I woke up at 4 AM and the power was out, which wouldn’t be a big deal, but it had snowed overnight and it was 10F degrees outside! I wondered if my water pipes would freeze with no heat. This is South Texas and we aren’t prepared for this kind of weather. The streets are covered in snow and ice, because we rarely get snow and our city isn’t equipped to remove it. All I could do is stay in my warm bed and hope the power is restored soon.
My alarm went off at 5 AM but the power was still off. I stayed in bed for another hour, but I was getting a headache and had to get up. I wanted to see if my pipes were frozen and to look outside. My pipes were fine, but a thick blanket of snow covered my driveway and everything else I could see by the moonlight. It wouldn’t get above freezing today and we were in for another record cold night. I drank a bottle of cold cappuccino, took some medicine and tried to get comfortable on the couch to wait it out.
About time I settled down the power came on! My excitement was short-lived when it went off again after five minutes. I heated up some food and made hot drinks during some of those brief periods when the power was on. My home full of modern conveniences was reduced to minutes of convenience and hours of waiting in the cold. That cycle was repeated for the next 10 hours! To make it worse, our internet service was down. My phone told me it was cold outside and people were trying to restore service to our area, which I already knew.
Our situation reminds me of the Church that doesn’t have power. It isn’t a new problem. When JESUS delivered the possessed, they said He worked for Satan and they were angry when He miraculously healed. When He revealed the truth, they sought to destroy Him. When He raised the dead, they conspired to kill Him and when He rose from the dead they hid it with a lie.
Why would the religious leaders do that? They knew the scriptures and should have recognized JESUS and what He was doing. They should have welcomed healing, deliverance and raising the dead. They were “religious leaders” instead of loving shepherds. They liked their positions of power and didn’t want to give up anything, even to GOD! They manipulated the scriptures to justify their actions, to the point they no longer recognized the truth, even when they saw it with their own eyes.
People can’t be fooled today; we have religious teaching, and the internet! The reason the Church exists is to worship GOD, teach the truth, point men to JESUS and operate in GOD’s power. So why does most of the Church “have a form of Godliness, but deny the power thereof” (2 Tim 3:5)? Churches that believe in Biblical healing, deliverance and raising the dead are labeled cults and the gifts of the SPIRIT are called demonic. “Religious leaders” have manipulated the scriptures to support their positions, to the point they no longer recognize the truth, even when they see it with their own eyes. Is it hard to believe that the GOD who “so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whosoever believeth in him should have everlasting life” (John 3:16) would also give us the power to live in power and victory? Why not open your heart, your Bible, and “you shall have power” (Acts 1:8) from the HOLY SPIRIT!
Wayne Lance