upon the name of the Lord for salvation.

    Many consider themselves unworthy of God using them in the miraculous, and therefore never pursue that realm. Isn’t it ironic that Christians will disobey God by not diligently seeking after spiritual gifts—they won’t lay hands on the sick or seek to deliver the demonized—because they realize their need for more character? In none of the commissions of Jesus to His disciples did He deal specifically with character.

    Is it possible the reason there are so few miracles in North America is because too many before us thought they had to become better Christians before God could use them? Yes! That single lie has kept us in perpetual immaturity because it protects us from the power-encounter that transforms us. The result is we have converts trained and over trained until they have no life, vision, or ingenuity left. This next generation of converts must be handled differently. We must help them by giving them their identity as world changers, provide them with a model for character, passion, and power, and open up opportunities to serve.

    Mario Murillo puts it this way, “When he picks up a Bible, his focus will not be on emotional healing or self-esteem. He’ll ask you where the trigger is and how you fire it. When he reads the Word, he will want to apply it to the taking over of neighborhoods for God!”⁵

THE ANOINTING, A KEY TO PERSONAL GROWTH

    Christlike character can never be fully developed without serving under the anointing. Anointed ministry brings us into contact with the power needed for personal transformation.

    Both the Old and New Testaments are filled with great examples of empowering for supernatural endeavors. An important principle is found in the story of King Saul. God spoke saying that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon him and turn him into another man.⁶ The anointing transforms the vessel it flows through. Two key phrases follow this promise:

    1. “God gave him another heart.”
    2. “Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and He prophesied among them” [the prophets].⁷

    Saul was given an opportunity to become all that Israel needed him to be, (a king with a new heart), and learn to do all he needed to do, (hear from God and declare His words—prophesy).

    I have a dear friend who had a huge character flaw that spiritually crippled him and his family for a season. Yet during this time, he still had a very strong prophetic anointing. He was not the first person to think that his successful ministry was a sign of God’s approval of his private life. Many have fallen victim to that error through the years. When I confronted him about his secret sin, he wept with deep sorrow.

    Because of his place of influence in the church, I felt a keen responsibility to bring him under discipline.⁸ No organization is any stronger than its ability to discipline its members, whether it is a business, government, church, or family. Part of my restriction for him was to keep him from giving prophetic words for a season. He accepted this direction as necessary.

    After several months of this restriction, I became increasingly troubled over the statement regarding King Saul and it’s relationship to my friend. I realized if I didn’t allow him to minister (under the anointing) I’d be limiting his exposure to the very thing that would seal and establish his victory. When I released him to prophesy again, there was a new purity and power in his voice. It was his personal encounter with the anointing in ministry that “turned him into another man.”⁹

COUNTERFEITS EXIST

    A counterfeit hundred dollar bill does not nullify the value of the real thing. Likewise, a counterfeit, abused, or abandoned gift does not invalidate our need for the Holy Spirit’s power to live as Jesus did.

    Pennies are not counterfeited because they’re not worth the effort. In the same way, the devil only works to copy or distort those things in the Christian life that have the greatest potential effect. When I see others who have pursued great things in God but have failed, I get motivated to pick up where they left off. It tells me there’s a treasure in that field, and I’m ready to look for it with reckless abandon.¹⁰ The abuses of one person never justify the neglect of another.

    Many of those who are embarrassed over the abuses of power, and the subsequent blemishes upon the Church, are seldom offended over the absence of signs and wonders. The eyes of the critics quickly move to the ones who tried and failed, overlooking the countless millions who confess salvation in Jesus, but never pursue the gifts as commanded. But the eyes of Jesus quickly look to see if there is faith on the earth—“When I return will I find faith on earth?”¹¹ For every charlatan there are a thousand good citizens who accomplish little or nothing for the Kingdom.

THE PURPOSE OF THE POWER

    Many believe His power exists only to help us overcome sin. This understanding stops very short of the Father’s intent for us to become witnesses of another world. Doesn’t it seem strange that our whole Christian life should be focused on overcoming something that has already been defeated? Sin and its nature have been yanked out by the roots. Many constantly call out to God for more power to live in victory. What more can He do for us? If His death wasn’t enough, what else is there? That battle has already been fought and won! Is it possible that the process of constantly bringing up issues dealt with by the blood is what has actually given life to those issues?

    Many in the Church are camped on the wrong side of the Cross. The apostle Paul spoke to this issue when he said, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.¹² “The word reckon points to our need to change our minds. I don’t need power to overcome something if I’m dead to it. But I do need power for boldness¹³ for the miraculous and for the impossible.

    Part of our problem is this: we are accustomed only to doing things for God that are not impossible. If God doesn’t show up and help us, we can still succeed. There must be an aspect of the Christian life that is impossible without divine intervention. That keeps us on the edge and puts us in contact with our true calling.

    Make no mistake, character is a supreme issue with God. But His approach is much different than ours. His righteousness/character is not built into us by our own efforts. It is developed when we quit striving and learn to abandon ourselves completely to His will.

CLOTHED WITH POWER

    So great was the disciples need for power to become witnesses that they were not to leave Jerusalem until they had it. That word power, dunamis, speaks of the miracle realm. It comes from dunamai, which means “ability.” Think about it—we get to be clothed with God’s ability!

    The remaining eleven disciples were already the most trained people in signs and wonders in all of history. No one had seen or done more, except Jesus. And it was those eleven who had to stay until they were clothed with power from on high. When they got it they knew it. This power came through an encounter with God.

    Some, because of their fear of error, have said it’s improper to seek for an experience with God. After all, many deceived groups have come from those who based their beliefs on experiences in conflict with Scripture. Under the guidance of such attitudes, fear becomes our teacher. But why aren’t those same individuals afraid of belonging to the doctrinally stable camps that are powerless? Is this deception any less dangerous than that of the power abuser? Will you bury your gifts and tell the Master when He comes that you were afraid of being wrong? Power and character are so closely aligned in Scripture that you cannot be weak in one without undermining the other.

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

    Around twenty-five years ago I heard someone mention that if we would learn what it meant to “not grieve” and “not quench” the Holy Spirit, we would know the secret to being full of the Spirit. While that may be overly simplistic, this individual tapped into two very important truths that deal directly with the “character vs. power” trap.

    The command, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit”¹⁴ explains how our sin affects God. It causes Him grief. This command is character centered. Sin is defined in two ways: doing wrong things, and a failure to do right things: “To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”¹⁵ Departing from the character of Christ in either of these ways brings grief to the Holy Spirit.

    Continuing with this theme we have the command, “Do not quench the Spirit.”¹⁶ This mandate is focused on our need to follow His leading. To quench means to “stop the flow” of something. As the Holy Spirit is ready to bring salvation, healing, and deliverance, we are to flow with Him. Failure to do so hinders His efforts to bring us into the supernatural.

    If He is to be free to move in our lives, we will constantly be involved in impossibilities. The supernatural is His natural realm. The more important the Holy Spirit becomes to us, the more these issues will be paramount in our hearts.

PURSUE AN ENCOUNTER

    At some point we must believe in a God who is big enough to keep us safe in our quest for more of Him. Practically speaking, many Christian’s devil is bigger than their God. How could a created, fallen being ever be compared with the infinite Lord of glory? It’s an issue of trust. If I focus on my need to protect myself from deception, I will always be overwhelmingly aware of the power of the devil. If my heart is completely turned to the One who is “able to keep me from falling,”¹⁷ He is the only One I become impressed with. My life reflects what I see with my heart.

    So how do we walk in the power of God? First, we must pursue Him. The life of power is a life of abiding in Christ, (staying plugged into our power source). The hunger for the demonstration of power must not be separated from our passion for Him. But realize this, our hunger for Him in part must be seen in our lustful pursuit of spiritual gifts.¹⁸ That is His command!

    In this endeavor I must passionately desire life-changing encounters with God, over and over again. I must cry out day and night for them…and be specific. I must be willing to travel to get what I need. If God is moving somewhere else more than where I live, I must go! If He is using someone more than He is using me, I must humbly go to them and ask them to pray for me with the laying on of hands.

    Some may ask, “Why can’t God touch me where I am?” He can. But He usually moves in ways that emphasize our need for others, rather than adding to our independence. Wise men have always been willing to travel.

MY STORY - GLORIOUS, BUT NOT PLEASANT

    In my personal quest for increased power and anointing in my ministry, I have traveled to many cities, including Toronto. God has used my experiences in such places to set me up for life-changing encounters at home.

    Once in the middle of the night, God came in answer to my prayer for more of Him, yet not in a way I had expected. I went from a dead sleep to being wide-awake in a moment. Unexplainable power began to pulsate through my body, seemingly just shy of electrocution. It was as though I had been plugged into a wall socket with a thousand volts of electricity flowing through my body. My arms and legs shot out in silent explosions as if something was released through my hands and feet. The more I tried to stop it, the worse it got.

    I soon discovered that this was not a wrestling match I was going to win. I heard no voice, nor did I have any visions. This was simply the most overwhelming experience of my life. It was raw power…it was God. He came in response to a prayer I had been praying for months—God, I must have more of you at any cost!

    The evening before was glorious. We were having meetings with a good friend and prophet, Dick Joyce. The year was 1995. At the end of the meeting, I prayed for a friend who was having difficulty experiencing God’s presence. I told him that I felt God was going to surprise him with an encounter that could come in the middle of the day, or even at 3 a.m. When the power fell on me that night, I looked at the clock. It was 3 a.m., exactly. I knew I had been set up.

    For months I had been asking God to give me more of Him. I wasn’t sure of the correct way to pray, nor did I understand the doctrine behind my request. All I knew was I was hungry for God. It had been my constant cry day and night.

    This divine moment was glorious, but not pleasant. At first I was embarrassed, even though I was the only one who knew I was in that condition. As I lay there, I had a mental picture of me standing before my congregation, preaching the Word as I loved to do. But I saw myself with my arms and legs flailing about as though I had serious physical problems. The scene changed—I was walking down the main street of our town, in front of my favorite restaurant, again arms and legs moving about without control.

    I didn’t know of anyone who would believe that this was from God. I recalled Jacob and his encounter with the angel of the Lord. He limped for the rest of His life. And then there was Mary, the mother of Jesus. She had an experience with God that not even her fiancée believed, although a visit from an angel helped to change his mind. As a result she bore the Christ-child…and then bore a stigma for the remainder of her days as the mother of the illegitimate child. It was becoming clear; the favor of God sometimes looks different from the perspective of earth than from heaven. My request for more of God carried a price.

    Tears began to soak my pillowcase as I remembered the prayers of the previous months and contrasted them with the scenes that just passed through my mind. At the forefront was the realization that God wanted to make an exchange—His increased presence for my dignity. It’s difficult to explain how you know the purpose of such an encounter. All I can say is you just know. You know His purpose so clearly that every other reality fades into the shadows, as God puts His finger on the one thing that matters to Him.

    In the midst of the tears came a point of no return. I gladly yielded, crying, More, God. More! I must have more of You at any cost! If I lose respectability and get You in the exchange, I’ll gladly make that trade. Just give me more of You!

    The power surges didn’t stop. They continued throughout the night, with me weeping and praying, More Lord, more, please give me more of You. It all stopped at 6:38 a.m., at which time I got out of bed completely refreshed. This experience continued the following two nights, beginning moments after getting into bed.

PURSUE AGAINST THE GRAIN

    Biblical passion is a mysterious mixture of humility, supernatural hunger, and faith. I pursue because I have been pursued. Lethargy must not be found in me. And if the average Christian life around me falls short of the biblical standard, I must pursue against the grain. If people are not being healed, I will not supply a rationale so that all those around me remain comfortable with the void. Instead, I will pursue the healing until it comes or the individual goes to be with the Lord.¹⁹ I will not lower the standard of the Bible to my level of experience.

    Jesus healed everyone who came to Him. To accept any other standard is to bring the Bible down to our level of experience, and deny the nature of the One who changes not.

    As for the ministry of power, whatever I receive from God I must give away. You only get to keep what you give away. If you want to see people healed, look for those who are sick and offer to pray for them. While I am not the healer, I do have control over my willingness to serve those in need. If I minister to the needy, I give Him an opportunity to show His extravagant love for people. The ministry of signs and wonders will go nowhere if we are afraid of failure. As Randy Clark puts it, “I must be willing to fail to succeed.”

LOOK FOR FRUIT

    Jesus said that we must receive the Kingdom like a child. The life of power is at home in the heart of a child. A child has an insatiable appetite to learn. Be childlike and read the works of those who have succeeded in the healing ministry. Stay away from the books and tapes of those who say it shouldn’t or can’t be done. If the author doesn’t walk in power, don’t listen, no matter how proficient they may be in another field. An expert in biblical finances is not necessarily proficient in signs and wonders. Maintain respect for that individual’s place in God and his or her area of expertise, but never waste precious time reading the stuff of those who do not do what they teach. We have grown fat on the theories of classroom Christians. We must learn from those who just do it!

    Someone once brought a book to my office that was critical of the revival that started in Toronto in January of 1994. I refused to read it and threw it away. You might say, “You’re not very open minded.” You’re right. I am responsible to protect what God has given me. No one else has that assignment. Burning within my soul is a piece of the original flame from the day of Pentecost. It’s been handed down generation after generation. That fire burns deep inside, and because of it I’ll never be the same again. My passion for Jesus is growing continually. And the signs and wonders He promised are happening as a regular part of life.

    For me to consider the criticisms of this revival would be the same as giving audience to someone trying to prove I should have married another woman. First of all, I love my wife and have no interest in anyone else. Second, I refuse to entertain the thoughts of any person who desires to undermine my love for her. Only those who will add to my commitment to her are allowed such an audience with me. Anything less would be foolishness on my part.

    The critics of this revival are unknowingly attempting to separate me from my first love. I will not give them place. I have many friends who are able to read the books of the critics with no ill effect. I respect them for their ability to stick their hands in the mire without getting their hearts dirty. I don’t care to do it. It’s just not my gift. Learn how you function best, then function!

    While I have no time for critics, but I do welcome the “wounds of a friend.”²⁰ The corrections offered through meaningful relationships keep us from deception.

WHAT IF NOTHING HAPPENS

    If we teach, preach, or witness and nothing happens, we must go back to the drawing board—our knees. Do not make excuses for powerlessness. For decades the Church has been guilty of creating doctrine to justify their lack of power, instead of crying out to God until He changed them. The lie they came to believe has given rise to an entire branch of theology that has infected the Body of Christ with a fear of the Holy Spirit. It deceives under the guise of staying undeceived. The Word must go forth with power. Power is the realm of the Spirit. A powerless Word is the letter not the Spirit. And we all know, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”²¹ Lives must be changed in our ministry of the Word. Keep in mind that conversion is the greatest and most precious miracle of all.

    “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”²² If the gospel is powerless, it is because human wisdom has had its influence.

PRAYER, THE GATEWAY TO POWER

    Whenever I have taken time to seek God about the need for power to back up His message, He always comes through with an increase. Miracles increase. I learned something very helpful along these lines from Randy Clark. When he notices there are certain kinds of healings that are not taking place in his meetings, he cries out to God mentioning specific diseases in his prayers. He was having very few miracles having to do with the brain—such as dyslexia. After crying out for these kinds of miracle manifestations, he started to experience a breakthrough. I have followed his lead and have never seen God fail. Specific requests are good because they are measurable. Some of our prayers are too general. God could answer them and we would never know it.

    After learning this principle from Randy’s example, I began to pray for disorders in the brain. One such miracle came to a woman named Cindy. She was told that a third of her brain was shut down. As a result, she had  learning disorders. She could do nothing with memorization, numbers, or maps. On one of our Friday night services, she stood in line for prayer for the blessing of God. When she was prayed for, she fell under the weight of His glory. During the time in which she lay there overcome by God’s power, she had a vision in which Jesus asked her if she would like for Him to heal her. She of course said yes. At His command, she jumped up off of the floor and ran to get her Bible. For the first time in her life everything was where it was supposed to be on the page. When she testified of the miracle a couple of weeks later, she quoted many verses she had put to memory in such a short time.

PAY ME NOW, OR PAY ME LATER

    We hear a lot about what the anointing costs. Without question, walking with God in power will cost all who give themselves to this mandate. But the absence of power is even more costly. In the next chapter we’ll discover how eternity is affected by our powerlessness.

ENDNOTES

1. Dangerous to the powers of hell, and the works of darkness.
2. Matt. 28:19.
3. Matt. 10:1,5-8, 17 and Luke 9:1-6.
4. Matt. 10:8.
5. Fresh Fire, by Mario Murillo – Page 85. Anthony Douglas Publishing.
6. See 1 Sam. 10:6.
7. 1 Sam. 10:9-10.
8. Discipline can bring an individual into personal victory, but punishment bridles with shame.
9. This illustration is not to take away from the importance of discipline. Biblical discipline is not punishment. It is choosing, in love, restrictions that are best for that person and the entire church family. The length of his discipline was nearing the point at which it would have become punishment and would have kept him from the very thing he needed.
10. Reckless abandon is not the same as spiritual carelessness. Most of the failures in the past have come because leaders became to detached from the people that God put in their lives. I pursue dangerous things, but I keep accountable, and I work to protect my relationships on all levels. I believe this is the realm of safety that many have abandoned in their pursuit of their “treasure in the field.”
11. See Luke 18:8.
12. Rom. 6:11.
13. See Acts 4:28-29.
14. Eph. 4:30.
15. Jas. 4:17.
16. 1 Thess. 5:19.
17. See Jude 24-25.
18. 1 Cor. 14:1.
19. At this point the prayer for resurrection is appropriate!
20. See Prov. 27:6.
21. 2 Cor. 3:6.
22. 1 Cor. 1:17 NIV.