The Danger of God’s Power

Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that will always listen to your bellyaching, moaning, groaning, and appear to care.

Before we get into today’s topic, I want to alert you to two audios that recently dropped on the Christ is All podcast (which you can find on all podcast apps).

They are:

God’s Masterpiece – this message is part of the Ephesians in 3D Master Class (contains 36 messages total).

A Challenge from Secular Musicians – this explains why the kingdom isn’t advancing like it could with a solution.

You can listen to both HERE. Just scroll down when you get to the page.

Those who know me well and/or have consumed all my work are aware that I’m a strong advocate of the miraculous power of God.

Not only do I believe in it, but it’s part of my life and ministry.

However, I take my cue from Jesus and don’t make a big deal about it. (More on this later.)

In the same way, while the miraculous occurred in Paul’s ministry, he rarely emphasized it in his letters. In fact, in the bulk of his epistles, he hardly mentions it.

Over the past year, there have been a number of displays of miraculous healings in response to “the prayer of faith” for others, but I’ve only shared those reports with friends and family. (I did share one of them in a radio interview recently, but we haven’t published it yet on the Christ is All podcast.)

In Revise Us Again, I discuss the danger of emphasizing the miraculous power of God. And as I articled it in the Titan, many of God’s people chase power over Jesus Christ while others deny its existence.

However, there’s a third reaction. But if you take it, you’ll have some wrongly accusing you of not believing in the miraculous while others will accuse you of obsessing over it.

Funny how that works, isn’t it?

Another point. Those who are intoxicated with God’s power often fail to recognize that God’s power is NOT relegated to the miraculous.

God’s power can be displayed through preaching, through writing, through shepherding someone, and through kingdom living.

And something doesn’t have to be miraculous to be supernatural. 

Consequently, those who only relegate “the power of God” to signs, wonders, and healings err.

With that as my introduction, I want to discuss a dark side of ministry that is rarely discussed today.

And if you’re not careful, you could succumb to it.

When God gives His power to someone, it exposes them. It humbles one person and destroys another.

Consider two recent converts. Both are young men who seek to be “endued” with God’s power.

The Lord graciously grants both their requests.

The first man begins using God’s power for his own ends. His original prayer was fueled by the desire to draw large crowds, zap demons, and do great wonders.

He shares space with the uber-ambitious Simon, who offered to pay Peter good money to harness God’s power (Acts 8:9-24).

The second man wants to magnify his Lord and advance God’s kingdom. He realizes he can’t accomplish either without being endued with God’s power. So he prays accordingly.

When God’s Power Becomes Unsafe

There is a sober stewardship attached to the power of God.

Miraculous power operates by gift, not character.

A Christian walking in the flesh, therefore, can still operate in the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit.

A carnal believer can speak in tongues, perform healings, and even receive spiritual insight. If you don’t believe me, just read 1 Corinthians 14.

The Corinthian believers lived in massive carnality (chapters 1 to 12), yet they continued to operate abundantly in spiritual gifts.

Paul makes it clear that a person can speak in tongues and even receive spiritual understanding and prophetic utterance yet lack love—the supreme mark of spiritual character:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

~ 1 Corinthians 13:1-2

I grew up in a movement in which many Christians got drunk on God’s power. They chased power more than they chased Jesus. They were so obsessed with the miraculous that they lost sight of Christ.

Even worse, some in the leadership were power hungry, trying to harness God’s power to meet their own ends.

I can singe your ears with stories of men with impressive displays of miraculous power, only to learn that behind closed doors they engaged in all sorts of perversions and drug/alcohol abuse.

These men lived on the edge of hell as they preached victory and performed signs and wonders.

As a student of history, I marvel at the stories of the great American evangelists during the post–World War II era.

Many of them were the most powerfully gifted men of their time, but they destroyed their ministries by making foolish decisions (Billy Graham was a rare exception).

Samson, King Saul, and Balaam are not alone in the long trail of souls who operated in powerful, miraculous gifts, but who woefully lacked character.

Saul could prophesy by the Spirit of God while at the same time holding murder in his heart—and even acting on it (see 1 Samuel 19).

Though God gives His gifts by grace, and as a general rule they cannot be revoked (Romans 11:29), in some cases the Lord removes His anointing from a servant because of persistent disobedience.

This is a tragic state known as an “Ichabod” situation.[i] The flow stops, the brook dries up, the anointing lifts, the well quits giving water, and the power evaporates. The glory departs.

Here’s a word of warning: If you try to harness God’s power for your own aims, you’re dealing with the wrong God. In the words of C. S. Lewis, Jesus Christ is not a tame lion.[ii] He will not be harnessed nor controlled.

Where Power Is Safe

God never gives His power to you or me to wield as individuals. He gives His power to the bride of Christ, the ekklesia.

Whenever I see men wielding God’s power as isolated individuals, I immediately see imminent destruction. The power of God on an individual will destroy him. It’s safe only when that person remains properly connected to other members of the body.

In every case I can think of when an individual abused God’s power, that person was disconnected from the body of Christ. Yes, they may have attended church services. In fact, they may have even regularly preached in them.

But that’s not the same as having a living experience of the body of Christ, where close-knit relationships are forged and members temper one another.

I’m also impressed that Jesus didn’t try to gain fame through His signs and wonders. Have you ever noticed that the Lord never made a production out of healing the sick?

When Jesus performed a healing, He virtually always told that person not to tell anyone.[iii] We see a certain modesty in Christ whenever He exercised His power.

God’s power is available to accomplish His will, but it’s so easy to corrupt, pervert, and make cheap and common.

But wait, it gets even worse.

Malignant Narcissism

Spiritual power causes some people, perhaps many, to believe they can handle everything on their own. These befuddled souls are marked by titanic arrogance mixed with paranoia. They are erratic narcissists and serial liars who have an unwarranted confidence in their own sagacity.

They are rude, crude, insensitive, judgmental, and as crooked as a dog’s hind leg.

They are also prone to violate Proverbs 27:2, regularly lathering themselves up with praise.

In some twisted way, they believe they have a right to such self-indulgence because they carry God’s anointing.

The same thing happens when individuals acquire political power. Many of them turn into insufferable human beings. Privilege has a toxic influence on most humans.

How ironic that those gifted with God’s power slip into the same temptations. Unfortunately, malignant narcissism abounds in both the political and religious worlds.

But a major fall awaits such people. They will move from a powerful place to a place of deep weakness. This is God’s generous grace, because power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), and only the weak and poor in spirit can heal the broken and needy.

It was said of Jesus that He would not break a bruised reed nor snuff out a smoldering wick (Matthew 12:20). In the ancient world, smoldering wicks signaled that they should be extinguished and replaced with new ones.

Bruised reeds couldn’t measure accurately, so they too had to be discarded and replaced.

Strikingly, Jesus didn’t discard or replace the damaged, the weak, and the broken.

He healed them.

As the One gentle and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29), our Lord consistently helped the least, the lost, and the lowest.

By contrast, those who take God’s power for granted not only discard the broken; they run over them.

With weakness comes the power to heal the weak. Without weakness, God’s power becomes a dangerous thing. So be careful.

A Most Dangerous Prayer

Coming back to the front of this article, one of the most dangerous prayers a Christian can utter is the request for God’s power.

Very often, what lies hidden behind such prayers is the unspoken ambition for fame and the desire to be regarded as a “spiritual giant” admired by many.[iv]

But before you can be safe to God’s people, it’s critical that you become aware of the dark intentions lurking in your heart. You must first slay the monster of human ambition.

Personally, I tremble when I hear young people ask God for power.

If the Lord is merciful enough to answer your prayer, I have one word of advice: Duck!

The Lord will arrange your circumstances in such a way that you will be leveled to the ground, broken but fit for the Master’s use.

God’s Spirit will take you through deep waters to accomplish this.

The earth does not need more outwardly powerful people. It needs inwardly transformed people. And only the latter can be trusted with God’s power.

If you have an unhealthy appetite for power, you’ll experience serious indigestion and worse.

Let us be careful stewards of the holy things of God, broken and humble vessels properly coordinated with other members of the body of Christ.

The power of God in an unbroken vessel is a toxic thing.

Never forget that. 

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For more on the power of God, my conversation partners and I discuss it on a number of episodes of the Insurgence podcast.

Related:

A Word to My Miracle-Obsessed Friends

A Word to My Miracle-Doubting Friends

What’s a Miracle, Really?

Two New Reviews

Review of the ESV Study Bible

Review of the NRSV Premium Bible

P.S. If someone wanted to change your life and zealously forced this blog post on you, you can appease them and subscribe here. It’s gratis and comes with a dozen Super Fire Hot Wings … the kind you can only eat after you sign a set of release forms. (No lemon suckers please. They won’t understand the humor.)

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[i] For examples, see 1 Samuel 4:21; 16:14-23; Judges 16:19-20.

[ii] C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (New York: HarperCollins, 1950), 182.

[iii] There are a few exceptions, but saying “tell no one” was His standard practice.

[iv] Interestingly, a person can be exposed to God’s miraculous power and remain untransformed (see Luke 16:31).

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The Insurgence Podcast – conversations about the explosive gospel of the kingdom. Gratis.

The Christ is All Podcast – over 145 episodes. A new episode drops every other Tuesday. Gratis.

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