“Our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.”—1 Thessalonians
“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 men's wisdom, but on God's power.”—1 Corinthians
What becomes of the Bible if it is a text describing but not backed by the power of the One around which it centers? It becomes then, a form of godliness without power—empty religion—an abomination that may effect change in a man’s life, but “makes no fundamental difference” in the core of who he is. It is the thing that makes a man who has merely said “the prayer,” and who mentally agrees with, even emotionally agrees with, the basic treatises of modern Christianity’s version of faith, but has no real personal experience of God “twice as much a son of Hell” as the one who discipled the man’s soul in the same regard. He remains a bush that has had its hedge trimmed, but remains a thorn bush none-the-less. He prays not to God, but like a Pharisee, prays to himself, and secretly gives thanks in his heart that he is better than so and so. He may seek to lead others, seek to be known, or seek to be complacent with what he knows of religion, while the same basic motive of advancing his own life has remained, never having sought first, in humility, the kingdom of God. Indeed, he cannot, for he has never truly acted on real faith, as the writer of Hebrews says “without faith, it is impossible to please Him.” Conversely, to the one whose faith has enacted action, experiencing the radical transformation from thorn bush to fruit tree, the reality of God’s power, His forgiveness, His approval, whose spirit has been touched by the Spirit of the Great I AM, knows that He is a God who effects an undeniable change from deep, deep within, and can thus be a witness of what he's seen, heard, and experienced first-hand. If we aren't considered witnesses of an accident unless we've seen it first-hand, we are no less true witnesses of Jesus unless we've had a first-hand experience with God. And so I implore all who’ve read this far with what A.W. Tozer has implored: Don’t “substitute theological ideas for an arresting encounter” with God!!For what is faith without the transforming power of Him who has granted faith? Faith, without the accompaniment of real, spiritual transformation, really brings no salvation at all! True salvation is not merely a pardoning from the coming judgment, it is also a rescue up out of the pit of sin we had (or have) fallen into, for Jesus "will save His people from their sins”—the first promise of the New Testament to us. He is, in the words of A.W. Tozer, "the God who by the word of the gospel proclaims men free, by the power of the gospel actually makes them free.” I have never met anyone who has witnessed a miracle, believing that is was one, whose heart had not been so awestruck by the God of heaven. As I understand it, a miracle is defined as an event that has happened that cannot be sufficiently explained if God has been removed from the equation—it is a supernatural work of God. If that is the case, then spiritual rebirth is a miracle. And if a miracle is so awe inspiring to those who see it, how much more so the one whose soul has directly experienced the miracle of spiritual rebirth in themself! For the first time, this man may know the depths of God's Spirit calling out to the depths of his, and the depths of his soul calling out to His—deep calls to deep, and the breakers and waves of God's lovingkindness consume him.
“There is no salvation that is not supernatural.”—Oswald Chambers
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