The Power of God in us………….     

Mary Newsom

This is a thought that has promoted prayer and action.   It is behind all our healing services and attempts to allow God the freedom that Jesus had whilst on earth.     Time and again I’ve come back to the fact that it is God’s power and He does not give it away.      Yet at the same time I think of the gifts of the Spirit as described in
1 Corinthians 12.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.   There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.   There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men ......(4-6)

The Spirit is given for the common good and different gifts are distributed to each member of the Church according to His choice.    Listed are:    the message of wisdom,    the message of knowledge,  faith,   gifts of healing and of miraculous powers,    prophecy,     distinguishing between spirits,    speaking in different kinds of tongues, and  the interpretation of tongues.

We were all baptized by the same Spirit but verse 12 also says, ”…and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”     As I write this I am reminded of John Chapter 4 when Jesus tells  the Samaritan woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

He then adds,  “…whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.   Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

This is the Gift of God Himself within us and it is for all Christians not a privileged few.   But we need to understand that we are offered  this drink, how much are we willing to  drink of it.   We shall not drink much when we are full already of what the world offers.

There are signs that this living water is beginning to flow but is it flowing in us?    In prayer God has assured me that it will, so we need to consider what effort or otherwise we need to make.    Christ needs everyone of us to be a fruitful member of His body, else we will have to go through extremely painful pruning as described in the story of the vine in John 15.     It was to this chapter that God directed me in the early 1980s, at that time I was not used to hearing God’s voice clearly, but it was like an audible voice.    Although I knew exactly what was in some chapters of John, I was not sure about 15.     I went to the Bible in awe.    It was later that I came across Colin Urqhart’s book, My Father is the Gardener  and saw how essential it was “to abide in the vine”,  to abide in Christ himself.

So what does it mean to be “in Christ”, for we should all be in Christ that is how Christians were described in the New Testament.   “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17)

But remember “…we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”  (Eph 2:1)    Does that immediately set us on the road to service?      Beware lest we proceed in our own strength for it is only that which God has prepared for us that we should be doing, just as Jesus only did what he saw “the Father doing”,  but more than that he made it clear that he could do nothing on his own.(John5:19)     But then look at verses 20 and 21.

“The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.   Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.”

Is there a parallel for us here?   John 14:12-14 says, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.   I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.   If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”

It is therefore clear that Jesus intended the Church to continue his work under the same conditions.   The power of God that worked in him is available to the Church but he has safeguarded that power to work under his control.     If we expect to see these great works then we must be totally surrendered to Him, He must be in control of all that is done “in his name”,  that is both prayer and actions.

The theme of this year’s at Flames of Fire is “Here I am”.    It is intended to be an opportunity to offer ourselves to God afresh, dare we make that total surrender this year and allow Him control?

Since 1995 I have been involved with A.R.M.(Wales).   God has led me in prayer for the Church and for our part in it.   I have kept a diary of all that I feel God has said to me relating to A.R.M.(Wales) and its activities.     One of the first was that we must mean  what we sing!     Now we have sung some very powerful stuff, e.g. “Let   your glory fall on this room, let it go forth from here to the nations………”   That means that we have to be prepared to take it, just as the Welsh missionaries did after the 1904 revival.

On March 9th 1996 during the singing of the chorus "Reign in me", actually at the Well Centre, the Lord challenged me.  He showed me that it meant Gal.2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” and walking the way of the Cross.

It led to prayer for a Holy Church.   Each time I felt the Lord show me from scripture what His expectations were I strove to incorporate that into "my prayer".   I felt that this  was identifying with His  will  and assumed  that this was how  He wanted me  to pray.     Time and again He brought me back to sitting in His presence to do nothing.   Often I wrestled as I constantly questioned if I was wasting my time, but all God wanted of me was to concentrate on Him and allow Him to do the praying.    Although I  knew this for a long time it was still a temptation to resort to praying "my prayers".      I have learned something of letting the Spirit pray in me but it is not as easy in practice as quoting scriptures like “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.”(Eph.6:18). We are frequently commanded to be strong and stand firm but that must not become a struggle either with the enemy or with our flesh.   For the Holy Spirit is the means whereby we can rest in the presence of God, he enables us to feel at peace and know that nothing matters except He have His way.  Without uttering any words our hearts are conformed to the will of God, it is His prayer and we have been privileged to be a part of it.  

You may be asking how we know that we are not being deceived?    God has shown me through scriptures He has given me that I am safe in Him, that is where we must remain.     So encouraged by some inkling of how it can work out in prayer, for the unexpected vocal prayer sometimes comes when with others, I push on to believing that it should happen in other activities.    We are told that our work as Christians is “to believe on the one whom he sent”(John 6:29).  To me that must mean that we have got to believe that we are in Christ and he is in us and he can work in power if he has control of our whole being - body, soul and spirit.    Although my mind might just get to grips with the idea it needs much more prayer and submission before my heart can hold on to it.  I’ve had only fleeting glimpses of the reality but I am convinced that this has to be true for the Church.     It is the realisation of Galations 2:20.

However it has made me aware of a sin, perhaps even worse than pride, a matter of “unbelief”.    But there are two ways in which I could sin here, firstly the not believing it possible at all under any circumstances, and secondly continuing to think that God needs my help, i.e. of my doing the job.

So I know that it is about dying to sin and dying to self as St. Paul said, “I die daily….” (1 Cor 15:29) and letting go of control.   – Yes but how?   The only answer I can give is by being willing because that is the Lord’s answer to me.    Know that He will give me all the help I need, but perhaps there are difficulties in actually receiving that help.     He has given me help only this week and I praise Him and thank Him.   One morning I was led to my bookshelf to look for this help, I had no idea what I was looking for but I pulled out a slim volume which has been there for 2-3 years, perhaps longer.   I hadn’t read it because of its small print, it was something that I had bought second-hand at the Keswick Convention when looking for the origins of Keswick.   It also had  the uninspiring title of The Law of Liberty in the Spiritual Life, by Evan Henry Hopkins.   I had not heard of him but I had missed a gem.   Written over one hundred years ago it covers much of the ground that I had been struggling with.  Bishop Handley Moule, of whom I had heard, said of the author, “a life so rich in influence for God and holiness”     The book was reprinted in 1952 and my copy is the 7^th impression of that edition.    So I guess you will be lucky to find  a copy -  but I can recommend it and you can read it for I looked Evan Henry Hopkins up on the Internet and straight away found his book available free since it is actually a Christian Classic.   Go to www.gracenotebook.com and find the section Classics.    But I am sure that some of you will also find it on your bookshelves having already discovered it.

I find myself writing this article, as an extension of the editorial.    I first felt inclined to quote liberally from Hopkin’s book but have taken the easy way out and just shared what is on my heart as we approach Flames of Fire  and dare to say, “Here I am”. 

I have already stressed the importance of “the fullness of God”.(see Editorial)      But St.Paul in his letter to the Colossians (2:9-10)   said, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.”    Can we all pray that we might believe that we have been given that fullness and be willing to receive it?

Some of what I have said might worry some of you, it might make you feel that you have so much to give up, so much that you enjoy – you are not alone.   For that reason  I want to share a vision that the Lord gave me for A.R.M.(Wales) a couple of years ago when praying.   I shared it at the A.G.M but I now have a much clearer understanding of its meaning.   When I shared it I got very emotional, tears coming to my eyes.   “In the vision I found myself being drawn into a large empty space, it was dark but comfortable and I wanted to go on.    However on my right I saw another attraction that was drawing many people, they were having a good time and there were bright lights.”   Because it disturbed me and I didn’t know what it meant, I got up and walked round my room asking the Lord if this was from Him.    I settled back to pray and the vision returned.   But now I knew that this large apparently empty space was in fact the heart of God.   I was very aware that it should have been full of Christians and I wept as I felt pain that so many did not want to enter into that close communion with Him.    I wanted to encourage them to come in for it was warm and comfortable, it was the place we were meant to be.   Instead we so often choose the “fun” place where we can see what was going on, where we feel safe in the company of others.   But the really  safe place is the heart of God, I want to suggest some reasons for the apparent darkness.   The glory of God is in fact so bright that it would dazzle our eyes and we would see only blackness, it is a protection.  But secondly we do not understand the heart of God and seek instead places where we can understand, we fear the unknown and the implications.   But what of the bright place, I no longer think it is the world but rather a worldly church.    At last year’s Flames of Fire I could even see the conference as that light place, knowing that afterwards some move willingly to the heart of God but many are afraid, not yet ready or unwilling to go deeper.  I just want to say that God loves you and wants to draw you close, even into His holy heart.  

 Return to magazine       Return to Streams of Living Water