Where is the Power?
This past Sunday night a small group of believers gathered at First Baptist Van Buren for the purpose of prayer. No gimmicks. No smoke, no lights. No band or special program. Our announced agenda was to seek the Lord. We didn’t have a massive attendance but we had a great group of leaders who wanted to seek God. God met with us and I believe God is stirring in our congregation a fresh work of the Spirit.
The church today has more resources at its disposal than at any other time in history. We have amazing multi-million dollar facilities. We have technology that allows us to broadcast messages anywhere in the world. We have highly specialized and trained staff members. We have conferences and curriculum. We have leadership books, blogs, podcasts. We have consultants and coaches. Yet, for all of this, the church in the West isn’t advancing at the rate we would expect. In many cases the churches are in decline.
There are other places we lay the blame as well. For one, we tend to blame culture. And culture certainly is less friendly to the church today than in past generations. But that’s nothing new. The Roman Empire wasn’t exactly friendly toward followers of Jesus. We blame people’s busy schedules. People are certainly busy today but how we spend our time remains a choice. Last time I checked no one coerced me into all the craziness that fills my life. There are other places where we lay the blame as well.
Many churches lack spiritual vitality because in spite of all we have, we do not have the power of God. That isn’t God’s fault; that's our fault. We are spiritually anemic because we do not seek the Lord! To the degree that we seek God and rely on His power, will be the degree to which we experience what God can do. In 2 Chronicles 20, when God’s people faced a terrible enemy they sought the Lord’s help. They had nowhere else to turn. God met them in that moment with a message to “...put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established….” (2 Chronicles 20:20). What if all Christians became known for habitually seeking the Lord? What if our churches were known as people serious about relying on the Lord? I think we’d see the Gospel advance and churches flourish like we’ve never seen.
“O Lord, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hand so that no one can stand against You” (2 Chronicles 20:6).