Where has the Power Gone?
Job 26:14
Often within the context of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements the theme which drives them forward is the promised power of God. The question that is sometimes raised is: Where has the power of God gone? I know the nature of this question first hand since I have been in the movement for over three decades. Let me also state up front that there have been many good contributions brought to the Church through such movements.
Basically, the power of God has not gone anywhere nor is it absent. The power of God only seems absent when leaders in the Church or believers in general define the presence of spiritual power in partial ways. What I mean by this is spiritual power is defined only in the context of the demonstration of signs and wonders. After all Jesus promised power to those who received the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8)? One popular Charismatic author even went so far has to say that the Church owes "a debt to the world in an encounter with God." This sounds good and spiritual, but is not biblical. Actually, what Paul says in Romans 13:8-10 is that we owe a debt of love defined by the apostle as a lifestyle based on the 10 commandments. Later in the chapter by this author the idea of an encounter with God is defined solely as the miraculous understood as healing and answered prayer.
Why challenge such ideas? Does not Scripture commend to us the idea of spiritual power and unless one is in complete denial of the present day operation of the Holy Spirit are we not to expect that God can heal and deliver people today? The simple answer to these kinds of question is yes, of course God is able to heal and deliver people today. The problem is our understanding of power is incomplete and not fully biblical when understood in this way. Let’s look at a few points.
First, let’s look at the text of Acts 1:8 - "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Sometimes in Pentecostal and Charismatic circles this is understood as no power, no Holy Spirit. However, this is not exactly what Jesus said. The passage is better interpreted as no Holy Spirit, no power. In other words, it is not spiritual power that mediates the Spirit rather it is the Spirit that mediates the spiritual power. The difference is simple. Whenever or wherever the Holy Spirit is in operation power is present. This is true whether or not the presence of that power is immediately seen or even detected through such things as signs and wonders, the use of spiritual gifts, or the right atmosphere in a meeting. Therefore, the new birth is powerful, conviction of sin comes with power, and the drawing of a person to Christ is equally a moment of power. The reason is that even in undetectable ways at first the power of God is in operation, since power is never separate from the Holy Spirit being one of God’s essential attributes (Genesis 35:11). In fact the new birth understood as regeneration is the miracle of raising a person from a state of death to new life. Even if at first it is not visible it does not make it less powerful.
Second, because power is an essential attribute of God’s being spiritual power can never be present without the power of the Holy Spirit in any aspect. In other words, God does nothing without the use of this attribute. The Church's understanding of the power of the Holy Spirit must be based on this second point. I know this may not be as simple, but it is critical. When Jesus says that believers will receive power at the moment the Holy Spirit comes upon them it does not mean that power becomes a commodity that is placed in the control of the one receiving it. Moving in this direction has caused much misunderstanding of the power of the Holy Spirit and has exposed the concept of spiritual power to corruption. This happens whenever we think that the power of the Holy Spirit is in our control or we must meet certain human conditions in order for it to work, operate, or show up in a meeting. Equally, such understandings contribute to the corruption of spiritual power because power looks and acts more like what we see in the world in its power culture. Wealth, complete health, success, promotion, and instant answers are all attributed to God’s involvement in your life. When these things are absent we appear powerless.
Third, since God’s power cannot be confused with the cultural idea of power, we can be confident as believers that even when our life does not look like our successful neighbors, God is at work. He is not only big enough to get us out of our challenged life he is big enough to bring us through challenging times in our life (Isaiah 43:1-5). This means God’s power is always at work in the life of Christians. What God desires from us is faith in Christ and what he has accomplished on our behalf especially the really critical things such as justification, adoption, and our union with Christ (Romans 6:1-6). If God is for us who or what can be against us? All of these things are done through the power of the Holy Spirit and it is this power that keeps us until the last day even if our life isn’t going the way we think it should. God is bigger. In fact the most important thing the Holy Spirit is accomplishing in the believer’s life is renewing our faith in Christ (Ephesians 3:16-17). This faith in Christ provides assurance that God is at work even when it does not look like it and he can also deliver us at any moment according to his great purpose and plan (Philippians 2:13).
Gary L. Finkbeiner
