When we think about the power of God we immediately think of the Holy Spirit and rightly so because the power of God is directly related to the Holy Spirit, “You’ll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,” “But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Acts 1:8; Luke 24:49).
In the book of Acts we find several instances where this power of the Holy Spirit was manifested when the believers met together for prayers. Today, some churches will at times organize “revival meetings” with the expectation that they’d experience the manifestation and power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the believers that there’d be repentance and renewal taking place. But we’d lose on many counts what the Holy Spirit can do in and through our lives when we limit Him and His power to only certain types of meetings. What we don’t realize is that we can experience the same power of the Holy Spirit daily through one important medium God has ordained for us. And that medium is the immutable Word of God. The same power of God which works through the Holy Spirit also works through His Word - the Holy Scriptures which we call the Bible. In fact, it’s the power of the Holy Spirit that also works through the Word of God.
The apostle Paul realized this power hidden in the Word of God and boldly declares, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Rom 1:16. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Paul doesn’t say that the gospel contains the power of God but the gospel itself is the power of God that works salvation in the lives of those who accept it. No wonder when Peter preached under the unction of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost three thousand people became desperate to get saved. The Word he preached was so powerful that the hearers felt it like an arrow piercing their hearts which caused them to run to Peter and cried out in utter desperation, “What must we do?” Such is the power of the Word. We ought to pray to God to revive such ministry in our pulpits again in our days.
Neh 8:8, 9 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. 9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.
When the people heard the words of the Law which was read and explained by Ezra and his companion they began to mourn and to weep out of conviction. We could say that there was some sort of revival that took place that day and it was because of the ministry of the Word of God. Such was the weeping and the mourning that the leaders had to calm them down. And that’s the power of the Word of God in action. We, therefore, ought to be conscious of the fact that everytime we read and meditate upon the Word the power of God would work in us and everytime we preach and teach the Word we should expect the power of God to touch and transform peoples’ lives. For the Gospel is the power of God. The revival stories that we read about and which took place under the ministries of God’s servants like Jonathan Edwards, R. A. Torrey and others were basically because of the ministry of the Word of God. Such revivals bring about a genuine and long-lasting transformation in the lives of those being ministered to.
If there’s one thing lacking in the pulpit today then it is this - the dearth of anointed and systematic preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Not just some emotionally charged up rhetorics and cliches of words but solidly grounded and sound teaching from the Scripture breathed by the Holy Spirit that brings about a genuine transformation in the lives of our people.
As we seek the power of the Holy Spirit may we not underestimate the power of the Word of God. Remember: The Gospel is the power of God.
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