I’m testing and proving what I preach. That’s why the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, ‘I’m going to come to you, but I’m not coming puffed up as a greater speaker. I’m coming to you as one who has seen and demonstrated the Power!’ No one can deny, those early apostles were seeing and demonstrating the Power. The whole of the Acts of the Apostles is based on the demonstration and fulfilment of the Power which came on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell. The whole testimony of the Book of Acts is of men going out and doing everything Jesus had promised! That’s been my life!
Faithful stewards of the Gospel
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4.1, “Let a man so account of us as of ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. It is required of stewards that a man be found faithful!” So often in ministry we like to consider ourselves as evangelists, pastors and so on, but here, Paul is looking at it in a different way. He’s saying, all of us, as ministers of Christ, are stewards of the Gospel. And the requirement of a steward is that he should be found faithful! Whether you are a member of the congregation, or in ministry as a pastor, prophet or apostle, what counts is faithfulness in whatever God has called you to do!
Fishers of men
Seek God’s direction and purpose for your life. In Luke 5, some of Jesus’ disciples had spent the night fishing on the Lake of Gennesaret but caught nothing. Jesus saw them from the shore and called out to them, ‘Let down your nets on the other side’. They did, and the nets broke! The moment you respond to the instruction of Jesus, you’ll pull in a tremendous harvest. All my life I’ve wanted to hear that voice behind me saying, “Do this, go there.” (Isaiah 30:21.) And after 70 years of ministry, I KNOW with certainty that His voice continues to give me direction and fruitfulness.
The Lord our Deliverer
As we celebrate the 75th Anniversary of VE Day, I want to share my personal testimony of God’s faithfulness and deliverance at that time. I was a child through the War, 13 when my father took us to London to celebrate VE Day. God does preserve, and He will protect! God has sustained me through so many trials – and God will preserve us through this Coronavirus. He is the Lord our Deliverer. Yes, we will walk through many dark valleys, but He is the Good Shepherd, a present help in times of need.
Power through difficulties
It is only through testings and trials that we learn who God is and what He can do; if we never had a problem, we would never know what faith in God could do. We all pray more when we are in distress; yet it is through difficulties we learn to trust God, to believe for miracles. God will use every difficulty to refine us, so that we become the person He can use for His glory. Lessons from 70 years of ministry: 'For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance.' (Part 6)
Bible Promises
There are many wonderful promises in the Bible. YOU - can claim those promises for your own life! They were not given to just a small group of people, these promises are for you. I want them to become part of your life. These are great and precious promises: promises which reveal the heart of God toward us.
You are predestined
Everything I know about the Bible, and everything I know about God, can be summarised in this: with God, nothing happens by accident. God knows in advance; our steps are ordered; we are predestined. With God nothing happens by chance. Everything God does is for a purpose, by design, and with foreknowledge.
Waiting on God for a miracle
If you want a miracle, if you want the blessing of God in your life, there must come a time when you are still, when you wait upon God for the miracle to happen. Sometimes you can’t change the future until you change the past: so much of your today is because of how you lived yesterday; that is why God offers forgiveness, healing and restoration.
The power of believing in Jesus
There is immense power available to those who believe. The Scripture teaches that the same power which raised Christ from the dead lives on the inside of you! When you believe, this is the evidence: you will lay hands on the sick, and the sick will be healed: not just headaches or bad backs, but every kind of sickness! - That is the power of believing in Jesus. What a wonderful person Jesus is: He is the Son of God; He loves you; and He is going to work miracles in your life, beginning with forgiving your sin.
