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Faith in God’s Power Alone

Jim Cymbala

Every believer is probably familiar with the important role that preaching and good teaching play in extending Christ’s kingdom and helping us mature. But over the last few years, I have begun to wonder if our understanding of preaching is defined more by our life experience than by the Bible.

In most churches, a minister stands before the congregation and shares a passage of Scripture, usually in a sequential, logical manner that breaks down the meaning of the passage for everyone to understand. If the message is Scripture based and the speaker’s communication skills are of a high caliber, one would usually define that as a “fine sermon.” The same can be applied to us when we share the Word one-on-one with a friend or coworker. The recommended advice is to use your head, be as persuasive as you can, and try to bring the person to a belief in Jesus.

While all that is good, what are we going to make of the apostle Paul’s description of his method of preaching? Reminding the Corinthian church of his eighteen-month ministry there, he said: “When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Corinthian 2:1-5, emphasis added). 

What? A speaker not depending on wise and persuasive words? Isn’t that what most of us aim for when we share with others? But that was never part of Paul’s strategy as a preacher of the gospel. He boasted in the Spirit’s power resting on him. Why? In order that the Christians in Corinth might have their faith “in God’s power” and not in “human wisdom.”

Jim Cymbala began the Brooklyn Tabernacle with less than twenty members in a small, rundown building in a difficult part of the city. A native of Brooklyn, he is a longtime friend of both David and Gary Wilkerson.

Loved As Jesus Was Loved

David Wilkerson (1931-2011)

The Holy Spirit stirred my spirit concerning his love and led me to this passage: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ until eternal life” (Jude 20-21).

As I read these verses, I heard the Spirit quietly whisper to me, “David, you’ve never yet come into the fullness and joy of my love. You have the theology right, but you haven’t experienced the ecstasy and rest of keeping yourself in my love. There is a whole ocean of my love for you to swim in.”

The Bible is filled with the truth of God’s love but at times I allow myself to wonder how the Lord could ever love me. I don’t doubt his love, I just fail to keep myself in the knowledge and assurance of his love for me.

The love of God must be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit and the revelation comes in part when we are born again. If you were to ask most Christians what they know about God’s love for them, they would answer, “I know God loves me because he gave his son to die for me.” And they would quote John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Yet the secret to understanding the love of God is the secret to an overcoming life. Multitudes grow spiritually cold and lazy because they’re ignorant of the Lord’s love for them. They don’t understand that their greatest weapon against Satan’s attacks is to be fully convinced of God’s love.

In Jesus’ prayer to the Father in John 17, he prayed this remarkable prayer, “The glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me … that the world may know that You … have loved them as You have loved Me” (17:22-24).

The Forgiving Nature of God

David Wilkerson (1931-2011)

At times David suffered greatly under the Lord’s chastening rod. He was afraid the Lord had utterly forsaken him because of his sin, a thought he could not bear, and he pleaded with the Lord, “Let not the floodwater overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up; and let not the pit shut its mouth on me” (Psalm 69:15). He was saying, “Lord, please don’t let me go so far down I can’t get out!”

In David’s despair, his praying became intense. We read on many occasions where he cried out to God in anguish: “Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice!” (Psalm 130:1-2).

For many believers, sinking to the bottom means the end. They become so overwhelmed by their failures, they develop a sense of unworthiness, and over time they feel trapped beyond any help. Isaiah wrote of such believers, “O you afflicted one, tossed with tempest, and not comforted” (Isaiah 54:11).

Some eventually get mad at God because they don’t think he is moving quickly enough. “Lord, where were you when I needed you? I cried out to you but you didn’t answer. I’m tired of waiting without seeing any change.” Many such believers simply give up trying and give themselves over to their sin. Others fall into a fog of spiritual apathy, convinced that God doesn’t care about them anymore: “The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me” (Isaiah 49:14).

David was brought up from the depths by remembering the forgiving nature of God. After all his weeping to the Lord, David ended up testifying, “There is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared” (Psalm 130:4). The Holy Spirit began to flood his spirit with memories of God’s mercies and the Father’s forgiving, pardoning nature.

Walking in the fear of the Lord makes us able to say, “I know my Father loves me and will never abandon me. He is always ready to forgive me whenever I call on him.”

Helpers in Prayer

David Wilkerson (1931-2011)

How often do you pray for others? Too often when we tell someone, “I’ll pray for you,” we forget to do it. Or we pray once and then quickly forget about their need.

The apostle Paul experienced hardships so dire that he feared for his life: “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life” (2 Corinthians 1:8). Paul shared his need with his brothers and after he was delivered, he gave them credit for their support in prayer (see 2 Corinthians 1:11).

We don’t know exactly what Paul’s trouble was but 2 Corinthians 7:5 offers a hint: “For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears.” Paul was at a point of exhaustion of some kind, perhaps suffering mental anguish, and he obviously needed prayer support.

Many believers today suffer as Paul did; their greatest anguish is emotional, perhaps caused by those they have loved or helped the most. A significant lesson Paul learned in his anguish was that he had to turn to the Lord. He could no longer trust in his flesh, abilities or willpower. “We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9).

A precious elderly man wrote to tell me that God had prompted him to pray for me daily and he asked if he could put me on his prayer list — which included widows, the poor, ministers and unsaved people. He leads a simple life and prays without ceasing. I believe that those who intercede for others receive an especially rich reward in heaven. When I think about the souls God has allowed evangelists to reap into the kingdom, I immediately think of the incredible helping prayers of people like this dear saint.

Plead God's Promises for this Generation

David Wilkerson (1931-2011)

America’s children today are a lost generation. No generation in history has been so plagued by sex, drugs, alcohol, greed and murder at such a young age. Who is to blame for this?

Our educational system has become vile and perverted as teachers are introducing students to atheism, evolution, perversion, permissive sexual attitudes and anti-religious bigotry. A teacher cannot place a Bible on his desk — but he can display literature on subjects ranging from communism to pornography.

I am convinced our entire society is experiencing a moral collapse. Many parents, including Christians, blame this on schools, the government, the media, the church and their children’s peers. All these forces play a part in the disintegration of our youth, but neither schools, culture, media, evil music or backslidden churches alone are causing all this ruin. The truth is, the responsibility for this generation of youth rests primarily with the parents. The home is where most seeds of rebellion and wickedness are being sown.

I sincerely believe that parents need more wisdom and discernment now than at any time in history. Satan has many more wicked inventions and subtle disguises to use against God’s people and only through daily, diligent prayer and immersion in God’s Word will we have power against him as guardians over our homes.

Take special note of this covenant promise for your children: “Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you: ‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant’ and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring; they will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses’” (Isaiah 44:2-4).

Parents, plead God’s promises over your children; claim them as yours and hold them up to the Lord in intercession. Then bathe your family in prayer — and watch the enemy flee.