When God shows up…

I’ve wanted to share some things for a few weeks now about a certain question that many of us have asked.

We see people get sick and die, and we ask it. We see people going bankrupt, and we wonder. Many things cause us to want to know…

Where’s the power?

You know what I’m talking about, right? That power that Peter walked in when people laid his handkerchiefs on the road, and when he walked through the Gate Beautiful and said, “Get up and walk.” The power that Paul displayed when he flung the poisonous serpent off into the fire, which made those on the island think he was a superhero god.

We all acknowledge that God is a God of power, but many of us will also say that we haven’t actually seen much of that power. We want to see the blind healed and the lame walk. We want to see the dead raised.

My question for all those asking that question is this:

Are our priorities wrong?

Jesus did spend much time healing, but is that what He was focused on?

How many verses in the Bible does he talk about healing the sick? I’m sure you can bring several to mind. I can. But how many verses are filled with Him talking about His kingdom? How often did He talk about righteousness and loving others and demonstrating that love? How often did He talk about knowing the Father? I can bring chapters and chapters of those to mind.

Sooo….

Am I saying we’re not supposed to be wanting to see His power? Not at all! But maybe we should desire more often to see His power active in the spiritual (and far more important) aspects of life. Stirring up His love in our hearts. Working victory over sin in our lives. Filling us with a supernatural love so overwhelming that the world’s opinion of Christians was radically changed. Opening the eyes of the spiritually blind.

We got a taste of God’s power and presence last Sunday. Now that I’ve had a week to think about it and let the euphoria of His presence settle in and wear off, I’m thinking about two opposing thoughts:

1) Many of us will testify about how God “showed up” in our worship service on Sunday.
2) Many more could have been there and thought we were all looney.

You see…there was no outward display of power or signs and wonders. There wasn’t really anything you could put in a newspaper or quantify. Rather, many of us can simply testify of His presence. We could also tell of miracles inside our souls that were wrought in a few poignant moments between worship songs…miracles that hours (and perhaps years) of self-help and teaching could not have accomplished.

One would speak of things never understood that suddenly made sense. Another could speak of restoration, peace, and refreshing joy. Another might use the image of a fountain in a desert to try to explain what God did in a dry and weary heart. For me, I was once more given a supernatural taste of something that I’ve spent this last year waiting on…wondering if that season of my life was over, or if I would taste it once more, some day. And Sunday was the day God chose.

This is God’s power, but it wasn’t displayed in the way that most of us talk and think about seeing God’s power. It was a quieter display of power that could only be seen through the eyes of the Spirit. But how blessed were those of us who experienced it and recognized it!

I wonder what would happen if the church as a whole earnestly sought to see God’s power in this way? What if we taught and preached more about what it means and what it results in? What if every time we hungered to see God’s power heal someone’s body, we hungered even more strongly to see Him heal their soul?

I know some of us do hunger for that…

But what if we all did?