'So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.' (Hebrews 6.18-20, NLT.)

God's promises are unchanging and completely trustworthy because God is unchanging and trustworthy. When promising Abraham a son, God took an oath in His own Name. The oath was as good as God's Name, and God's Name was as good as His divine nature.

The two unchangeable things are God's promise and His oath. God embodies all truth; therefore, He cannot lie. Because God is truth, you can be sure of His promises; you don't need to wonder if He will change His plans. Our hope is secure and immoveable, anchored in God.

When you ask God to forgive you of your sins, He will do it! This truth should give you encouragement, assurance and confidence.

In the Old Testament, the High Priest could only enter the Most Holy Place once a year to stand in God's presence and atone for their sins. But Christ is in God's presence at all times, interceding on our behalf.

So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds[a] and placing our faith in God. You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.

For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame. (Hebrews 6:1-6, NLT)

Certain elementary teachings are essential for all believers to understand. Those basics include the importance of faith, the foolishness of trying to be saved by good deeds, the meaning of baptism and spiritual gifts, and the facts of the resurrection and eternal life. To go on to maturity in our understanding, we need to move beyond, but not away from, the elementary teachings to a more complete understanding of faith.

When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it. (Hebrews 6:7-8, NLT)

Land that produces a good crop receives loving care, but land that produces thistles and thorns has to be burned so the farmer can start over. An unproductive Christian life falls under God’s condemnation. We are not saved by deeds, but what we do is the evidence of our faith. In Mark 11 Jesus saw a fig tree full of leaves and He came hoping to find some figs (v13). But He found nothing but leaves. So many Christians are like that fig tree: all show, all leaves, a lot of shouting, a lot of noise, a lot of emotion. But no fruit, no result, nothing but leaves! This is one of the biggest problems I find today, a highly charged atmosphere, but no fruit. We must be fruitful and produce a good crop for the Lord!

Prayer is our approach to God, and we are to come 'boldly'. Some Christians approach God meekly with heads hung low, afraid to ask Him to meet their needs. Others pray flippantly, giving little thought to what they say. Come with reverence because He is our King. But also come with bold assurance because He is your Friend and Counsellor.

Chapter 5 of Hebrews stresses both Christ's divine appointment and His humanity. The writer uses two Old Testament verses to show Christ's divine appointment (Psalms 2:7; 110:4). At the time this book was written, the Romans selected the high priest in Jerusalem. In the Old Testament, however, God chose Aaron, and only Aaron's descendants could be high priests. Christ, like Aaron, was chosen and called by God.

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 5:7-10, NIV)

Jesus was in great agony as he prepared to face death. Although Jesus cried out to God, asking to be delivered, He was prepared to suffer humiliation, separation from His Father, and death in order to do God’s will. At times we will undergo trials, not because we want to suffer, but because we want to obey God. Let Jesus’ obedience sustain and encourage you in times of trial. You will be able to face anything if you know Jesus is with you.

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. (Hebrews 4:1-2, NKJV)

Chapter 4 reverts to the theme of Chapter 3, the Promise of entering a Coming Rest. Paul writes, v1, ‘Let us fear therefore lest, a promise being left us of entering into His Rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.’ In v4, you see that Paul is linking this Rest to the Seventh Day of Creation. For six days God created – and on the seventh day, He rested from His Work. This is a picture of the 1000-year Rest, the Millennial reign of Christ on earth which still to come!

Paul warns us, we should be afraid, lest we fail to enter into this promise! For, v2, ‘unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them’ – Paul means, the Jewish forefathers heard the promise, but failed to enter the Promised Land because of their unbelief. Paul says, ‘The Word which was preached to them did not profit them, because it was not received with faith by those that heard it. But we, who have believed, can enter this Rest.’ But it’s a question, v3&5, ‘IF they shall enter into My Rest…’ It’s conditional. To enter, you must have faith that God’s Works were made complete from the very foundation of the world, v4. God is working to a Plan.

That Plan was made and revealed right from the beginning; from Genesis to Revelation there is no change in God’s plans, directions and purposes. What we are seeing is how it manifests in history, how it takes place, and our part in it. The Rest that Paul is writing about here, the Millennium reign of Christ, was prepared and made perfect from the very foundation of the world! Scripture tells us, Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; this demonstrates that before sin came, salvation came! Before men appeared on the earth, the preparation was made for the Coming Kingdom, the Millenium! This is a constant. It doesn’t change.

In God’s calendar, v4, there are six ‘working days’ and the seventh is a day of rest. But v5 makes it clear, for us it’s conditional: ‘IF they shall enter…’ Not all will enter God’s Rest! Scripture tells us, the children of Israel who did not believe, never did see the fulfilment of God’s promise to enter the earthly Promised Land… We, in the Church, haven’t yet seen the fulfilment of God’s Promise – the Seventh Day Rest, the Millennial reign of Christ; our salvation is still only in part, it’s not actually complete. My father used to teach me that, in effect, there’s more than one salvation! Yes, we are delivered from sin, praise God. But we are not yet delivered from the presence of sin. By the Power of the Blood of the Lamb, by the Power of the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are delivered from the power of the devil. But we haven’t yet been delivered from the presence of sin, we’re surrounded by it! We’re living in a sinful world – BUT THERE IS A DAY COMING WHEN WE SHALL BE DELIVERED EVEN FROM THIS!

This is what Paul is referring to when he writes, God rested on the Seventh Day. We are looking forward to the Millennial reign of Christ! But there is a question… ‘IF’… There’s an uncertainty. In v6 Paul goes on, ‘Seeing therefore it remains that some must enter, and those to whom it was first preached DID NOT enter because of unbelief…’

This promise of the Millenium, this Rest, was preached from the beginning, but at the time Paul was writing, the Jewish people, as a whole, had not found that fulfilment, they didn’t find it because of unbelief. This was a typified by the 40 years the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, even though they reached the border of the Promised Land. At the border, Moses sent 12 men in to spy out the land. You know the story – they all saw the plenty and the fruitfulness, just as God had promised. But ten said, “The land is full of armies, evil people. How can we go in?” Only two said, “Yes, we see the difficulties, but by faith we can overcome!” And because the people of Israel listened to the ten, a whole generation died in the desert…

It can happen to us, as we saw in v2 where Paul writes, ‘Unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them.’ The word that was preached to ‘them’, the children of Israel, by Moses, wasn’t accepted by faith. They were offered the Promised Land, but didn’t have the faith to go in and possess it! It was too hard. There is a danger for us in the Church, that we hear and know the Promise, but don’t have the faith to leave behind the old! It’s not easy being a Christian. My life has been hard. Twice I’ve had cancers, I’ve had other sicknesses and ailments – but God healed me every time. I’ve been in a communist prison – but God delivered me. I was a sinner – God saved me. I’m going into God’s Kingdom – the hard way!

'Fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the one who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honour than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honour than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. ‘Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,’ bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.' (Hebrews 3.1-6, NIV)

What a wonderful way to start any sermon, 'fix your thoughts on Jesus!' Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, He is our everything, He is all that you need. Our faith is not based on religion or ceremony, our faith is based on Jesus as our apostle and high priest. Who else do we need but Jesus?!

God has appointed Jesus to be responsible for us. Can you think of it that way? God has appointed Jesus to be responsible for our salvation. Just as Moses was responsible for the children of Israel for 40 years, so Christ is responsible for our safe passage into the Promised Land. And just as Moses had to be faithful in his responsibility, so Jesus is going to be faithful in looking after us until we enter the Kingdom.

The author of Hebrews uses different pictures to explain Jesus' relationship to us: He is (1) the Messenger of God, to whom we should listen; (2) our High Priest, through whom we come to God the Father; (3) the ruler of God's house, whom we should obey.

Because Christ lives in us as believers, we can remain confident and hopeful. We are not saved by being steadfast and firm in our faith, but our courage and hope do reveal our faith is real. We need this enduring faithfulness to prevent us being blown away by temptation, false teaching, or persecution.

So, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts (Hebrews 3:7-8, NIV)

In many places, the Bible warns us not to ‘harden’ our hearts. This means stubbornly setting ourselves against God so that we are no longer able to turn to Him for forgiveness. The Israelites became hard-hearted when they disobeyed God’s commands. Be careful to obey God’s Word, and do not allow your heart to become hardened.

The Israelites failed to enter the Promised Land because they did not believe in God’s protection, and they did not believe that God would help them conquer the giants in the land. So God sent them into the wilderness to wander for 40 years. This was an unhappy alternative to the wonderful gift He had planned for them. Lack of trust in God always prevents us from receiving His best.

'We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.' (Hebrews 2.1-4, NIV.)

We have received a great salvation through Christ, so we must be careful not to drift away. Only through faith in Christ are we saved: He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The message of Christ was first preached by those who witnessed the miracles, but like the original readers of Hebrews, we base our belief on eyewitness accounts.

In the book of Acts, Peter says, 'Jesus was approved of God, by miracles and wonders, and signs.' God verified the message by the miracles people witnessed. When we see the gifts of God demonstrated, we know God is present. We should thank God for them, and use these gifts within the church.

“You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:8-9, NKJV.)

God put Jesus in charge of everything, and Jesus revealed Himself to us. We do not yet see Jesus reigning on earth, but we can picture Him in His heavenly glory. When you are confused by present events and anxious about the future, remember Jesus’ true position and authority. He is Lord of all, and one day will rule on earth; and until that day, we pray, ‘Let Your Will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.’ This truth can give stability to our daily decisions.

Jesus did not come to the world to gain status, wealth or political power, but to suffer and die, so that we can have eternal life (and bring many sons to glory, v10).

For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: “I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.” And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And again: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.” (Hebrews 2:11-13, NKJV.)

We who have been set apart for God’s service, cleansed, and made holy (sanctified) by Jesus, now have the same Father He has, so He has made us His brothers and sisters. We’ve been adopted into God’s family, ‘accepted in the beloved’ (Ephesians 1:6).

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:14-15, NKJV.)

Christ’s death and resurrection set us free from the fear of death, because death has been defeated. Every person must die, but death is not the end; instead it is the doorway to new life. All who dread death should have the opportunity to know the hope that Christ’s victory brings.

'In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So He became as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is superior to theirs.' (Hebrews 1.1-4, NIV.)

The first chapter of Hebrews describes in detail how Jesus Christ fulfils the prophecies of the Old Testament. In the past God spoke to His people by various means: Isaiah, in visions; Jacob, in dreams; whilst to Abraham and Moses, God spoke personally. But now God speaks through Jesus. Jesus is the fulfilment and culmination of God’s revelation. When we know Jesus, we have all we need to be saved and have a perfect relationship with God.

This chapter links God’s saving power with His creative power. In other words, the power that brought the universe into being, and that keeps it operating, is the very same power that cleanses our sins. No sin is too big for the ruler of the universe to handle. He can, and will forgive us, when we come to Him through His Son. That Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father means that the work of salvation was complete. Christ’s sacrifice was final.

‘In the beginning, Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But You remain the same, and Your years will never end.’ (Hebrews 1:10-12, NIV)

In a changing world, Jesus is our only security. Whatever may happen, Christ remains steadfast. When we trust Him, we stand on the firmest foundation. But what does it mean that Christ is changeless? It means that His character will never change. He is always faithful, merciful, and gracious. Jesus will always help you when you need it. And He will always offer forgiveness, when we repent.

Mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone. (2 Timothy 3.1-9, NIV.)

Paul’s reference to the ‘last days’ reveals his sense of urgency. The last days began after Jesus’ resurrection when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers at Pentecost. The ‘last days’ will continue until Christ’s second coming. This means that we are living in the last days. So we should make the most of every opportunity God gives us.

In many parts of the world it is not difficult to be a Christian - people are not jailed for reading the Bible or killed for preaching Christ. But Paul’s descriptive list of behaviours describes our society: even unfortunately, the behaviour of many Christians.

The appearance of being religious, or as Paul terms it, ‘having a form of godliness’, is lifestyle Christianity, this means, going to church, knowing doctrine, and following traditions. Such practices can make a person look good, but if the fruit of the spirit is lacking, the outer appearance is meaningless.

When Paul refers to ‘always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth’, this verse is not opposing study, but it is a warning about ineffective learning. It is possible to be forever learning, but never graduate from learning into practice.

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17, NIV.)

Besieged by false teachers and the inevitable pressures of a growing ministry, Timothy could easily have abandoned his faith or modified his doctrine. Once again Paul counselled Timothy to look to his past and to hold to the basic teachings about Jesus which are eternally true. Like Timothy, we are surrounded by false teachings. But we must not allow our society to distort or crowd out God’s eternal truth.

Timothy was one of the first second-generation Christians: He became a Christian, not because an evangelist preached a powerful sermon, but because his mother and grandmother taught him the holy Scriptures. For Timothy, the holy Scriptures were the books of the Old Testament. The Old Testament points to Christ, and faith in Christ; His death and resurrection fulfils the law of the Old Testament.

The Bible is not a collection of stories, fables, myths or human ideas about God. Through the Holy Spirit, God revealed His person and plan to those who wrote the Scripture. Although they wrote from their own personal, historical, and cultural contexts, they wrote what God wanted them to write, because it was inspired by the Lord.

The whole Bible is the inspired Word of God. Because it is inspired and trustworthy, we should read and apply it to our life. The Bible is our safeguard against false doctrine, and guidance for daily living. It is our only source of knowledge leading to salvation. In our study of Scripture, we must always remember that its purpose is to equip us for every good work. We study the Bible to learn how to be like Jesus in this world.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Timothy 4:1-2, NIV.)

There is a coming judgment for all people. We will either receive a reward in the Kingdom when Christ says, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant,’ or there is a punishment for our rejection of Christ. That is why there is such a responsibility to preach the Word faithfully with pure hearts. We believe in Christ because those who went before us were faithful to the Great Commission, so we to, must do our part in the furthering of the Gospel. We should always be ready to serve God in any and all situations, whether it is convenient or not. And do not worry about what you should say, Jesus taught, ‘When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say’ (Luke 12:11-12, NIV).

Let us rejoice God has chosen Ukraine, a nation that has denied God, where the Bible has been destroyed and Christians persecuted. God will answer and great Revival WILL come here. This land WILL see the Glory of God. I know it so strongly. I seek God for the fulfilment of this vision, and I will tell you how you can be part of the fulfilment.

There are two ways God will fulfil the Words He has spoken. Firstly, through faith. Numbers Chapter 13 shows us the children of Israel at the very gateway of the land they were to possess. God speaks to you, the Church, today. He has opened up a tremendous vision of what He wants to do, a second Pentecost here in this nation that has despised Jesus above every other nation - this is the nation that has defiled the Name of Jesus and said that God is dead. BUT YOU ARE ON THE EDGE OF THE FULFILMENT OF WHAT GOD IS GOING TO DO. Israel in Numbers Chapter 13 stood in the same place - they stood within days, hours of the fulfilment of all that God and the prophets had spoken.

I want you to experience this second Pentecost, a Baptism of Fire. The tragedy today is that too many believers claim they are baptised in the Holy Ghost – but where is the evidence of the fire?!

The challenge to the Church is this: YOU light the fire under the sacrifice, and when you light that fire, THAT FIRE MUST NEVER, EVER GO OUT! And there is only one way to feed fire, throw more onto it, put more sacrifice on the fire! If the fire is not burning in your life through the Holy Ghost, it’s because you are not putting enough sacrifice on the altar!

In the Old Testament, in Leviticus 6:9,12-13, God gave the command to the priests: when you bring the meat offering to the altar – you light a fire and it burns the sacrifice. But the command of God was that THE FIRE ON THE ALTAR MUST NEVER GO OUT! Today, if you want to receive this Fire from God, then your life needs to be the sacrifice on the altar of service to God, then I believe that the command given thousands of years ago still applies today, that fire must NOT go out. At the age of 13 years, I was baptised with the Holy Ghost and FIRE! I will not let that fire in me go out! I’m over 80 years old and this is the secret: what the priests had to do to keep the fire burning on the altar was to KEEP ADDING TO THE SACRIFICE! You’ve got to keep putting more sacrifice on your altar, more and more – that’s what we need today! The tragedy today is that too many believers claim they are baptised in the Holy Ghost – but where is the evidence of the fire?!

Twelve spies were sent into the land to see and experience the vision. They saw all that God had promised was true. All they had to do was to get up and take it by faith. They ALL saw it. God hadn't failed. Two saw no problem, ten saw all the problems - big cities, fortified armies, giants. "We can't," they said, and they told the people not to go. Two said, "We can do it in the Power of God - our God is with us - we can overcome every obstacle."

Who did the people believe? They only believed those who said God can't do it. They didn't believe the men who believed.

God WILL set this land free from the curse, the evil. Nothing is impossible with God. Lift up the Name of Jesus! All things are possible. Rise up in the Name of Jesus!

'Those who know their God will be strong, and do exploits!' (Daniel 11:32.) The challenge for all of us is, if we know God - I mean really know and understand Him - we will be the strongest people in the world, and will do all the things no one else can do. But how can we know God? Psalm 103:7 reveals, 'He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel.' We need to move beyond seeing the acts of God, like the Israelites did in the wilderness, and become like Moses who knew God, and talked to Him 'as a man would a friend'.

We’ve got a challenge. I’m over 90. I’ve had cancer twice, I’ve been in prison for smuggling Bibles. Yet people say to me, ‘Oh, I’m too weak, I can’t do this, I can’t do that.’ But with God, nothing is impossible! Daniel 11:32 says, ‘Those who know their God will be strong and do exploits’ – the most amazing incredible things ever seen on the earth – ‘exploits’! Bigger than anything you can imagine! You should be doing more than anybody else! Church, we’ve got to get on FIRE! If you’ve got no fire, get the Holy Ghost! When God lit the fire in my life aged 13 it does not go out! I keep putting the fuel on the fire – sacrifice, sacrifice. Yes, sacrifice. Sacrifice yourself, your personal dreams and ambitions, everything for Him! We’re going to win a Kingdom! You’re going to lose a dirty old world and gain the Kingdom of God! Which do you want? Do you want this world? Or the Kingdom of Christ? Come on! We have to sacrifice, we have to pay the price. I used to argue with God, “Now that I’m 80 years old, don’t You think You should make my life a bit easier?” He says, “NO!” – It gets harder, but it gets more glorious! To have this privilege – WOW!

The world has to see God’s power! He’s a God of power and authority, a God who enables me to do exploits! Jesus said to His disciples, “You see the miracles I do, but when I go to Heaven, you’re going to do bigger!” (John 14:12.) Are you seeing bigger miracles than Jesus? But that’s what we need! We need a baptism of fire and power! The fire of God, the power of God – that’s the challenge. God has called us to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit and do exploits! There is a song, ‘God raised me up to stand on mountains, He raised me up to walk on stormy seas’ – God raised YOU up to stand on mountains, He raised YOU up to walk on stormy seas! God raised YOU up to heal the sick, raise the dead, work miracles and preach the Gospel – and He sent the Holy Spirit to do this through YOU! When you’ve got the Holy Ghost, God does everything! – Because it’s the Holy Spirit who gives you the gift of faith to do it! ‘Those that know their God will be strong and do exploits! (Daniel 11:32 KJV.)

We’ve got to be changed. Transformed, by the fire and the power of the Holy Spirit. Then work as if Christ is coming!

Things were difficult in the prison in Czechoslovakia where I was, and in the first few months it seemed as if God did not answer any of my prayers. When I prayed for food, there was none, when I prayed that my wife would come, she was not allowed a visa to visit me – it seemed that every prayer that I prayed, God said no. I began to despair. We had to get up at 6.00 am every morning and sit for hours on a wooden stool embedded with nails. It was torture. In the first six months I wasn’t allowed out of my cell – my food and my toilet were in the cell. I lost so much weight. However, I would try to pray in those early hours before the guards brought the mouldy black bread and foul tasting, drug laced drink which was our only breakfast.

One morning when I had been three months in that cell, I cried out in desperation that I could not pray anymore because, I said, “Oh God, every time I pray, You say no! When I want the food parcels my family send, or a visit from my wife, or for me to be found not guilty in the court and be set free, always the answer is no! I don’t know how to pray anymore, everything I ask for, it’s no!” I sat there, not knowing what to do. “Oh God, if You don’t hear me, I’d rather die, because life has no purpose, no meaning if You don’t answer me.” While I was still saying, “Oh God, I cannot pray anymore”, I remembered the words in the Bible (I had no Bible in the prison – it was forbidden) when the disciples had asked Jesus how to pray, and He said, “When you pray say…” – and I began hesitantly to say those words, ‘Our Father’ – but as I did so, I began to argue, I cannot say ‘our’, that’s plural – I’m alone in here, no family, no friends, no believers, how can I speak in the plural? I have to say MY Father. Suddenly I knew the reality of those words, He is mine – He is my Father!

I want to encourage you, whatever the crisis in your life – whether it’s sin, drugs, alcohol, demon possession, a broken home, sickness or financial problems, whether you’re crippled, you’re blind, you’re deaf – in the darkest moment in your life, in the moment of your greatest tragedy, in the moment of your greatest suffering, when you’re hurting more than you’ve ever hurt before, Jesus is there. He’s not forgotten you, He’s walking nearer to you. Jesus said, ‘I will be with you always.’ Every day, every hour, in the middle of every storm, in the middle of every sickness, even in a hospital bed, or lying on the road as the result of a car accident, Jesus will always come. Whatever the crisis, there’s never a moment when He’s not there.

You may need Jesus like you’ve never needed Him before, but He is walking towards you to deliver you right now. Yours is the responsibility to cry out to Him, to ask Him to call you out of your crisis, then step out of it into the security of His arms!

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 2:1, NIV)

How can we be strong in the grace of Christ? Just as we are saved by grace, we need to live in that same grace each day. This means trusting completely in Christ and His power, and not trying to live for Christ in our own strength. Writing to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul said, 'And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust Him, too, for each day’s problems; live in vital union with Him. Let your roots grow down into Him and draw up nourishment from Him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all He has done.'

Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. (2 Timothy 2:3-6, NIV)

As Timothy preached and taught, he would face suffering, but he should be able to endure. Paul used a comparison with soldiers, athletes, and farmers who must discipline themselves and be willing to sacrifice to achieve the results they want. Like soldiers, we have to give up worldly security and endure rigorous discipline. Like athletes, we must train hard and follow the rules. Like farmers, we must work extremely hard and be patient. But we keep going despite suffering because of the thought of victory, the vision of winning, and the hope of harvest. We will see that our suffering is worthwhile when we achieve our goal of glorifying God, winning people to Christ, and one day living eternally with Him.

Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him. If we disown Him, He will also disown us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown Himself. (2 Timothy 2:11-13, NIV)

God is faithful to His children, and although we may suffer great hardships here, God promises that someday we will live eternally with Him. What does this involve? It means believers will live in Christ’s Kingdom, and that we will share in the administration of that Kingdom. This truth comforted Paul as he went through suffering and death. Are you facing hardships? Don’t turn away from God - He promises you a wonderful future with Him. Jesus is faithful. He will stay by our side even when we have endured so much that we seem to have no faith left. We may be faithless at times, but Jesus is faithful to His promise to be with us ‘to the end of the age’.

Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:6-10, NIV)

Paul, writing to Timothy, is very concerned to instruct his young disciple how to deal with false teaching and corruption - especially financial corruption - in the church in Ephesus. Paul was the founder of this great church, but now, years later, there are problems.

In Chapter 5:16ff, Pauls outlines what should be the wholesome norm for financial provision: “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honour, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching, for the Scripture says, ‘Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain’ and ‘the worker deserves his wages’.”

There has been a tradition, certainly in Britain, to keep the preacher poor. When I began in ministry, the practise was to keep you just above the poverty level. This is not good.

But Paul lays out a provision of care for Timothy and for the Church, even though he himself - more fully involved in missions and ministry than any of the others we know at that time - was often not dependent on the Church for his support; rather he would provide for himself by working as a tent-maker. I have often provided for my family and my ministry myself. Coming out of the communist prison, my own church organisation so violently rejected my plans to continue working in those Soviet countries, I was ex-communicated and cut off from any source of finance, even circulating a letter forbidding me to preach in their churches! In order to support myself I had to start in business - which God so blessed, for years I was able to give up to 80% of my income to finance my ministry in East Europe!

Paul recognises the stresses and strains that exist within the ministry, and instructs Timothy, v19ff, “Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so the others may take warning. I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and do nothing out of favouritism.”

We have to be extremely careful who is chosen for ministry. Paul says, v22, “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands.” He’s not talking about praying for the sick, but the laying on of hands to confirm God’s call to the ministry. Jesus said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” In Acts 8 we find a man called Simon, who ‘believed and was baptised’ and yet, when he saw that the gift of the Holy Spirit was given when the Apostles laid their hands on people - he wanted to buy the gift! You cannot buy the gifts - they are imparted by God. Only God. Ministry is a calling. That’s why Paul so often writes in his letters that he is an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the Will of God.

He continues,“Don’t be hasty in the laying on of hands, and don’t share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.” He says, in v24ff, “The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of Judgement ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them.” This is a warning to all of us that we must all appear at the Judgement Seat of Christ - the sinner and the saint - all must give an account of what we have done. For sin, this means punishment. But blessing and reward for those of us who have been faithful in service. What Paul is saying is, whether sin is obvious now, or only recognised later, everything we do is recorded in advance in Heaven. Similarly, v25, even if our good deeds are not obvious now, they cannot remain hidden, they are recorded - just as our names are already recorded in the Book of Life! There is reward, and there is punishment, in eternity.

The sin that concerns Paul very much here are the sin of peddling false doctrine for financial gain within the church. In Chapter 6:3, Paul writes, “If anyone teaches false doctrines and doesn’t agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing! He has an unhealthy interest in controversy and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of corrupt mind who have been robbed of the truth, and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.” Wow! If you teach false doctrine and don’t agree to the sound instruction given to us by Jesus as found in the Word of God - then you cause trouble in the church, rob people of the truth - and make money out of it! It needs to be preached today: true godliness is never a means to financial gain.

Paul warns Timothy, v6ff, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out.” You may be the richest man in the world, but when you die, you take nothing out! “If we have food and clothing, we will be content. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs…”

Working for God is a sacrifice. Paul says, v11ff, “Man of God, flee from all this, (the corruption that comes from the love of money), and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith and take hold of the eternal life to which you are called… I charge you, keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ!”

Let us be faithful to the end! Amen.

Timothy’s mother and grandmother were early Christian converts, possibly through Paul’s ministry. They had communicated their strong Christian faith to Timothy, even though his father was probably not a believer. Our families are fertile ground for planting the seeds of the Gospel. Let your family know of your faith in Jesus, and be sure they see Christ’s love, helpfulness, and joy in you.

At the time of his ordination, Timothy had received special gifts of the spirit to serve the church. In telling Timothy to fan the flames, Paul was encouraging him to persevere. Timothy did not need new revelations or spiritual gifts. Rather, he needed the courage and self-discipline to use the gifts he had already received. Clearly Timothy’s spiritual gift had been given to him when Paul and the elders had laid their hands on him and set him apart for ministry. God gives all Christians gifts to use to build up the body of Christ, and He gives special gifts to some through church leaders, who serve as God’s instruments.

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me His prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the Gospel, by the power of God. (2 Timothy 1:7-8, NIV)

Timothy was experiencing great opposition to his message and to himself as a leader. His youth, his association with Paul, and his leadership had come under fire from believers and nonbelievers alike. Paul urged him to be bold. When we allow people to intimidate us, we neutralise our effectiveness for God. The power of the Holy Spirit can help us overcome our fear of what some might say or do to us, so that we can continue to do God’s work.

Because of mounting persecution, Timothy may have been afraid to continue preaching the Good News. His fears were based on fact, because believers were being arrested and executed. Paul told Timothy to expect suffering. But Paul promised Timothy that God would give him strength and that he would be ready when it was his turn to suffer. Even when there is no persecution, it can be difficult to share our faith in Christ. Fortunately, we like Paul and Timothy, we can call on the Holy Spirit to give us courage.

holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. (1 Timothy 1:19, NIV)

1 Timothy 1 ends with these somber words to Timothy, his son in the faith, “Fight the good fight, hold on to faith and a good conscience - because some have rejected these and shipwrecked their faith.” Chapter 2 begins, “I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the Truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.”

Paul makes it quite clear that the end goal of our prayer is Salvation! So often we get away from the basic truth of the Gospel, which is to bring men to Salvation. I feel the Truth of the Gospel has been watered down, adulterated and changed.

Jumping straight from here to Chapter 4, which is critical for today, Paul instructs this young man Timothy - his son in the faith, “The Spirit clearly says that in the last times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” Oh, goodness me! This is a phenomenal condemnation. The Holy Spirit says, according to Paul, some will abandon the faith and teach wrong doctrines. This is a warning and a challenge, and I must say that we do have a lot of false teaching - so many ‘variations’ of the Christian faith are being taught today. Think of the Mormons who call themselves the Church of the Latter Day Saints, whose teaching is founded on the Book of Mormon, rather than on the Bible and the simplicity of the Gospel.

Not only the Mormons. We have to be so careful today because people are following deceiving spirits - spirits sent to deceive even the Christians! Christians are deceived by - as Paul says - hypocritical liars whose consciences have been seared with a hot iron. Deception is in the secular world, but it’s also in the Church. Paul gives examples: they forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the Truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the Word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:3-5. In my life, I’ve had to stand on that myself, and on the Promise the Lord Himself gave, that as a Believer you may drink any deadly thing given to you and it won’t hurt you. I’ve had to do that!

So Paul tells Timothy, as a good minister of Jesus Christ, to point these things out to the brothers. It’s a responsibility we have - if, like Timothy, we ourselves have been instructed in the truths of the of the faith and have followed the good teaching - having nothing to do with ‘godless myths and old wives’ tales’! I’ve been reading a book called ‘Shocked by the Bible’ which deals with these and many other issues. So many of us believe things which are not strictly according to Scripture, and yet have accepted through tradition handed down - and this can cause a drifting away towards nothing more than ‘godless myths and old wives’ tales’!

We’ve got to get back to the Truth and the Authority and the Power of God’s Word.

Paul says hold fast to the promise for this present life and the life to come: “This is a trustworthy saying that deserves FULL ACCEPTANCE - put your hope in the Living God, who is the Saviour of all men, and especially of those who believe.”

This brings us back to 1 Timothy 2:1 - “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for all those in authority…” Why? Verse 4,  and come toBecause God our Saviour wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth.” Oh that God would bring this nation back to the Truth. I despair. What we need is old-fashioned preachers. When I was at school, a teenager, I must admit I was a hell-fire preacher. I told those boys in my school, there are only two places you go when you die, either to hell - or to Heaven. The only difference between any of us is, that the only way to escape hell is to receive Christ, His Salvation and Forgiveness. Oh that God would give us preachers that preach the Truth.

Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12, NLT)

People ask me, who is your successor? My answer is, I have no successor! I haven’t finished my job yet, and I won’t quit until the job is finished! But more and more young pastors and leaders are coming to me for help and advice; I want to encourage others to follow in my steps, and do as I have done for the last 73 years in full-time ministry. That’s why I have chosen Paul’s first letter to Timothy - whom he describes as his ‘true son in the faith’ - because I want to talk to you as MY true sons and daughters in the faith.

Paul introduces himself as an ‘apostle of Jesus Christ by the Command of God our Saviour and of Christ Jesus our Hope’. That’s important for you and for me, because Paul was not one of the first 12 apostles. The remaining 11 disciples, after the betrayal and death of Judas, had to decide who should replace him in the ministry. A man called Matthias was chosen, a man who was with Jesus from the beginning. We don’t actually see much evidence of his subsequent ministry; to me, the one who truly replaced Judas as one of the 12, was not the one chosen by the casting of lots as a decision of men, but rather Paul, an apostle chosen ‘by the Command of God’.

I feel I have something in common with Paul in this, because I do believe that the reason I am in ministry and have remained in ministry for so long, is that I also came into this position by Divine Appointment. I’ve often told how, at the beginning of World War II, I was evacuated from London for a short time to Scotland, and how, one night when I had already gone to bed, I heard sweet music coming from downstairs and these words, ‘Hear the Lord of Harvest sweetly calling, “Who will go and work for Me today, who will bring to Me the lost and dying, who will point them to the narrow way?”’ And the refrain, ‘“Speak, my Lord, speak, my Lord, speak and I will answer, here am I, send me!”’ I stood at the top of the stairs, probably only 8 years old, and said, “Here am I, send me!”

This calling was again confirmed when I was 15. I had already given my life to Christ, I’d been baptised in water and filled with the Holy Spirit, but a day came when, on holiday with a group of other young people on the South Coast of England, I had to break away from my friends because there was such a clear call from God, “I need you, I want you, I want you to give Me EVERYTHING.” That was a major turning point in my life, and I feel today, I am in this position by the Command of God.

Paul continues his letter to Timothy, “to my true son in the Faith.” I had a wonderful wife and three daughters, but I never had a son. I would have loved to have a son to follow in my steps. And yet, I look on all young pastors and leaders who follow me in the work as ‘my sons’, and some I even call  ‘my sons’ - just as Paul did Timothy. I would like to think people would follow my example - follow the lead that I have taken - and step out in their own calling.

Paul is saying to Timothy that, even though he is a young man, he must correct these men of their false  teaching. Paul says in v5, the goal of his command is LOVE which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Our teaching HAS to be in LOVE. We can’t force and compel. Some religions adhere to strict codes and enforce them by law. In Afghanistan and Iran for instance, Islam enforces its doctrine so strictly, that they imprison, beat, torture and execute people who do not keep to their teaching. The Gospel is preached in LOVE. There cannot be compulsion, you cannot compel people. It’s LOVE. We have to come back to basics: it is a Gospel of God’s LOVE.

Paul is concerned, because here in Ephesus, some have wandered away from the simplicity of sincere faith and turned to meaningless talk, v6. When I am free and not preaching, often I will slip into the back of a church meeting, and I’m sad to say, sometimes I come away thinking it was just meaningless, pointless. It’s easy to stand up and talk, but it should come from your heart, in LOVE, a strong message. I have a strong message, and I share it with all my heart. In v7, Paul examines what was going wrong in Ephesus: they wanted to be ‘teachers of the Law’, but, Paul says, they do not know what they’re talking about, or what they so confidently affirm! How blunt Paul is!

You know, we have to live by the faith we preach. When I was a young pastor and evangelist in England, God said to me one day, “Shut up! Stop talking! Go out and do yourself all the things you are telling other people to do!” My life for the past 60 years is that I’ve gone out to live it, do it, act it - I don’t tell people to do what I haven’t done myself! I’ve preached in the open air, in cinemas and theatres, in football fields, halls, stadiums… I’ve been out there, I’ve been doing it - and I haven’t stopped!

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16, NIV)

“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”! ‘Effectual fervent’ means this is very powerful prayer. The Greek word often used for powerful is ‘dunamis’. We’ve borrowed this word into English as ‘dynamo’ (to generate electricity, power, to run your home, your car); and as ‘dynamite’ (a very unusual explosive which doesn’t waste its energy on the open air, but pushes the wall down, breaks open the rock face). So when we’re talking about prayer, your prayer must not be wasted on the air, but like dynamite, it must be dynamic enough to move the mountain out of the way! To move the sickness! To move the obstacle! If your prayer is not doing this, it’s not doing its job! Dynamite is used in mining, it’s dangerous, but used correctly, it’s powerful! It achieves its objective! In the same way, the dynamic prayer of a righteous man avails – it works!

Now I want to turn to James 5:14ff. My Bible is old and this page is virtually torn out, I’ve had to stick the page back together, because I use it so much! That’s because it’s about faith and miracles of healing! Here James says, “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him” – this is not just healing, but also forgiveness of sin! So there is the miracle of healing and the forgiveness of sin, and let’s go on, verse 16, “confess your faults one to another, pray for one another that you may be healed.” This is not the ministry of the evangelist, this is the ministry of the Church! Come on! Pray one for another that you may be healed! It will probably take another book to explain the difference between the work of the church and the evangelist! But you can put these simple instructions from James into practice in your own lives.

I’ve always loved prayer and I’ve always loved hills. After dinner one night I left the family and went alone to climb the steep cliff path to pray. Getting towards the top, I came to a place where there was a bush and I couldn’t go any further, I was conscious that the devil himself was stopping me from reaching higher. I battled and battled, I knelt on the ground and cried out. But I could not get beyond that point! The second night, I tried again. When I got to that same spot, to that same small bush, I couldn’t get beyond! There was a ‘barrier’! Something held me back. I knew it was demonic, I became very afraid, gave up and quickly ran back down and told my Dad. He understood and showed me how to plead the power of the Blood of Jesus and break that barrier. The third night I went again. Again, I could not get beyond that same bush. But I would not rest, I would not go home without getting to the top – I had to get that victory. It was as if the devil himself was there with a flaming sword to stop me! But this time I prevailed in prayer exactly as my Dad had showed me – and I did it – I reached the top!!! What an impact it had on my life! That was more than 70 years ago, but I’m still on the same journey and I must always climb higher! But every time you think you’ve reached the top, there’s always another peak, another mountain to climb! We’ve got to reach the top! Not stop part way!

'I baptise you with water, but He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit' (Mark 1.8, NIV). From the moment I was baptised in the Holy Spirit, my whole life was transformed – not just by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but absolute change! Saved, baptised in water, now almost 14, that baptism in the Holy Spirit was the greatest change of all, a REVOLUTION in my life! It changed my living, my thinking, my preaching, – a physical and spiritual manifestation that was obvious wherever I went. I was preaching in the school: now my classmates changed, two went on to become preachers; the cynical Scripture teacher, who spent his time criticising the Bible, also changed and started a Bible study group and prayer meeting in the school! Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not just an anointing or a feeling or an emotional experience – it has to be an ABSOLUTE LIFE-CHANGING MIRACLE, a spiritual revolution in your life. If it has not changed you, you need to be immersed and baptised in the Holy Spirit again!

This Gospel that we preach has power to change the lives of drug addicts and criminals! Sixteen years ago I was preaching in a prison in Russia, 1400 criminals – mass murderers, sex offenders – every one of them repented, and out of them, God raised up 140 evangelists and pastors! That is the power of God! Not just conversion, but changing men, turning them into preachers on fire with the Holy Spirit!

When the Holy Spirit filled that early church, a boldness came on them, they lost their fear, they preached the Word – like Philip in Acts 8:5-8,14. Every time they were filled with the Holy Spirit, miracles happened! When the apostles prayed for the new converts, power came on them! If you are not seeing miracles, get a fresh baptism! Read the Acts of the Apostles! It is the story of a transformed church, a church motivated, with a purpose, on fire with the power of the Holy Spirit! The Word of God says, Jesus will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire! Church, where is the fire, the boldness, the miracles today?

‘At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are My Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased.’ At once the Spirit sent Him out into the wilderness, and He was in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended Him.’ (Mark 1:10-13, NIV). Jesus had to be baptised with the Holy Spirit. When He was born, He gave up His heavenly authority, so to work the miracles we read in the Gospels, He had to receive the Holy Spirit. There is a parallel in this with Acts 1, when Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit. It was after this baptism, that the disciples were changed and transformed into mighty men of God who literally changed the course of history. You and I need this same power from God if we are to be effective in ministry. And just as Jesus was tested, so we too, ‘should not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.’ (1 Peter 4:12-14, NKJV.)

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16, NIV)

There is so much power in prayer! I’ll never forget what happened in the Roman Amphitheatre in Caesarea in Israel in 2016, when all the forces of the enemy were against us, trying to destroy us and stop us from having 4000 unbelieving Jews in that stadium! Having tried everything and failed, the last thing the devil threw at me, on the day, was the biggest sea and sandstorm they had ever seen on the Mediterranean. It was so strong, it made the gantry holding our sound system and cameras sway one metre each way until it was in danger of collapsing, and the police wouldn’t let the people in for fear! I jumped up on that platform and said, “O God, You’ve never ever been defeated in battle and You’re not going to be defeated now. In Jesus’ Name I command the storm to stop!” And the storm stopped! In front of 4000 unbelieving Jews! God is still demonstrating His Power today!!!

Why did I pray like that? Because I KNOW, if you have a faith that has been put through the fire and tested, that faith will never fail. If my faith had failed, and the storm had prevented the meeting, would unbelievers ever listen to me again? You must understand, faith HAS to be put to the test. Put your faith to the test. I didn’t start with big miracles, I started with the small things, and I learnt the power of prayer.

James 5 says that the prayer of faith shall save the sick. This is faith in a more powerful sense. It’s the action of praying and believing that sees the miracle. People know that I’ve been healed of cancer twice, but on both occasions, it was a far bigger miracle than you can realise. On neither occasion did I have any medication, not a tablet, no chemo, nothing. I took a step of faith and I was completely healed. But the cancer did not disappear, the Hand of God had literally cut it out and left the scar tissue! The doctors could see, someone had operated! On the second occasion, I had had all the investigations which proved I had lung cancer. But the night when the cancer came out, it came out through my mouth and afterwards they had to burn the bed, it was soaked through with the remains of the cancer! I was standing very clearly both times by a very strong element of faith.

And now we come to something that I hold on to very much, still in verse 16, where James continues, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”! ‘Effectual fervent’ means this is very powerful prayer. The Greek word often used for powerful is ‘dunamis’. We’ve borrowed this word into English as ‘dynamo’ (to generate electricity, power, to run your home, your car); and as ‘dynamite’ (a very unusual explosive which doesn’t waste its energy on the open air, but pushes the wall down, breaks open the rock face). So when we’re talking about prayer, your prayer must not be wasted on the air, but like dynamite, it must be dynamic enough to move the mountain out of the way! To move the sickness! To move the obstacle! If your prayer is not doing this, it’s not doing its job! Dynamite is used in mining, it’s dangerous, but used correctly, it’s powerful! It achieves its objective! In the same way, the dynamic prayer of a righteous man avails – it works!

But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand. (Psalm 31:14-15, NKJV)

We need to trust God's timing. As I look back over my life I can see that God always had a specific purpose, and a specific time. God will always make a way when there is no way. In 1964, only three and a half years after my first visit to Jerusalem, I lost my voice. Unable to preach in my church, I went to the hospital to be told I had throat cancer and needed an operation. I fell on my knees and said, “O God, teach me how to pray!”– It’s one thing to pray when they say you have cancer, it is totally different when you only have 3 days before they take away your voice! I remember crying out, “Oh God, I haven’t yet seen Your power in my life! Oh God, my dream, my vision is not fulfilled! Oh God heal me! I’ve seen so many miracles! But now I need a miracle!”

In Habakkuk 1:2, the prophet cries out, 'O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear?' We all have times when we are unable to pray. The need is so great, the pain is more than we can bear. But I want you to trust God's timing. He had a specific time set for my healing from throat cancer, but before He could heal me, God also had a specific purpose to fulfil in my life. Without that healing from throat cancer, I wouldn't have had the faith to believe for my deliverance from a communist prison, and without my experience of the prison, I wouldn't have the ministry I have today. Trust God's plan.

After 10 years as a full-time pastor and evangelist in Britain, my ministry to Russia and Europe began in 1961 when I organised the first ever overland expedition to Jerusalem, travelling behind the Iron Curtain through the Arab countries and into Israel. I had heard that there was to be a World Pentecostal Conference in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost! Full of expectation of what God would do, I determined to be there! I had no money to go, but was challenged to do the impossible – set up an expedition, go by road!

Everyone from the motoring organisations to the British Foreign Office said it was too dangerous: in addition to the hazards of crossing the Iron Curtain countries, on unknown roads, without suitable hotels – in Turkey they would be killed by bandits, and in Syria shot as spies – and it was impossible to make the two way crossing by road in and out of Israel! Even my own father (Rev W G Hathaway), a man of faith, prayed desperately that God would stop me! But my heart was set because I believed that if I went by faith, revival would come and I myself would experience a new personal Pentecost.

I went. No, revival did not come in the conference, but God lit a fire in my soul, an unquenchable passion which grows stronger every year for God’s power to be demonstrated in Europe today!

Exactly forty years later, May 2001, I was again in Jerusalem in the same hall, this time to evangelise! Before it started I spent days walking round the hall praying and crying to God, “40 years ago I was so hungry, so determined to receive new power from the Holy Ghost, but You didn’t do anything! I didn’t receive the new fire! What was wrong?”

God answered me, “Forty years ago, after you came here, what happened?” I said, “My whole life changed!” I became a missionary to Israel, coming up to eight times a year, bringing tourists. In order to get to Jerusalem I had to go behind the Iron Curtain, through the communist countries, and God opened my eyes. I made contact with believers, people were pleading with me for Bibles and God began to put a new power in my life. I thought my ministry was Israel, but God said no, it’s in the communist countries.

Some find it difficult to accept miracles and healings, they want the Gospel without. Let me ask you a question. Which is the bigger miracle, to see an alcoholic, drug addict or murderer instantly forgiven and delivered or to see a broken leg instantly healed, a blind person reading the Bible and a paralytic getting out of a wheelchair? How can you really believe in an instant conversion and yet not an instant healing without limiting God’s power?

While I was holding crusades in Russia, October 1998, a man came into one of the meetings, who had been badly burned. Three months before, a container of boiling tar had exploded, the tar engulfing his legs. He stood in front of me still in agony, this was Russia and it had taken too long to get to hospital, even then the lack of medical equipment and supplies meant that little had been done to help him. What a challenge, what can your God do for such an extreme case? He told us that to remove the tar, they had ‘cut the meat off his legs’. I just reached out and touched his pain-racked body, ‘In the Name of Jesus I command the pain and injury to go!’ That’s all, but immediately the pain went! He came back the next night to say that the pain had not returned, he had slept for the first time in three months and the ‘meat was growing back on his legs’. He was so excited, he grabbed the microphone and told everyone, ‘It’s real, this Jesus is real, my legs are a miracle! This is not religion or psychology; Jesus is the real thing!’ I could have wept for joy – with these kind of miracles the world would believe on Him! No wonder when God sent Jesus into the world it was the miracles He used to convince the unbelieving Jews! This is why I get so excited, I don’t just ‘believe’, I KNOW Jesus!

Often in a crowd of several thousand people I tell them that my God is alive and will work MIRACLES NOW! However, this takes not only faith, but courage. In one crusade in a football stadium in Kherson, a large city in southern Ukraine, there was little faith in the thousands of unbelievers in the crowd. What could I do to prove that the God of the Bible is alive and has power and can work miracles today? I had called the people to repent and thousands had responded, but it now needed a big demonstration to prove the truth of God’s Word. I asked for only people with broken arms and legs to come to the platform. Eleven came forward, every one with broken bones. This was not easy, I could only do it because I was under a powerful anointing from the Holy Spirit – if I was wrong, how could I continue the crusade, I would be laughed at. But I know HIM, and surprisingly, God loves a challenge! God loved it when David challenged Goliath, when Elijah called down fire on Mount Carmel. God is not afraid... I laid my hands on all eleven. What does the Bible say in Mark 16? – These signs will follow those who believe, they will put their hands on the eleven people with broken arms and legs... and what will happen? They will be healed! I know what the Bible says, I know God has the power and I know HIM!

I asked the Holy Spirit to work a miracle and exalt the Name of Jesus so that everyone in the stadium would know that this was not me but the Lord Himself. I became excited because HE HEALED THEM ALL – instantly, in front of the crowd, just as it was in Jesus’ day and just like the Acts of the Apostles – only it happened HERE and NOW! Not past but present, not abstract but reality, not words but actions! This is why I speak with confidence, as the apostle said, ‘I KNOW in whom I have believed!’

On another occasion I knew in my spirit that the people did not really believe so when one woman came in the crowd for healing, I looked at her and asked, ‘Do you believe?’ and she said, ‘Oh I believe, I believe!’ But I knew she didn’t, so I asked her, ‘What do you believe?’ She was shocked because I questioned her! She said, ‘I believe everything!’ That meant that she believed in flying saucers, religion, witchcraft and even the devil, but she did not know God!

This is the real problem, that people don’t KNOW God! In Romans 10:13 it says, whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved, but how can they call on a God they do not BELIEVE in?

That woman I was talking to was religious but didn’t really believe! ‘Having religion’ doesn’t make you a believer. There is only ONE WAY you can REALLY believe, it’s if you KNOW WHO GOD IS! You can learn every word in the Bible – you can know everything about religion – but if you don’t know God, it means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Faith is more than knowing the Bible, it is knowing THE GOD OF THE BIBLE, HAVING A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM.

If you could know Jesus like this, absolutely nothing is impossible! My Jesus heals the sick, mends broken bones and specialises in the things no human doctor can do. That prisoner in Siberia – who else could forgive his sin and change his life? What an exciting God! A God of miracles, a God of power and authority! A God who changes people’s lives! I want you to experience His forgiveness as you come to Him now, approach Him personally as a friend! But ask His forgiveness for all your sin, then accept it by faith... in Him alone!

‘You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ (Acts 1:8, NKJV)

Today the Baptism of the Holy Spirit seems to have lost the significance of the Biblical experience. When people are prayed over to receive the Holy Spirit and they then speak a few words in tongues – that’s not it! Jesus said, in Acts 1:8, “You will receive POWER when the Holy Ghost comes on you!”  Do we really understand the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

Whether you are a man or a woman, someone just like Peter – you and I have to think again and ask God to baptise us again WITH FIRE, TO PUT POWER BACK INTO US! TO PUT THE FIRE AND THE POWER BACK INTO THE CHURCH!

‘The burnt offering shall be on the hearth upon the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it… A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out.’ (Leviticus 6:9, 13)

In the Old Testament, in Leviticus 6:9,12-13, God gave the command to the priests: when you bring the meat offering to the altar – you light a fire and it burns the sacrifice. But the command of God was that THE FIRE ON THE ALTAR MUST NEVER GO OUT! Today, if you want to receive this Fire from God, then your life needs to be the sacrifice on the altar of service to God, then I believe that the command given thousands of years ago still applies today, that fire must NOT go out. At the age of 13 years, I was baptised with the Holy Ghost and FIRE! I will not let that fire in me go out! I’m over 80 years old and this is the secret: what the priests had to do to keep the fire burning on the altar was to KEEP ADDING TO THE SACRIFICE! You’ve got to keep putting more sacrifice on your altar, more and more – that’s what we need today! The tragedy today is that too many believers claim they are baptised in the Holy Ghost – but where is the evidence of the fire?!

The challenge to the Church is this: YOU light the fire under the sacrifice, and when you light that fire, THAT FIRE MUST NEVER, EVER GO OUT! And there is only one way to feed fire, throw more onto it, put more sacrifice on the fire! If the fire is not burning in your life through the Holy Ghost, it’s because you are not putting enough sacrifice on the altar! We’ve got to have the same transformation in our lives as Peter had!

Our God is a God of power and authority. The Holy Spirit will not only give us Fire, but also the power and authority that God has. If you don’t have enough power in your life, if you don’t know God well enough, then the Holy Spirit in you will give all of that to you. I have an experience with God, which is not academic, it’s practical. My God is the God of the impossible who works miracles!

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1.16, KJV)

All my life I've desired to see the greatness of our God. I want to explore His greatness and discover more of His Power. The older I become, the more I understand who God is. For 16 years I was a pastor, but at heart I was an evangelist. Even when I was at school I was evangelising; I led my teacher to Christ, and two of the boys in my class became preachers.

I remember 1961 when I went to that Conference in Jerusalem. Israel at the time was just 13 years old. The Pentecostal people around the world had decided that on the Day of Pentecost they would hold a conference in Jerusalem for the first time in nearly 2000 years, believing that the Holy Spirit would come down again! It was impossible for me to go. I was a young evangelist, married with two young children, I’d spent all my money on evangelism, I wasn’t getting a salary at that time. How could I pay for the air ticket and the hotel? I couldn’t! But by faith – and when I look back now, I realise that what I was doing was by faith that God would fulfil His promise – I went! I didn’t go to Jerusalem for sightseeing, not even to be part of a conference. I went to Jerusalem to receive a new anointing and Fire from the Holy Spirit. And although I saw no actual change in my life afterwards, everything did change, my life took a different turn. Looking back, I can see that what I did was by faith. Because of that one action of going overland, behind the Iron Curtain, not thinking of the danger, the trouble, the difficulty – but by faith that I would receive a promise, similar to Abraham and all these others in Hebrews 11 – I see that all of my ministry from 1961 till now – all of it, all of my work in the Soviet Union and so on – came as the fulfilment of the faith for which I had to risk my life, my family, my everything.

I want to show you how YOU can enter into the reality, until YOU can command mountains to move! We need men and women on Fire with the Power of God, with the faith to believe that we serve a God of miracles!

I HAVE to see – I declare I WILL see – bigger miracles tomorrow than anything I have ever seen in the past! Why? Because we’re facing a world that looks at the Church as a failed entity, a religion without power. And sadly that is a reflection on God, if we have no power it must be because our God has no power… Because few people read the Bible and even fewer believe it, you and I are the only practical evidence of the Truth and Power of our God.

People today say, I cannot see God. Where is He? But whenever I preach the Gospel I say, ‘I will PROVE to you that God is here, because God will work MIRACLES,’ unusual things like this burning bush!

God spoke to Moses out of that fire, ‘I have seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, I’ve heard their cry. I know their sorrows.’ So many people do not understand who God is. He is not just a great Being in Heaven. If unbelieving people try to draw pictures of God, often they liken Him to an old man with a beard. But God is not an old man, nor does He look like you, He can only be recognised by His actions! And God is not just in Heaven, He is everywhere, in Israel, in England, in America, in Bulgaria...

Now, how did Moses know that he was talking with God? He saw a burning tree. When I preach the Gospel, you will not see a burning tree, but you WILL see the power of God! God said to Moses, ‘I have heard your prayers, I’ve heard your cry.’ But you say, I don’t know how to pray. God not only hears but sees the cries of your heart! God knows your pain; God knows your weakness. God hears the person who is crippled with arthritis, the murderer in prison, the drug addict. God does not condemn; He hears their cry. He WANTS to answer with a fiery demonstration.

So God said to Moses, ‘Go and find this old devil Pharaoh and tell him, let these people go!’ Today He calls us to say the same to the devil about the drug addicts, the alcoholics, the sinners, the criminals, the people that are hurting, the people that are in need, ‘Let them go!’

'Moreover he said, "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians,"' (Exodus 3.6-8, KJV).

“But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” (2 Chronicles 6:18, NIV)

The Glory of God cannot be contained in buildings made by man; even the heavens cannot contain the majesty of our God. Solomon at the dedication of the Temple prayed, 'But will God in very deed dwell with men on earth? Behold, heaven and the heavens of heavens cannot contain You...!' (2 Chronicles 6.18.) Yet God sent His Son, Emmanuel, 'God with us'. And today, He is not just with us, but He is IN us through the person of the Holy Spirit. After we become born again, our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. You are a walking manifestation of the Glory of God!

I want you to know the Power and the Glory of God. He is so big, so powerful, no place on earth can contain Him. And yet, the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, and she carried within her, the very essence of God. What couldn't be contained by the whole of creation, was carried in the womb of a humble woman who submitted to the plans and purposes of God. Like Mary, we carry within us the majesty and splendour of God, and the whole world must see it!

We must demonstrate the Glory of God here on earth. In 1994 I preached in Susuman, Siberia. With so many being healed amongst the crowd I can only remember the most outstanding. A man and woman who were paralysed were healed instantly, as was a woman who had been brought from the hospital with crippled legs, able to walk only with great pain and the aid of a stick. This is where the big­gest miracle of all began. This woman was so excited by her own healing, that at the end of the meeting she asked me to go into the hospital next day to pray with the other patients.

Going by taxi to the hospital next morning, she was waiting on the steps outside. Completely healed, she could walk freely and without any pain as she took me up the crude concrete stairs and into the first ward. Looking around at the men lying on their beds in this room I realised the need. Although the staff in these hospitals are caring, it was the poor equipment and lack of drugs and medicines which gave an atmos­phere of hopelessness.

I prayed for the man on the bed to my right as I entered who had multiple sclerosis. He was the one I had been brought in to meet, but he had no real belief. Next to the window was another man. I talked with him through Svieta, asking why he was there. He told me that his back was broken, so I laid my hands on him, immediately all the pain left, he straightened himself and got up and ran off to make a cup of tea for me! By now the news of what God was doing was spreading, and another man who was almost blind came from a different room. As I laid my hands on his eyes, they opened, and he could see. Someone brought a Bible which was by the side of one of the beds and he read it excitedly, shouting in his enthusiasm for all to hear, “I can see, look I can read!” 

Due to the delays in leaving the city, I had time to go and talk to the mayor who had invited me to come to his office. He told the four of us who went in that he was not a believer and that the Ortho­dox Church and the communists had tried to persuade him not to allow us to hold the Crusade. “I did not listen to them,” he said, “I told them that if you could help us spiritually in the town and also help to reduce the problem we have with crime, that you should be free to come. By the way, I heard what hap­pened in the hospital yesterday, thank you for emptying one of the wards!” – I later discovered that the blind man who was healed went into the hospital wards, read the bible and as a result the patients were healed!

Do you see what the Power and Glory of God in you can achieve?! It is not us who work the miracles, it is God in us. The power in the name of Jesus heals the sick!

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. (Psalm 63:1-2, KJV)

I remember a time when I experienced the Glory of God, it was as if I was in heaven with God Himself. In 1972 I was arrested and imprisoned for Bible Smuggling. My soul was in despair. All I had ever wanted to do was serve the Lord, yet here I was in a communist prison. On one particular day, I was in so much distress I couldn’t pray anymore. In my pain I started to pray the Lord’s Prayer through gritted teeth. I came to the line which says, ‘Who is in Heaven’. Then I argued, Yes, You are in heaven, but I’m in a stinking filthy cell, don’t You understand? Joy, happiness, glory – that’s in Heaven. But I’m down here – and then I remembered the truth – You sent Your Son – Your only Son – and You sent Him down to this earth, He was in a prison cell like me. Yes, God was willing, not only to let His Son die, death is easy, but He was beaten and tortured – why – because God loved me! He allowed His Son to suffer – for me! How could I complain? And then I realised, God is not just in Heaven; He’s here, in this prison cell with me! Suddenly the glory of that revelation flooded my soul. I began to understand who God is!

Then came the next part, ‘Hallowed be Your Name’. I questioned, what does this really mean? Surely this is the moment when we must worship Him, and how can I worship God in this cell? My mouth was closed, and I was trying to praise Him through clenched teeth because of my suffering and pain. Suddenly my heart opened and a miracle happened: it was as if Heaven had opened, the cell was filled with a brilliant light, all the angels of Heaven seemed to crowd into that cell, and I began to praise and worship the Lord. I got to my feet and began to run around that cell singing, “Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, how great Thou art!” The glory of God filled my heart, changing me, the sadness and the pain were gone! I was locked in a prison cell, yet I was in the presence of God, experiencing the glory of God, something greater than I had ever known in a church – it was as if I was transported into Heaven! I made so much noise, the guards came running to see what was happening – but the glory of God was so great, they did not even enter the cell. From that moment everything changed, God began to answer every prayer, I got food to eat, God showed me the day I would get out (my birthday), and that I would be speaking in the biggest auditorium in Britain to 10,000 people, sharing the joy of the miracle of answered prayer. And God answered my prayer as He promised.

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you ill? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. (James 5:13-15, NIV)

I grew up in the tradition that, in dealing with ‘Divine healing’, as we used to call it, we had to ‘pray’ for the sick. Having seen over the whole period of my ministry some outstanding miraculous healings, including my own two healings from cancer and one of my daughters from meningitis, I believe very strongly in the healing power of Christ. And over these last years working in Russia and Ukraine, I have been more challenged than ever.

In 1992 I was speaking to crowds of more than ten thousand in Mayaki, a village near Odessa, when the pastor asked me to go to another small town where there was no church, no Bibles and they had never even heard the name Jesus! The hall was packed with about eight hundred people almost all of whom accepted Christ after I had preached the Gospel to them. However, I was concerned that in their new belief, they actually needed a practical demonstration of who Jesus really is. For the first time in my life I said simply, but boldly to the crowd, ‘I can prove that Jesus is alive! If all the sick will come forward, I will put my hands on them in the Name of Jesus. If He is not alive no one will be healed, but if He is… then miracles will happen, because I will heal you in His Name.’ I was shocked by my own boldness! Tradition says that I must tell them, I will PRAY for you and then apologise and say, ‘I cannot heal you, only Jesus can.’ But before the meeting, I had been reading the words of Jesus in Luke 9:1-2 and 10:8-9, where He calls firstly twelve then seventy disciples and COMMANDS them to preach the Gospel and HEAL the sick – not ‘pray’ for them. Later I found that Matthew 10:1-8 is even stronger than Luke.

In the meeting that day hundreds came forward, and we recorded that almost every sick person was healed when I obeyed HIM in FAITH. Since then I have studied the commands of Christ to His disciples regarding healing and I cannot find one place in the four Gospels where Jesus ever tells His disciples to ‘pray’ for the sick! He always says either HEAL them or lay hands on them, as in Mark 16:17-18, where He says, ‘These signs will follow those who believe… they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.’

So where does the tradition of ‘praying’ come from? The main reference usually quoted is in James 5:14, ‘Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick.’ This is for the believers in the church, the ministry within the ‘body’. It clearly calls for the ‘elders’, the oil, praying in faith and forgiveness within the church.

All the other references in the Gospels, where Jesus is speaking, must be for the evangelist, as every reference in the commands of Jesus is to the disciples not to the church, which did not come into existence until Pentecost, and He always says, ‘Preach the Gospel… HEAL the sick.’

In order to demonstrate that Jesus is alive to unbelievers and to uplift and glorify the Name of Jesus we need to preach under a strong anointing of faith by the Holy Spirit which will bring signs, wonders, miracles and healings. We must have evangelism with power and fire to bring real confirmation of the truth we preach.

And in order to do this, we need two extremely important things, power AND authority. We know that the power is through the Holy Spirit but the authority?

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16, KJV)

James 5.16 says, ‘The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.’ Powerful prayer works! The original Greek of the Bible often uses a special word for power: dunamis – it signifies miraculous, wonder-working power. From it we get the words dynamo (which generates power), and dynamite (the explosive). If you want prayer to work, to change your circumstances, then it must generate power. And it has to be like dynamite. If you put an ordinary explosive against a wall, its energy disperses into space. But dynamite does not dissipate its energy – it pushes the wall down! That’s what our prayer must be like. It’s got to move mountains! We must learn how to talk to God, until our praying will move every mountain, every obstruction, everything that stands between us and the fulfilment of God’s promises.

We as believers must resist the devil. Don't give way to him. It reminds me of a time when I was in Ukraine. In 1998, gunmen came to attack me, to prevent me from preaching the Gospel. But I fought for my life, I resisted them, and they turned the gun away. It is the same principle spiritually. Resist the devil. Resist the temptation. As you resist, the promise is, the devil will flee. But you are not doing this alone, as you humble yourself before God, He will give you His grace. We see this in the Gospels. Jesus resisted the devil in the wilderness, and after He was tempted, angels came and ministered to Him. When you resist the devil by drawing near to God, He will draw near to you.

'Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up (v10).' Be humble before the Lord, esteem others, don't speak evil of one another. Allow God to lift you up. Promotion comes from the Lord.

In verses 13-15, James says, ‘Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’’ Don’t boast or brag about what you will do with you life, the plans and ambitions you have; submit all that you are into the Hands of God, and He will direct your steps. If we humble ourselves before the Lord, submitting to His plans and purposes, then He will ensure you fulfil your destiny. After all, this is what Proverbs promises, ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.’

Through patience we inherit the promises. ‘Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.’ (James 5:7-8.) Be patient for the Lord’s return, just as a farmer is patient, waiting for his crop. I believe the prophecies of Joel 2, the former and the latter rain, relate to the End Times; how the Church was born on the Day of Pentecost, and this is how it should end at the return of Christ, with a second outpouring of the Spirit. We must be patient and faithful until the end. This farmer analogy reminds me of the parable Jesus told of the tares and the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30). The two must grow together, otherwise the wheat would be damaged. This is the Church today. We cannot change God’s Word. We cannot add to it, or take away from it. Nor must we change its meaning and interpretation. Some have become unfaithful to the Word, believing lies and advocating things contrary to God’s Word. But we must be like the wheat; faithful to Jesus until He returns.

In 1972, I was arrested for taking Bibles behind the Iron Curtain and put in a communist prison: the sentence for bringing Bibles was five years, and because I was preaching the Gospel in the prison, that was another five years. I could have been there ten years! I did not want to spend ten years of my life in prison, in a foreign country! I desperately wanted to learn how to pray, because I wanted to see a miracle happen; I did not want to stay in the prison; I wanted to be free, to do the work of God.

After I’d been tried and found guilty (I would have been ashamed if I had done nothing the communists could find me guilty of as a Christian!), God gave me a vision and a dream three days after my trial, and He showed me the exact day I would come out of the prison!

The dream was that I was out of the prison and speaking to thousands at an Easter Rally that the Elim Churches (to which I belonged) held every year in the Royal Albert Hall, London. But it was not easy to hold on to that kind of faith in those conditions. It was only when eventually, after another five months, I managed to smuggle my own Bible into my cell, (that was in itself a miracle), God confirmed the dream in writing, in His Word. When I got my Bible, desperate to know where to start reading, I chose to read from David’s experiences in the Psalms, since like me, he knew what suffering was. I came to Psalm 35:18 where David himself says, “I will give God thanks in the great congregation, I will praise Him among much people.” I leapt in the air – this is it, the great congregation must be the thousands in the Royal Albert Hall on Easter Monday! So my confirmation of the dream I was holding onto was in the Scriptures! It was in writing! But a few days later, as I was thinking, I realised that my birthday in 1973 would come just three days before Easter! So I began to ask again, “Lord if You can work such a miracle for Easter, why not send me home three days earlier for my birthday?!” Some are surprised why, when God had given me one promise, should I not be content, why dare ask for another miracle?! But my faith was growing. So yes, I did ask, and this is what I prayed, “Lord if you can work one miracle, I want another, send me home for my birthday. But I want confirmation. If You will grant me this extra request, then show me a place in the Psalms where you speak of releasing a prisoner from his chains.” What a challenge… Was there even such a verse? I didn’t know… I picked up my Bible (remember, to have it in my cell was already illegal), I read on… and on, past all my favourite passages until eventually I came to Psalm 68:6, where it says, ‘God sets the solitary in families, He brings out those who are bound with chains!’ What can I say… My joy was unbounded, God had spoken, just as I had asked – I would go home for my birthday, April 17th!

However, in the months which followed, such pressure had built up (you need to have been in a communist prison to understand) – that I failed! My faith failed! I had a heart attack. The prison doctors gave me an ECG; a German doctor who was in prison in my cell went with me and interpreted the results for me. What had happened was that the stress of the prison, and the stress of waiting for the deliverance, had brought me to a minor heart attack…

When I went back to my work bench (I was in a slave labour camp), I cried out to God, I wept before Him, “O God, I’ve let go, my faith has failed, I’m not going to get out now…” I knew in my spirit that if I failed, if I wavered, I wouldn’t get out! That’s what I’m trying to tell you, that’s what the Bible is saying…

I cried out to God! And the Lord reassured me, because He does understand, and I got the peace that, yes, I had confessed and wept before Him over my failure, and He understood me. And yes, I was released on the EXACT day God had promised, on my birthday and to make the miracle even bigger, it was British Prime Minister Harold Wilson who secured my release! Then on Easter Monday I was invited to share my experiences in the Royal Albert Hall. Total fulfilment of what God had said! You see that healings are only part of the miracu‐ lous! God does not, no, He cannot fail, even to the minutest detail, plus He does the unexpected beyond all that you can ask or imagine! I speak from very real experience, from fact not fiction!

But if we don’t have that faith, the very work that we do is in vain! James goes on to say in 2:21, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered up Isaac his son on the altar?” Works! Come on! His faith was tested, proved, and he was justified by the fact that, though God had promised that it was through Isaac that He would make Abraham the father of a great nation – now here he was with his one and only son, the promised son, putting him on the altar, prepared to kill him – in faith that God would still do what He said!

Because verse 23 says, “Abraham BELIEVED God, and it was imputed unto him as righteousness…” Abraham was saved, in anticipation of the death and resur‐ rection of Christ, by that act of faith, of laying his only son on the altar, believing God, that He would do what He said – in the extreme.

Did you take note of that bit in verse 23? “Faith was imputed to him as right‐ eousness.” His faith gave him something extra from God… In fact his faith became his salvation – and the only way God could fulfil His future purpose. I am convinced that God so often needs to use our faith to fulfil His purposes – not just ours!

Somehow we have to understand and accept THIS challenge in the day in which we live NOW! Whether it’s going through Covid, or through the persecu‐ tion that will come, or through whatever is happening in your life, whether for the Jews it was through the Holocaust, or for the Russians through the prison camps – through it all we have to realise that holding onto God by faith is the way into the Kingdom!

God has given you this same power to work miracles! Acts 3.1 says, ‘Peter and John went up to the Temple… and a man, born lame, was carried who was laid daily at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple to ask money from those who entered… He saw Peter and John about to go into the Temple and asked money from them. Peter said, ‘Look at us.’ He expected to receive something from them but Peter said, ‘I’ve no silver, no gold but what I have I give you. In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk,’ and he took him by the right hand, lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength, and leaping up, stood and walked, and entered with them into the Temple walking and leaping and praising God.’ In verse 12, Peter says, 'Why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus... By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see (v16, NIV).'

How will you see miracles in your life and ministry? By faith in the name of Jesus. It is through power of the name of Jesus and the faith which comes through and from Him, that will work miracles.

Thirty years ago God gave me a prophetic vision concerning Russia and Ukraine. It was in 1986 that God spoke clearly. He told me that the Iron Curtain that had separated East and West Europe for so long would be melted by the Power of the Holy Spirit and that a new great move of the Spirit would sweep across the whole of Europe, uniting East and West, that this would not be an act of man, but a sovereign act of God moving in such demonstration that we would recognize it as only God's Power. But He also warned me that time to evangelise would be limited; that after a period of freedom a new Wall would come. God said: “Time is short. Another ‘curtain’ will fall across Europe: by economic collapse, by military might and by spiritual force. The Body of Christ must rise up in intercession and spiritual warfare long enough for Europe to be saved. Satan is already defeated because Christ has won the victory. Revival is God’s promise, because He said, ‘In the last days I will pour out My Spirit.’”

Whenever God tells me something He always expects me to 'put my feet where my mouth is' and act. The vision and prophecy began to be fulfilled when, in 1988, I organised and held a great East-West Conference in Karlsruhe, West Germany. Four thousand attended, but the miracle was six hundred delegates actually crossed through the Iron Curtain! This was indeed prophetic of what was to come. I thought I had done my part, but God challenged me to hold another East-West Conference in Karlsruhe the following year, 1989, and to again publicly prophesy the fall of the Curtain. Within weeks of the ending of the conference the Wall began to collapse. God had fulfilled His Word!

From the collapse of the Wall, my programme of crusades and conferences intensified. I worked ceaselessly across the whole of Russia and Ukraine preaching the Revival Fire of God, exactly as He had told me to.

The Lord showed me a prophecy from Deuteronomy 4:32-34 that He would do something so powerful in Russian and Ukraine that the eyes of the world would be turned to see and marvel. So great would be the signs and wonders, that literally God says that we can ask from the beginning of time till now and from one side of Heaven to the other, from the East to the West, “Has God ever done such a great thing as this thing is?” What is about to happen would be the greatest demonstration of God’s power in all of history and it would be in the former Russian countries!

I asked Him, “How can I do it? No one will listen, they will not believe me and in any case, how can I win the whole of Russia?” His answer was to show me Moses from Exodus 4:1 where Moses asks the same questions and God answers that it would be by the signs and miracles, which is exactly what this book will demonstrate.

I believe God will bless you. Have faith in God! I’m speaking over you power, blessing, healing! Speak it out! If you believe it and speak it, and don’t doubt in your heart, you will have power with God, and God will begin to work! Jesus said it! We’ve got to begin to understand the positive! Too often we fill our minds with negatives! Do you have mountains in your life? Have faith in God! Command them to go! God’s in the business of moving mountains! But you must declare (and actually believe, with no doubts), that in the Name of Jesus, they shall be moved!

The Apostle James, writing in chapter 3, clearly refers to the power of our words.

'We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell... With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig-tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.' (James 3.2-12, NIV)

Jesus cautioned in Luke 6, 'A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks' (6.45, NKJV).

Make this your prayer today, 'May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer' (Psalms 19:14, NLT)

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. (James 1:2-4, NKJV)

James describes himself as simply a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ (though he was the Lord’s half-brother), and he’s writing to encourage the Jewish diaspora, the twelve tribes which were scattered abroad: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations, count it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance, and perseverance must finish its work, so that you may be mature, complete, lacking nothing.”

This is a major issue for us: our faith has to face a test. James is not talking about a gift of faith, but the very faith in God which is the foundation of our salvation; we are saved by faith. James is talking about the testing of the very essence of our salvation. This is the whole theme of this first chapter. The testing of our faith in the very promises of God.

James says, “Know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance!” It’s faith in something in which we can persevere. So many people run well for a time, but drift away. It’s so sad - I don’t find enough teaching in our Christian life today about persevering, not giving up, not quitting.

In case you don’t know my story, in 1961 I became a pioneer, the first person ever to make the overland crossing by road, by car, from England to Jerusalem, in the newly established state of Israel! We faced so many difficulties. It took me two years of planning to get all the visas and permissions to go through the Iron Curtain communist countries and the hostile countries of the Middle East. Every time we solved one problem, there was another.

From the moment I set out to plan and execute this trip, I knew that I had to persevere until I got there! To go through the communist countries, I was told it would be almost impossible to get visas; there were bandits in Turkey and how were we going to get across the Bosporus; to go through Syria I was told we would be shot as spies; and the final blow - time and time again in my life comes the final blow to crush me - was that because of the hostility between Jordan and Israel, you were only allowed to make a one-way crossing! You couldn’t go back! People said, that’s the end, you can’t do it! But I persevered. I found there was a ship from Haifa that we could put the minibus on, and from Athens we could continue the return journey.

But it’s a question of perseverance. I don’t hear it preached much, but this is one of the key elements of our Christian life. Don’t give up! Don’t quit! When the Iron Curtain opened, I made the decision to take 400 people with me to evangelise the far side of Siberia for three months! It was impossible! How could you, in a broken nation - where everything was broken and nothing worked, not even the computers - how could you take 400 people for three months?!! And the estimated total cost back in then was over 2 million GBP!!! We didn’t have the money! We still owed money after the last mission… But because I believed it was God’s Call, I persevered. We went. We stayed for the three months! We took 400 people! We came back! And we went back the following year!

Do you understand what perseverance is?!! Perseverance is the idea that you have a job and you’re not going to stop until it’s done. I have to laugh: married men have a reputation of starting a job and never finishing! Well, I built my own houses with help, yes, and I finished it. But I also start jobs I don’t finish! But perseverance means you finish the job you start! What a challenge!

So this is how James starts his letter of encouragement! He explains, v4ff, “Perseverance must finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.” The difference between childishness and maturity is perseverance. It’s only through perseverance that you get to maturity.

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer, to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. (Philemon 1:1-7, NKJV)

Paul is greeting, not just Philemon, but also the church that met in Philemon’s home. This was so typical of the churches at that time – they were house groups. Today the house group movement has grown and expanded, but there were also bigger churches, for example in Ephesus where, to accommodate the growing numbers, Paul took the lecture hall of Tyrannus, Acts 19:9.

So, to Philemon and the church that meets in his home, Paul sends ‘Grace and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’. He says, v4, “I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers.” Speaking myself as an evangelist just like Paul, you tend to have a very emotional relationship with people you win for Christ, and with the churches that are born out of your ministry.

It's our faith and our love that should be such a hallmark of who we are in Christ. This is key – our trust in Jesus. Our faith is in HIM. As Christians the most important thing in our lives is trust. And it’s not just faith, it’s love for Christ – and our love for all the saints.

Paul prays that Philemon’s house church – that we – should be active in sharing our faith (v6).

And now to Philemon, Paul says in v7, “Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.”

Here we come to the point which so intrigues me, v8, “Though in Christ I could order you to do what you ought to do, I appeal to you, Philemon, on the basis of love… I, Paul, as an old man, and a prisoner of Jesus Christ, appeal to you for my son Onesimus…”

I want to stop here. Paul is in prison as he writes, but he often refers to himself as a ‘prisoner of Christ’. The relationship he has with Christ is more than being a follower, it’s such a strong relationship, it’s as if he is captive to the love, to all that Jesus is. If we could only see ourselves in this relationship – captives, almost slaves, to the drawing power and the influence of the love that is in Jesus! And so Paul continues, “I appeal to you for my son Onesimus...”

…This Onesimus is a very unusual character and is mentioned in only two places I can see, here and briefly in Colossians 4:9, if this is the same Onesimus... His story is intriguing, as we find he was an escaped slave; and more, it appears from v18-19, he stands accused of theft, “If he has done you, Philemon, any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand – I will pay it back! I will take responsibility!”

Let’s recap. Paul is saying to Philemon, v10, “I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.” It’s obvious that the runaway slave has somehow met Paul, and Paul has led him to Christ whilst he was in prison, in chains. Onesimus appears to have been a great help and comfort to Paul. “Formerly,” Paul says, “Onesimus was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.” Paul is making a pun: Onesimus in Greek means ‘useful’ or ‘profitable’. A slave who is a thief is neither useful nor profitable!

Can you see the absolute transformation from slave to fellow-Christian, to someone who is ministering to Paul, and has become as dear to him as a son?!! And Paul is saying, I’m sending him back – he who is my very heart – I’m sending him back to you. Pauls says, I would have liked to have kept him so that he could take your place, Philemon, in helping me while I am here in chains…

Isn’t this an intriguing story?!! Here’s a slave, running away, accused of wrongdoing, meets Paul, who introduces him to Jesus; he accepts Christ, becomes a believer – and even becomes an active minister, helping Paul who is in chains for the Gospel!

Paul continues to Philemon, v14, “I do not want to do anything without your consent…” I like what is happening here. Paul is saying, I don’t want to compel you to do what I ask, I want that any favour that you do should be entirely voluntary and not forced.

This brings out such a wonderful character in Paul! He wants Philemon to be spontaneous from his heart, and not forced by him to recognise and receive this slave back!

Here, we see Onesimus, a runaway slave, a thief, who has found Christ. In v15, Paul is saying to Philemon, perhaps the reason you were separated from Onesimus for a while, is that you might receive him back for good – no longer a slave, but better than a slave – as a dear brother! He’s very dear to me, but even dearer to you, both as a man and a brother in the Lord!

Doesn’t this show how we should receive people?!! I’m so touched that Paul is so moved that he writes this wonderful letter to Philemon; this runaway slave and thief is now a believer – take him back, as a man, but also as a brother in Christ! And, if it is the same Onesimus who went on to be Bishop of the Churches in Ephesus, what a glorious story!!!

Paul says to Philemon in v19, I will pay whatever Onesimus owes you, but I do wish, brother, that you would receive him, because I led you to Christ!

There is a debt here in the sense that when someone leads us to Christ, we owe them something. Let us love one another, not just in words, but in action, in what we do! In Jesus’ Name! God bless you.

Will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple that I have built! (2 Chronicles 6:18, NIV)

We are all so familiar with the Christmas prophecy, Isaiah 9:6, ‘Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given...’ But Solomon in 2 Chronicles 6:18, at the dedication of the new temple asks, ‘But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You…!’ Yet Jesus did come, Emmanuel, ‘God with us’, and now today even more so because Christ dwells not just with us but in us after we are ‘born again’. Our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit today!

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives among you? (1 Corinthians 3:16, NIV)

The Temple of the Old Testament intrigues me. The Shekinah Glory dwelt in the Holy of Holies, but God had to send His Son to reveal Himself to His people. The Temple was a human attempt to represent the Glory, Majesty and Splendour of God, but even Solomon admitted that it couldn’t contain God, even the heavens are too small. But God choose to send His Son Jesus; the Glory of God was revealed in and through Jesus. Will God in fact dwell with men on earth? Yes, Jesus came 2000 years ago as Emmanuel, but soon He will return as our King.

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.” (Numbers 23:19-20, NKJV)

God's Power breaks every curse. I want to tell you, whom God has blessed, no one can curse! No one can curse you, when you have the love of God in your heart. In Numbers 23.19-20, Balaam was paid by Balak to curse the people of God. But this is what Balaam said, “God is not a man that He should lie, neither a son of man that He should repent (change His mind) – what He said, shall He not do it, and what He has spoken will He not make it happen?!” God cannot lie, He cannot change what He has said. And in the next verse Balaam says, God has blessed, no one can change it!

When you have learnt power with God, God will begin to bless your life, your home, your family, your finance, your job – everything about your life! God will bless you. No one can change it, no one can reverse it – your life is under the power and blessing of God!

His favour lasts a lifetime! (Psalm 30:5, NLT)

I am living under the power and the blessing of God, I have a covenant relationship with God, God will never change that covenant! What a relationship! It does not depend on your ‘holiness’ – look at David, look at Israel – they went away from God, they sinned against God – but God cannot break His covenant! You have to come to a place in your life when God enters into that covenant with you and says, “I will bless you!” – When you receive that from God, for the rest of your life it will never change – it’s as certain as that! I challenge you to get to a spiritual place with God where the power of God is on your life. You can have that relationship with God, but first you have to have a personal experience with Him! Don’t depend on me – I challenge you – get on your knees, cry out to God, “Oh God I must have Your blessing in my life, I want power with You and a covenant that cannot be broken, so that You will bless my life, my ministry, my family!” You will see miracles in every area. Every time I preach the Gospel I dare to say from the platform, “God will work miracles.” I know. How? I have a covenant relationship with God. If I preach the true Gospel, if I declare the glory of God, God will honour it and work miracles.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17, NKJV)

At the point of salvation followed by baptism, we become new – a divine exchange takes place: Jesus takes our sins and we receive Christ’s resurrected, eternal life. In Galatians 3:13-14, Paul says that Christ became cursed for us – He took all our curses on Himself on the cross – so that we are now blessed! When we receive Christ, all curses are broken, chains are gone, the past erased. Christ has redeemed us from every curse! We are blessed! Salvation through Christ is a finished work – we need no ‘add-ons’. It’s done – complete, finished. Anything less denies the truth of God’s Word and makes Christ’s sacrifice in vain!

Isaiah 53 teaches that God laid on Jesus the guilt and sins of every one of us… ‘It was the Lord’s good plan to bruise Him and fill Him with grief so that when His soul had been made an offering for sin, then He would have a multitude of children…’ – You and me!

At the point of salvation, we receive the spirit of adoption by which we cry, ‘Abba Father’ (Romans 8:15). This means we now are the sons and daughters of God – our ‘bloodline’ comes from Christ, not from our ancestors! Whatever our ancestors may have done, no generational curse has power over our lives! We are a new creation – literally re-created – all past mistakes and sins forgiven! We are new! Romans 6:11 says we are dead to sin and alive in Christ. The past has no more power over us!

There is no generational curse, no demonic influence, which has power over those who are in Christ! Whatever your natural parents may have done, evil spirits cannot live in you once you have received the Spirit of Christ and been baptised into Christ’s death: you are dead to all the past, including anything from any of your relatives! If the Spirit of Christ is in you – no evil spirit can be in you. You cannot have the Spirit of Christ and the spirit of the devil in you at the same time! In Matthew 7:18 Jesus said, “No tree can bear both good and bad fruit.” Either one or the other, but not both together – and if Jesus said it, then I cannot accept what anyone else might say!

Jesus has won the victory – He has paid the price – He has redeemed us! One of the most powerful phrases in the Bible is when Jesus, on the cross, shouts: “It is finished!” At that very moment, Jesus had done it all, the devil was defeated, curses broken – and we are made righteous and approved in God’s sight! – This is why the deliverance ministry and ancestor teaching are not appropriate for those who have received Christ. What we need is faith in the finished work of the cross! We must get back to an understanding of the power of salvation! – The moment you believe the lie that, as a believer, you are nonetheless affected by your ancestors and their sins, you have made your faith ‘of no effect’! Galatians 5:1-5 says you have ‘fallen from grace and Christ has become of no effect to you’! – We must get back to the simplicity of the true Gospel message of salvation. When Jesus said “It is finished” on the cross – it literally was finished! Nothing else is required! – Only faith to accept this truth. (Galatians 5:6).

[Jesus Christ] declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (Romans 1:4, NKJV)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17, NKJV)

I like to boast about the Power of my God because He is a God of miracles! Yes, God is a God of love, of compassion. But the God I know and serve, the God of the Bible, is not passive, but active on our behalf. A God of love, but also a God of Power.

Today it’s time that we began to rise up and recognise the power and authority that we have in Jesus’ Name. Power to preach a life-changing Gospel, power to bring healing miracles in order that He might receive the glory, and so that we as ‘ordinary’ people might have something dynamic to demonstrate in our lives! When Jesus healed the paralytic man (Matthew 9.6) He said, ‘So that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth... rise up and walk!’ Today we must become men and women of action to continue the demonstration begun by Jesus, to see signs and wonders.

I have Christ IN me and I have the Holy Spirit IN me! That is the secret of 70 years of miracle ministry. I do not want any new Gospel – I want the Bible-believing, miracle-working, powerful Gospel according to God’s Word! You can pray for an easy life, ask Him to prevent the problems, ask for a quiet time... but that means where there are no problems, there are no miracles!

We must go by faith, in obedience to what God is telling us to do. And God always makes a way. I have learned that everything God does is a miracle! If it’s not a miracle, then you or I could do it! In my life I know that it is God working when the totally impossible happens! Whatever the problem, God never, ever fails – it’s impossible! The day God fails, He’s no longer God. It’s in God’s Word, it’s His character. He’s the God of miracles! Yes, I have problems – these mean I spend much time in prayer and fasting. Why? Because you cannot have miracles without first having problems! Every problem drives me to prayer which then brings another miracle! But people aren’t prepared to pay the price. And because they don’t want the problems, they don’t see the miracles. The Bible says that ‘the things that are impossible with men are possible with God’.

For one year I spent much time in prayer and fasting, seeking an answer to a desperate need. Twice I said to the Lord that I would fast until the answer came, I was so desperate, but I know that my God is a prayer-answering God! The first time I had to cease fasting before the answer came, only because I had to go to Ukraine for three weeks of intensive evangelism. The second time was after my return: tired and exhausted from the travelling and preaching and the effects of food poisoning, I re-commenced my fast, determined to continue until the answer came. After ten days, as I was praying and worshipping Him, I felt a tremendous sense of the Lord’s presence and I began to say, ‘Yours is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory.’ Suddenly it was as if this was the answer, and I began to say it again, ‘Yours is the Kingdom, Yours is the Power, these are Yours by right, but the GLORY is what we give You as the answer comes and You receive the Glory from us!’ I felt confident at that moment that without question I would receive from Him exactly what I was asking, so that then I could give Him all the Glory!

We need to recognise who we are and what we are in Christ. It is important to understand the blessings which God has given us. When I first realised that the promises of both the Old and New Testaments were not just for the Jews in the past and for the first disciples, but also for me as an inheritor of the same promises as a ‘son of God’, it opened up a whole new experience for me. Whilst receiving my healing from throat cancer many years ago began to lead me into a more positive experience, it was the miracle which finally brought me out of a communist prison which confirmed this. It challenged my own faith, that God could actually physically open my prison doors in Czechoslovakia. It happened to Paul and Silas in Philippi 2000 years ago (Acts 16), why could it not literally happen for me today? – And it did, God even used British Prime Minister Harold Wilson to make it more dramatic and provide unquestionable proof.

I came into a totally new experience of faith, the realisation that if God says it – then He will always do it! This is what faith is, not faith in a promise or a healing, but faith in God as a person, that my God is a God of His Word, who will always keep a given promise! This means that you have to make a conscious decision, either to continue to live ‘normally’ or to live in a faith-experience of letting God’s Word govern your decisions.

It is a command of God that we must possess and receive all that God has for us. It is not an option – obey!

He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much… (Luke 16:10, NKJV)

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2, NKJV)

Heaven is a place of reward. We talk about being saved and the Glory of the Kingdom… But Heaven is a place of reward for faithfulness in what we have been called to do! Jesus speaks about it very strongly. Yes, I’m an evangelist, God called me very specifically to those former communist countries – and I have served the Lord as faithfully as I could. As hard as I could. Even to the extent of going into prison. Four times they have tried to assassinate me… But I was serving the Lord with all my heart. But I will not get a bigger reward, simply because I did so much. My reward is on my faithfulness to the job I am called to do. You may think your job is small and is insignificant – yet your reward is not in the size of the job you do, but on your faithfulness to do what He has called you to do. Whether you are a teacher, a nurse, an employee – it is our faithfulness to the talents God has put in our hands. The one with ten talents doubled it, the one with five talents doubled it – but the servant with the one talent which he buried in the ground lost everything! Your reward is in your faithfulness in what God has given you to do.

Colossians 4:1 continues with the question of masters and slaves: “Masters, provide your servants, your slaves with what is right and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in Heaven.”

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:2-6, NIV)

In v2ff, Paul says, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” This theme runs right through Scripture, watching, praying – with thanksgiving – faithfulness in prayer! There is a big responsibility for us in this. Paul says here in v3, “Pray for us that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains.” There must be constant prayer from me and from you – pray! Just like Paul, I need prayer that God will open doors.

There is a time when God opens a door. And closes it. Our lives are ordered by the Lord, everything in my life was planned before I was born – this is what Scripture says! Before sin came into the world, salvation came! Jesus Christ is the ‘Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world’, Revelation 13:8, ‘to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself’, Hebrews 9:26. Before the world was formed, God knew that sin would come, and He prepared a way of escape. So God DOES KNOW THE FUTURE!

But this is why Paul wrote in Colossians 4:3, “I’m in great difficulty – pray that God will open the doors!” I’m challenging you, pray that God will open the doors! Yes, God has opened the doors of Central Asia to me. Why? Because of the problems in the whole of that region that neighbours Russia, God has opened this whole mission field to me! In September 2022, I was in Kazakhstan with representatives from five Central Asian countries, calling to God for revival. And in November 2022, I was in a great crusade in Georgia, another country bordering Russia (and, like Ukraine, invaded by Russia in 2008). God opens doors. When one door closes, Scriptures says, God opens another. Revelation 3:7-8. That has always been my experience.

Paul continues his instructions to the believers in Colossae in v5ff: walk in wisdom towards those that are outside in the world, redeem the time, let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how to answer everyone.

In v18, Paul concludes his letter very simply, “Remember my bonds.” He was in prison, and yet whilst in prison, he could still preach the Gospel! When I was in the communist prison, I was able to lead some of my fellow prisoners to Christ. You can, wherever you are. It’s a part of our faithfulness.

Be faithful! And remember, we are working for a reward, but not here, you may not get any of your reward down here. Our reward is in the Kingdom. There are some Christians – working – whose reward is only down here. Your Home in Heaven – is built with the materials you send up from down here. Be faithful!

For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:9-15, NKJV)

Now may God himself, the God of peace, make you pure, belonging only to him. May your whole self—spirit, soul, and body—be kept safe and without fault when our Lord Jesus Christ comes. (1 Thessalonians 5:23, NCV)

Do you need a miracle of healing? Do you question, does Jesus still heal today? The desire of Jesus is that your spirit, soul and body be pure and whole. Then why do we get sick? For the same reason we still sin. We live in a fallen world, and the Kingdom of Heaven is a Coming Kingdom - but there is a day coming when all things will be made new: ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever’ (Revelation 21:4, NLT). Jesus still heals today! I myself have experienced two miraculous healings from cancer, but my wife experienced her healing through passing from life into eternity.

‘A woman was in the crowd who had been bleeding for twelve years, but no one was able to heal her. She came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his coat, and instantly her bleeding stopped. Then Jesus said, “Who touched me?”

When all the people said they had not touched him, Peter said, “Master, the people are all around you and are pushing against you.”

But Jesus said, “Someone did touch me, because I felt power go out from me.” When the woman saw she could not hide, she came forward, shaking, and fell down before Jesus. While all the people listened, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Jesus said to her, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace.”’ Luke 8:43-48, NLT)

For those of us who know the Bible this story seems so simple but yet I feel that it touches all of our lives. I want you to understand why these stories were written. Firstly, these were actual incidents that happen in the life of Jesus, they were not parables or illustrations: they were things that actually happened. What occurred here was totally unexpected because Jesus was on his way to do something else – the ruler of the synagogue in that town had come to Jesus to ask Him to heal his daughter. Yet somehow in the middle of the journey, this desperate woman intrudes into the scene. You can understand her position, lonely, desperate for a miracle. It is not so different today, people tired of the formality of religion, of the moral uncertainty created by the state, of the inexorable slide into moral chaos, of their own hopelessness, need Jesus.

I can well understand this story in Luke’s Gospel, the people in the whole area all knew that Jesus could work miracles, so wherever Jesus went, the ordinary people crowded around Him. They were all pressing up against Him, so He had no peace. But while He was trying to go to heal Jairus’ daughter, one woman forcefully pushed her way through the crowd and touched Jesus.

Jesus knew that somebody had touched Him and immediately asked who touched Me? One disciple questioned, how can You ask who touched You, hundreds of people are surrounding You. But Jesus recognised there was something unusual with this woman, her touch was different.

So many people, but only one attracted the personal attention of Jesus. The problem she had was quite common, extra menstrual bleeding which the doctors could not stop even after twelve years. She had a severe problem, it was a difficult time for her, and she had spent everything she had to pay the doctors, yet they could not stop the bleeding. She had nothing left and still she was not healed, in fact the Bible says the doctors made the condition worse. But she was determined to get healed! So when she found that Jesus was in town she went to Him to be healed.

We know the woman was healed but there was something significant which made her different to all the others in the crowd and even stopped Jesus in His other mission. What she did made Jesus stand still and give her what she desired.

She was so determined to get to Jesus, nothing was going to stop her – no man, no crowd, she knew she had to get to Jesus. She was determined to do it and she did it. She was going to touch Him in a way Jesus would not know. She was not going to touch His arm, or ask Him to put His hand on her – she was not going to attract His attention. She was going to come secretly and quickly. But she knew one thing: if she touched the bottom of His coat she would be healed.

I want to tell you something very important and it’s based on all my years of experience with God. Everybody can be healed – believer or not – but it depends on you.

I want you to understand that God knows what is in your heart. It’s not just the words. Amongst all the people around Jesus, there were those who were looking for every excuse to trap and destroy Him, while others wanted Him arrested and put in prison. But there was one woman who was different, she said, “I know if I can get through this crowd and touch Him. If I move quietly He will not know who I am, but if I can just touch His coat, He will not know who I am, but I will be healed”.

There was fear in her, fear of recognition, perhaps even fear of Jesus. Who was she, was she a public figure, or was her problem a result of some sin? Or was it simply years of rejection, perhaps by her husband, or her friends? Certainly there was not only pain in her body but also in her heart. The last thing she wanted was recognition, but that is exactly what she received and it changed her life – not only healing but recognition, forgiveness and a transformation, complete wholeness!

Do you understand why the story of this woman is told? She was so determined: she was tried of being sick, why should she live like this? She wanted to be rid of that sickness! She came into that crowd determined to fight her way through! You have to come to Jesus like that. If you do you’ll get what you ask for.

…having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:12, NIV)

In Colossians 2 the key passage is v12 where Paul is talking about water baptism. To be baptised as an infant and so to be made a ‘member of the Church’ is not Scriptural. No. Scripture says, “Repent and be baptised.” Water baptism has to come AFTER repentance. Paul says that we are ‘buried in baptism’ – totally immersed in the water – just as Jesus was buried in the grave. And that ‘we are risen with Him’ – just as Jesus rose from the dead.

In Colossians 3:1ff, Paul carries on with this same thought, saying, “If you are then risen with Christ…” You can ONLY have this experience of being ‘risen with Christ’ – IF you have died with Him! Being dead to the old life is the theme that runs throughout the Gospels and the Letters! Water baptism is the symbol of this! Come on! We’ve got to die to the old life. It’s got to be finished.

Once we’ve had this experience of repenting of our sin and dying to the old, the devil can hold nothing against us. It’s gone! Dead! Buried! The past is gone, you are a new man, a new woman in Christ. I don’t think we emphasise this sufficiently. Working in the former Soviet Union as I have done for over 60 years, and especially in the 30 years since the collapse of communism, many of the new pastors I’ve known were former drug addicts, criminals – but their past is gone! Because, in Christ, you are dead to sin, dead to the past! That’s why in Col 3, Paul says, move on, “IF you are risen with Christ, then stop looking at the things of the past that affected your life, and begin to seek those spiritual things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God!”

You see, when you believed, you were born into a new life, a spiritual life, an eternal life. Scripture says your body is a house or a temple – and YOU are the person within it. The NEW YOU will live into eternity, and will rule and reign with Christ! With a Resurrection body! Our whole focus, our whole concentration should be on this future. Paul says in v2, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” This should be our desire, our motivation. Too many Christians, even in leadership, are more concerned about the earthly things…

But Paul is saying you’re dead! It’s a strange thing to get across to you. I’m dead. I had to die. I was only 8, but still, the old flesh had to die! Because a new life had to be born! Your life and mine is hid with Christ in God, Col 3:3. And, in Paul’s words, when Christ who is our life shall appear, then we shall also appear with Him in Glory, v4! If we have experienced this death, Christ is our life, our hope. It’s like marriage – when a man and a woman come together, they become one flesh, one person – and we become one in Christ! Marriage is a picture of our relationship with Him. Our life is in Him. So when Christ appears, we shall appear with Him.

When a Christian dies, your body dies, but YOU are not dead! And when the Day of Resurrection comes, we shall rise with Christ with new Resurrection bodies! Where Christ is, there we shall be. With Him!

Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27, NIV)

The new life that we have in Christ is a renewed one, in a new image – the Image of Christ. Christ should be in us! That’s what Paul often says, “Christ in you, the hope of Glory!” The Life, the very essence of Christ – in us! When a child is born, that new life comes from father and mother – in their image! By faith, you are born of God. It’s the Life of Christ in you that now makes you who you now are! Paul says in Galatians 4:19, “I travail until Christ be formed in you.” You are in Christ!

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience… Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:12, 15, NIV)

Therefore, Paul says in v12ff, as the elect, the chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; being forbearing and longsuffering with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a quarrel against any [even against another Christian], we have to forgive as Christ has forgiven us. Paul says, v14, put on love which is the bond of perfection. It is the love between us that is the bond that unites us. We have a common love because we are one family.

It’s the same with Christ. We have to realise, with our brothers and sisters in Christ, that we are born in the same Image, and we are one Flesh, one Blood.

My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2-3, NIV)

I want to encourage you as we study the book of Colossians. Chapter 2 verse 1 begins with Paul saying, “I would have you know what great conflict I have for you, for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face – I want you to know how much I am struggling for you!” Right throughout this letter, Paul is expressing a great love for the people of God. Many he knew because he had met them and, in many cases, had pioneered the churches – but not in every case. Here Paul is expressing his love and concern even for those he had not met in person and who had never seen him.

The depth of this love resulted in a conflict, a struggle on the part of Paul that those who were to hear this letter might be comforted, knit together in love, and that in this love, they might experience all the riches of complete understanding and might know the ‘mystery’ of God the Father and of Christ. Paul is saying that it’s ONLY when we are knit together in love, in fellowship together, ONLY united in love, can we receive the full revelation and understanding of who Christ is – in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, vv2-3.

Paul is saying, the treasures of God are hidden in Christ. ONLY when we understand the person of Christ can we begin to understand fully what the blessings of God are. The blessings of God come to us, not from the Father alone, but through Christ. This is the importance of Jesus Christ to us! Yes, Scripture tells us, Jesus tells us to ask God the Father, but He said this: Whatsoever you ask God the Father IN MY NAME, I – Jesus – will do it. John 14:13,14. It is He who has the ability, the right to mediate and pass on the blessings of God to us. Although God is our Father, we still come in the Name of His Son in order to receive the blessing.

Paul says very beautifully in v2 that it is the unity we have together that enables us to see more explicitly the hidden treasures of wisdom and love that are in Christ and that He wants to pass on to us. But, to fully understand who Christ is, the fullness of Christ, all that He is, all that He has, we need to have that same affinity, that same fellowship and that same love one for another! But, Paul warns in v4, “I say this, lest any should beguile you, deceive you, with enticing words.”

In v5ff he says, “Although I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.” So often the phrase ‘being present in the spirit’ is twisted out of context, an easy excuse, as when people say, “I can’t be present in the meeting, but I will be with you in spirit.” Paul is saying something stronger: Although I am absent in the flesh, yet we have such a sense of unity in the Spirit that everything is revealed to me – about your love and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

Paul continues in v6ff, “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” Walk in Him! To fulfil our Christian experience and calling, it’s not just a matter of the moment we receive Christ, which is the beginning of our salvation, but it’s the ‘going on’! Walking in fellowship with Christ. This is a daily walk! Not something that happens when you go to church on a Sunday, a prayer meeting or a Bible study. This is a daily experience of fellowship with Christ. I can see the depth of what Paul is saying here, that although he’s not present in the flesh with the believers in Laodicea and others whom he has never met personally, yet the link in the Holy Spirit, in the fellowship of love, makes him one with them! Just as, in our relationship with Christ – whom we have never seen in the flesh – it is our love and our unity in love in Him and with one another, that enables us to receive Christ’s blessings.

This is why Paul says, “As you have received Christ, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith, as you have been taught.” Our faith and our spiritual experience are built up by the relationship we have with Christ! This comes through reading the Word, but not ONLY. You can put too much emphasis on reading the Word, as opposed to the personal relationship we have with Christ, and our daily walk with Him.

All my life I have had a very close and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I talk to Him all the time – this is not formal prayer – I’m asking Him questions, I’m listening to Him and He’s explaining things to me. It’s an on-going relationship. This is what creates us and develops us, brings us to the place where we are. I think the reason I have a very special experience in ministry is because of the very close personal relationship that I have developed with Jesus as a person.

But then in v8ff, Paul goes on, “Beware lest any spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the traditions of men…not after Christ.” The danger is that we can be tied down by traditions. It is a problem that established churches and religions become based more on tradition than on a direct relationship. They begin to teach philosophy, ritual, a worldly experience instead of Christ. ONLY in Christ dwells all the fulness, all the completeness of God. You will not find the completeness of what God wants to give you, to share with you and teach you, through anything other than your personal relationship with Christ. ONLY in Christ are you complete.

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:11-14, NKJV)

I want to show how you can have Holy Ghost Power in your life. Writing in Ephesians 1v11, the Apostle Paul speaks of the ‘inheritance’ we have received in Christ, being predestinated according to the Purpose of Him who works all things according to His Will! In other words, God ALWAYS INTENDED, from the beginning, from the very foundation of the world, before God created Heaven and earth, God had ALREADY PLANNED – ANOTHER KINGDOM! Another world, something far more glorious! Here is only our training school, this is only our preparation... Jesus taught us that, for what we do here, we will receive a reward there! There are rewards in the Kingdom of God based on our faithfulness on earth! By what we achieve down here! Our whole experience here is looking forward to something FUTURE! The Christian life you have at the moment is not the end, it’s only the beginning. What we have down here is not the whole Glory of Salvation, it’s not the whole Glory of what we have in Christ – it’s just a foretaste, a glimpse into the future of what will be ours!

Paul writes in vv12‐13, God has chosen us to be the ‘praise of His Glory’, we who first trusted – IN CHRIST! All of this is coming about because of our trust IN CHRIST!

Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise… Now the just shall live by faith. (Hebrews 10:35-38, NKJV)

Faith is confidence, and confidence is trust. The Apostle Paul taught, in Hebrews chapter 10v35, 'Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.'

You have faith in someone when you have confidence in them. You trust a person because you have faith in them. The challenge to all of us is, don't throw away your confidence. Or to put it another way, do not throw away your faith. Faith is a gift. It comes from God. Because our faith is in Him. But our responsibility is to not loose that faith, that confidence. Faith brings a reward. By verse 28 of chapter 10, the Apostle Paul concludes, 'The just shall live by faith'.

‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen’. (Hebrews 11:1, NKJV)

If you want power with God, it begins with your faith, your confidence, your trust, in God's ability to do what He says. Hebrews 11 describes the phenomenal power of faith which made these people in the Old Testament so strong, that they were able to overcome EVERYTHING! They saw something more than this life. Like Moses, who chose to suffer for God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin.  They could do this because their faith, was a faith in the impossible. And because it was faith in a future Kingdom. With Abraham, it was the promise that he would be the father of a great nation, and out of Abraham, would come the whole Hebrew nation. But he himself, never saw the fulfilment of the vision. But he lived, and died, in faith, believing that God would fulfil His Promise.

Live in faith! We are not citizens of this world. We’re citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom! I am already living in the anticipation of what is to come, of what will come IN THE KINGDOM. No sacrifice is too great. If we just enjoyed the pleasures of this world, that’s nothing compared to what God will give us in the future.

'...give joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.' (Colossians 1:12-13, NIV.)

The Apostle Paul says we are ‘partakers in the inheritance of the saints’. We receive an inheritance when somebody dies: Jesus died, and we inherit everything He had! Everything God had in Jesus – we inherit! If I were to die right now, my family gets everything I possess. And literally that’s what happens to us in Christ. We don’t have to die to inherit it, it’s something we enjoy in life, come on! I’ve just received an inheritance from a relative I didn’t even know – I didn’t have to die to inherit it!!! I was a relative.

For us to inherit everything that was in Christ, we don’t have to literally die. But we do have to die to sin and be born again from above into the Kingdom of God. It’s only this that makes us a relative – inheritors because we are the family of God! I’ve been born twice. I was born into a human family, and I was born again into the Kingdom of God! I’m a child of God! I’m a son of God! And because my elder Brother Jesus died, I inherit everything!

This is wonderful!

We have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins, v14ff. And Paul begins to describe who Jesus really is. Jesus is the image of an invisible God. When people were talking to Jesus, they would say to Him, “Show us the Father!” And Jesus would say, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father!” We have such foolish ideas of God as an old man sitting on a cloud with grey hair and all that… Jesus was a young man in His early 30s. He began His ministry when He was 30 and died when He was 33, a young man in the prime of health and strength, the peak of power. And Jesus says, if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father! Jesus is the image of the invisible God!

And Paul says Jesus is the firstborn of every creature. He’s the firstborn of a family. We are all born in the likeness of God. God said, Gen 1:26, “Let Us make man in Our Own Image.” Of whom Christ is the firstborn. Col 1:16 says, “For by Him ALL things were created that are in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…” I could spend a month talking about this! “By Him all things were made, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities, or powers – ALL things were created by Him and FOR HIM!’

Paul continues in v17, “He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” For thousands of years, the atom has been considered to be the building block of all things, the smallest indivisible thing in nature, solid and immutable. But even from my youngest days, I knew the atom was in fact divisible. Most of the atom is – space, nothingness! The central nucleus is miniscule, and the particles in it, infinitely small and constantly in contrary motion. But the nucleus and particles are held together by the strongest force known to man in the universe, what scientists call ‘the strong force’! When you split the atom and release its power – it is incredible power! We have seen what it can do! But the Bible says it is Christ, the strong force, in whom ‘all things consist’ (Col 1: 17), in whom and by whom all things are ‘held together’ (Heb 1:3)! Look at the enormous power God has!

What an immense subject for exploration! In my life I’m trying to understand and to demonstrate something of the greatness of this Power that God has!

And so, Paul continues in v18, it is Jesus who is the Head of the Body, the Church. Not the Pope or the Archbishop, not some modern ‘Great Man of God’. No. let someone tell them please and remind them – the Head of the Church is Christ!

Christ is the Head, the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead – yes, the First One to rise from the dead. And in Him, we are also born again and rise from the dead. But Christ is the first, that in ALL things He might have the pre-eminence. He’s the FIRST! The Elder Brother of us all. And in v19, Paul says, it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell. It pleases the Father that His Son should have the pre-eminence in the Church. Come on! It’s not Mary, it’s Jesus! Not the pastor or the priest, it’s Christ!

It pleases the Father, because, v20ff, Christ has made peace through the Blood of His cross, reconciling all things to Himself. You see, before we come to Christ, the Bible is quite clear that without Christ, we are in enmity against God!

God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27 (NIV)

Paul says, v23ff, “I am a minister of this Gospel and I have suffered for you, filling up the afflictions of Christ in my flesh.” Paul was willing to suffer much persecution for Christ’s sake for the Church, for the Gospel, of which he says, “I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God which was given to me to fulfil the Word of God.” Paul was willing to suffer “for the mystery (of the Gospel), hidden from ages and from generations, but now revealed to His saints to whom God wants to reveal and make known this mystery – CHRIST IN US, OUR HOPE OF GLORY!

Paul is saying that Christ living in us is the living demonstration and proof of what is to come! CHRIST IN US! We have, within our new born-again bodies, the living evidence of ALL the Power, ALL the Glory of the Gospel – it is INCREDIBLE what God has done!

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people — the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world — just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. (Colossians 1:3-8, NIV)

I’ve been in ministry for 72 years. I started in full-time ministry aged only 18. That’s quite unique. I have a huge experience that I want to bring to you and to encourage you with.

Paul begins his letter to the Colossians, “Paul, an Apostle by the Will of God”… We think of the 12 Apostles who were with Our Lord during His earthly ministry – and among them Judas who fell – so that, after the Lord ascended into Heaven, the remaining 11 selected another to replace Judas: ‘Let another take his place’. And yet to me it seems that it was Paul who in fact fulfilled that position. The Lord chose him. Although Peter was the first evangelist on the Day of Pentecost, to me Paul was the most significant evangelist of this early Apostolic Age – his letters to those early churches are still read to this day and form the largest part of the New Testament! Let this be an encouragement to those of us today who follow in the footsteps of the Lord, but like Paul, have not had that personal relationship with the Lord in His flesh, but have had a personal encounter with Him, as Paul did on that Damascus Road. Like Paul, most of us have been converted, changed, through an encounter with the Lord.

So Paul continues to the church in Col 1:3ff, “We give thanks to God the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love to all the saints.” Paul is writing to an already active church. The Church began on the Day of Pentecost and the word, which in Greek is ‘ecclesia’, reflects a group who are ‘called out’ to assemble together, to deliberate and to govern – this is the origin of the word Church. And the origin of today’s housegroup movement is here, where so many of the early churches were housegroups, meeting in homes, not in designated consecrated buildings – that came later, and grew out of the need to have larger meeting places. But the main point here is, the faith and the love of the Colossians was so great, it was ‘noised abroad’, talked about, and the news reached Paul himself.

Yes, Paul had heard of their faith and love for (caused by, sustained by) the ‘HOPE WHICH IS LAID UP FOR YOU IN HEAVEN’! V5. Paul is dealing with a persecuted church – the early Church was persecuted – but, in Paul’s eyes, the most important thing is their FUTURE HOPE IN HEAVEN.

I want to remind you that, whatever we are going through today, our hope is not down here, OUR HOPE IS IN HEAVEN. We’re not expected to be wealthy down here, we’re not expected to be living necessarily in comfort. Yes, I thank God, I do have enough money to pay the bills, I do live in some comfort, having my own home. But my real home and your real home is the FUTURE. I feel that somehow the Church has lost sight of the key element of our faith. OUR HOPE IS IN HEAVEN – NOT HERE! I want to say to Christians in Ukraine, in Russia, in China, or wherever you may be, under persecution or in lack, OUR HOPE IS NOT HERE – OUR HOPE IS IN HEAVEN.

Paul is showing the Colossians so clearly in verses 5-10, “This HOPE, preached in the Gospel of truth – despite the trouble and persecution – brings forth fruit in all the world, and in you, since the day you heard it and knew the Grace of God in truth.” The Gospel preached to the first generation Church was preached to a Church which would suffer persecution and death – and here Paul continues to the Colossians, verses 7-10, “You learned this Gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, a faithful minister of Christ – and he has told me of your love in the Spirit and, from the day we heard of this, we have not ceased to pray for you, and desire that you be filled with the knowledge of God’s Will in wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him, being fruitful in good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

Paul is saying, whatever the circumstances, however hard, walk worthy of the Lord in order to please, not yourself, not the pastor, but that you might please the Lord, and that you might be fruitful in what you do! We all know what fruitful means! I’ve had fruit trees in my garden that don’t bear fruit. What do you do? You cut them down! It’s so important that there is fruit in our lives, some evidence of our Christian faith. Imagine if the whole Church understood this message! Not just fruitful, Paul says, but increasing in the knowledge of God.

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (Luke 10:19, KJV)

The Bible teaches us that God put all power into the Name of Jesus and gave Him power and authority over sickness, to heal and work miracles – unlimited power. If you want an answer to prayer, Jesus told us, ask the Father in His Name and God will give what we ask! – “Father in the Name of Jesus, heal my sickness, deliver my family, break the curse, fill me with the Holy Spirit, give me power in my life!” Don’t ask in your own name – the Bible says, whatever you ask, if you ask the Father in Jesus’ Name, God will give it to you, you will have your answer! The Bible is very strong: you can have what you ask, but you must ask in Jesus’ Name. And because God the Father loves His Son so much, He will give you what you ask.

I have seen the incredible Power of God! Not just my own personal healings from cancer, and my release from a communist prison in answer to prayer. But I've seen miracles right from the start of my ministry. In 1994, I was ministering in Siberia. In one particular city, Susuman, a woman who had been brought from the hospital with crippled legs, able to walk only with great pain and the aid of a stick. This is where the biggest miracle of all began. This woman was so excited by her own healing, that at the end of the meeting she asked me to go into the hospital next day to pray with the other patients.

Going by taxi to the hospital next morning, she was waiting on the steps outside. Completely healed, she could walk freely and without any pain as she took me up the crude concrete stairs and into the first ward. Looking around at the men lying on their beds in this room I realised the need.

I prayed for the man on the bed to my right as I entered who had multiple sclerosis. He was the one I had been brought in to meet, but he had no real belief. Next to the window was another man. I talked with him through Svieta, asking why he was there. He told me that his back was broken, so I laid my hands on him, immediately all the pain left, he straightened himself and got up and ran off to make a cup of tea for me! By now the news of what God was doing was spreading, and another man who was almost blind came from a different room. As I laid my hands on his eyes, they opened, and he could see. Someone brought a Bible which was by the side of one of the beds and he read it excitedly, shouting in his enthusiasm for all to hear, “I can see, look I can read!”

He told us that until recently there had been little crime in this small community of 10,000, with the problem of unemployment and unpaid wages, crime was increasing. Significantly he told us, “People are in an unsettled period of transition from the difficulties under communism to an uncertain and maybe worse future. You have given our people faith and hope.” That was wonderful, coming from an unbelieving mayor.

“If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26, NKJV)

One of the first people that I saw healed was when I was a very young pastor and evangelist in England. Shortly after finishing college, I left the church I had pastored as a student, in Dorking, Surrey, and I was called to take over a church in Harrogate, North England, and prepare for an evangelistic crusade. I was only twenty years old. Soon after arriving, Mr Corker, one of the men in the church, 73 years old, became ill. He refused to go to the doctor until it was too late – they had to rush him into hospital where they diagnosed terminal cancer. He was so sick, they took away most of his stomach, gave him a catheter to pass the water, and a colostomy – and sent him home to die.

The doctors expected him to live for just three weeks. As his pastor, I went many times to his home to pray with him and I discovered that although he had a difficult very blunt ‘Yorkshire’ character, this man loved God from the bottom of his heart. I saw him in a new way, not just as a dying man, not just as a difficult deacon in my church, but I saw how much he loved the Lord. One Sunday morning, I brought a group of people from the church with me to his home. I asked the others to join hands in a circle with me as I laid hands on him. I was only young and with not much knowledge about faith or healing in a practical way, but I commanded the sickness to go. I still remember how I prayed: it wasn't an instant miracle, but it's one of the most amazing stories of my life. For weeks after that, as I continued to visit him, I watched as day after day the catheter tubes would get blocked – only afterward I realised that I was seeing the cancer in small pieces come away from his body!

They took him back into hospital to take away the catheter and colostomy, to restore his normal body functions. But it seemed he had some sort of argument in the hospital and came out without any operation. He was so difficult – that’s how some people saw him. But God looked on his heart. God completely healed that man! Mr Corker pulled out the tube himself at home and God healed the water passage. He took off the bag; God healed the back passage. God restored all his body functions! He came out of bed; he came back in the church, completely healed at 73 years old. Why? God saw that man as an individual, saw that man's heart and his need. I marveled at the power of such a God! The miracle was so great; as a direct result, his own son became an evangelist and misionary!

After 10 years as a full time pastor and evangelist in Britain, my ministry to Russia and Europe began in 1961 when I organised the first ever overland expedition to Jerusalem, travelling behind the Iron Curtain through the Arab countries and into Israel. I had heard that there was to be a World Pentecostal Conference in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost! Full of expectation of what God would do, I determined to be there! I had no money to go, but was challenged to do the impossible – set up an expedition, go by road!

Why did I do those things? Why do I carry on with such passion? It is because I believe that all the Power of God is in the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! (Romans 1.16).

But before the Gospel can change the world, it must first change you! Be filled with the Holy Spirit! In Acts 1, we read about the Day of Pentecost, how fire fell on the upper room and transformed those early believers. Who gave the inaugural address of the Church? It was Peter, who only days earlier had denied Christ. Now, filled with the Fire and Power of God, 3000 people were converted through the preaching of the Gospel.

Do you know what God wants? He wants His glory to be seen in the whole world, He wants to use YOU as the demonstration of His power to the whole world. God wants to see fire in YOU, that is why He sent the Holy Spirit to revive YOU! The church should not be cold and dead, but on fire! Receive the Holy Spirit NOW – if you are already baptised in the Spirit, do like me and ask for another Pentecost NOW, ask for a baptism of FIRE!

Acts 3:1 says – ‘Peter and John went up to the Temple… and a man, born lame, was carried who was laid daily at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple to ask money from those who entered… He saw Peter and John about to go into the Temple and asked money from them. Peter said, “Look at us.” He expected to receive something from them but Peter said, “I’ve no silver, no gold but what I have I give you. In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk,” and he took him by the right hand, lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength, and leaping up, stood and walked, and entered with them into the Temple walking and leaping and praising God.’

Look where this crippled man – who had never walked, never worked, never married – is sitting. Behind him is the big Temple, the centre for all the religion in Jerusalem; in front of him just two simple fishermen, but men who know Jesus personally. The power did not come out of the Temple despite its splendour, nor out of its religious ceremonies, but out of Peter and John, ordinary men full of the Holy Spirit! This miracle happened in Acts 3, but Chapter 4 says that as a direct result of this one healing miracle, five thousand new believers were added to the church! That’s even more than the three thousand on the Day of Pentecost!

One book in the Bible is not yet finished. Every new convert, every person healed, every miracle that happens today, is a new page being added to the Acts of the Apostles – which you and I are still writing today!

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way (Philippians 4:1, NIV)

In Chapter 3 of Philippians, Paul says, “Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are in front, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Aged 90, I’m not living in the past, but in the future – in the future of my ministry, and beyond that, to when we will meet the Lord in the Kingdom. Like Paul, I’m looking forward to the coming of Christ! I’m following his example.

But Paul ends Chapter 3 with a strong warning, “Many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping, as enemies of the cross of Christ.” There are people who are Christian, even teachers and leaders of whom Paul says with tears, “Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.” But, “Our fellowship is in Heaven, we are looking for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who at His coming, will change our vile [lowly] body, that it may be made like His glorious Body.” We all have a flawed, weak, fallible body. We have to admit, all of us are subject to temptation, to evil influences. Yes, we have lowly bodies, subject to weakness, sickness, hunger, thirst, and temptation – of course we do! Who is not subject to temptation? But when we receive our heavenly body, it will be a resurrection body – absolutely free of all these limitations!

“Therefore,” Paul continues in Phil 4:1, “my brethren whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, STAND FAST in the Lord!” This question of ‘standing fast’ is a reminder that despite our weaknesses, we must remain true to our faith. I’ve been working in the former Soviet Union for more than 60 years, 30 under communism and 30 since the freedom. I found that, in those days under communism, under persecution, the Underground Church remained ‘purer’ than the Church in the West, because they ‘HELD FAST’ to what they had – just as Christ said to the overcoming Church in Revelation 2:25, “HOLD FAST to what you have till I come.”

In Phil 4:2, Paul moves on, “I beseech Euodias and Syntyche to be of the same mind.” It seems there was disunity between these two in the Lord, some disagreement. Paul pleads with them to come together. Disunity is one of the things that troubles me most about the Church today. Terrible disunity. It troubles me so much, that in some countries I am attempting to call national days of prayer, bringing together all the denominations on two things, that they all accept that the Bible is the only Authority in the Church, and Salvation is only in the Name of Jesus. It’s one of the hardest things I have ever attempted to do, to bring brethren – who preach the same Gospel, and believe the same Bible and are saved with the same Salvation – together in unity, even in prayer!

And in Phil 4:3 Paul continues, “I entreat you, help those women who laboured with me for the Gospel, along with the rest of my fellow workers whose names are written in the Book of Life.” Paul needed so much support in his fight to preach the Gospel in Philippi, and now they need help… But their names are in the Book of Life! What other reward is there? Paul doesn’t talk about financial reward, how much are you going to pay me, what about this or that? The reward for their labour is that their names are recorded in the Book of Life!

Paul continues to encourage, v4ff, “Rejoice in the Lord always, rejoice! Let your moderation be known to all men – the Lord is coming! Be careful, anxious, for nothing! But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” There is something very deep here; in the Spirit I sense is that we, as labourers in the Gospel should not be overly concerned about material issues. Instead, in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, we should let our requests be made known to God. After all, it is God who supplies, and we should not look to men first, but trust God. When we do, v7 is fulfilled in our lives, “The peace of God which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” You know, when we trust God, it’s an implicit trust in Him and it brings peace!

Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles… And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Philippians 4:14-20, NIV)

Paul says, it’s good for you, to share in our troubles, this is not just an expression of your love for us, but your love for the Lord, so that we might preach the Gospel. Your gift, he says, v17, will be credited to your account, it is pleasing to the Lord, v18. You will receive spiritual credit for what you give to the Gospel – and this is the wonderful thing – as you give sacrificially, Paul says, “My God will supply all your need according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus!”

What a wonderful promise! My God will supply all your need! When you are committed to and support the Gospel – then stand on this promise – that when you give to the extension of the Kingdom, God will supply all your need. Wow! Paul calls this a matter of ‘giving AND receiving’, v15. When you give, stand by faith, God will take the responsibility to supply ALL your need. God bless you. Thank you for your support. Amen.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:7-11, NIV)

“My heart’s desire is that I might KNOW HIM, AND THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION, and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death – that I might attain to the Resurrection of the Dead!” Phil 3:10 has always been marked in my Bible. It’s one of my favourite parts of the New Testament!

Ultimately, this life is nothing, length of life is nothing (I’m 90!) – because I will live forever with Christ! Called not only to live with Him, but to rule the world with Him when He comes back for 1000 years! That’s the story Jesus told of the talents in Luke 19, Matthew 25. The Master goes away and gives talents to the servants, and, according to how they use those talents is their reward in the Kingdom! To each servant who invested and increased their talents, the Master says, “Well done good and faithful servant, I will make you ruler over many things, I give you authority over ten cities, five cities” – according to what they had done in His absence!

So Paul is saying in Phil 3:11ff, “If by any means I might attain to the Resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained or were already perfect, but I continue, I follow after, if that I might attain that for which Christ apprehended me…” He says, “I don’t count that I have already attained this, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind and reaching out to those things which are in front, I press forward toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ.”

Paul is looking back on his previous life – even after his conversion – all this he counts as nothing, because he’s seeking the one ultimate goal, which is to be resurrected with Christ! The ultimate goal is Resurrection. That’s my ultimate goal. It’s not, now that I’m 90, that I’m going to live another ten, twenty, thirty years. That’s in God’s Hands. The whole of the purpose of my life right now is that, if I do die, then I will be resurrected. I have, through Christ, an eternal life. I cannot die, I will not die, I’m born again, not to die, but to live! When you are born naturally of the flesh, you are born to die. Someone once said, when you are born, only two things are certain: taxes and death!!! Forget about the taxes, forget about the problems. Think about the Resurrection! When you are born again from above, the one thing that is certain is new life and the Resurrection!

But Paul is saying, I count not that I have already finished. I’m forgetting all the things I have done, and I am reaching forward, because all my hope is in Christ. Like Paul, as I look back over my life as an evangelist – 30 years under communism and 30 years since the freedom came, in total more than 60 years in the former Soviet Union – the fact is this: when it comes to the Day of Judgement – and we must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ – when I stand before the Judgement Seat, all that counts for nothing! All those years of evangelism, all those powerful miracles – the ONLY thing that is of any value on Judgement Day is KNOWING CHRIST who paid the price of my sin. He died for me, because I am a sinner and Christ has died to break that curse of sin. My ONLY hope in Glory is not in what I’ve done. My Glory is Christ!

So I press forward toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It’s my ultimate goal.

Christ humbled Himself. Paul is trying to explain that when God became flesh in the form of a son, born of a virgin, into our world, Jesus gave up all His heavenly position and Glory, all His heavenly Power and Authority – to an extreme! Jesus gave up EVERYTHING. He so humbled Himself, so divested Himself of ALL His heavenly attributes, He brought Himself down to our level to an extreme – even unto death. He died on the cross for you and me. THEREFORE, v9ff, God has highly exalted Him – BECAUSE He humbled Himself, BECAUSE He gave up EVERYTHING and became like us, even unto death – in complete obedience to God the Father’s Plan and Purpose in Salvation!

It is BECAUSE Jesus, as the Son of God and equal with Him, was so OBEDIENT and so fulfilled God’s Plan and humbled Himself to the extreme, that God has highly exalted Him and given Him a Name above every name! Right from the beginning, Jesus was Co-Creator: “In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God, all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made.” John 1:1-3. But, Paul says, because of Christ humbled Himself and was OBEDIENT unto death, God has given Him a position and an authority higher than any other. Through His obedience and death – JESUS IS EXALTED! HIS NAME IS ABOVE EVERY NAME!

In my praying to God the Father, I pray through Jesus – He is the Intercessor. He lives to make intercession for us. None of us is perfect. I’m not perfect. We all fail. It’s because of our imperfection that Jesus is the Intercessor – He paid the price for our sin! He bought our forgiveness. Therefore our Salvation is through Jesus. God the Father forgives us, helps us and blesses us – through His Son Jesus! Jesus is pleading, “I died for these people. I love these people. I lived with them. Forgive them and give them Eternal Life!” He is our Mediator. If we want access to God, we come through the Mediator, Jesus. So often, if you need to approach people – and I have to approach government and heads of denominations – you usually first come through another person who acts as an intermediary, a mediator who makes it possible. Our access to God is ONLY through Christ, there is no other way. You can’t go through ‘saints’, you can’t go through Mary – read the Scripture, it’s absolutely clear – our approach can ONLY be through Jesus. It was because Jesus was so OBEDIENT and so fulfilled God’s Plan, because He HUMBLED Himself to that extreme, GOD HAS HIGHLY EXALTED HIM and given Him a Name above every name!

Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus!

So now Paul is continuing to teach the Philippians in v12, “Wherefore my beloved, as you have always OBEYED in my presence, and now in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Christ-like OBEDIENCE is the key. The original sin of Adam and Eve was DISOBEDIENCE. God said, “Thou shalt not” – and they did! The greatest sin for us as believers is DISOBEDIENCE to God’s Plan.

We have to seek and to know what God’s Plan and Purpose is for us. I’ve known almost from my birth, from my earliest conscious days, that God had a Plan and a Purpose for my life. And all I’ve tried to do, all my life, is be OBEDIENT – to hear the call and to go out and do it. It takes an enormous amount of faith, that’s why I seek the Holy Spirit! There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit – but the gift that I asked for above all others is the gift of faith in order to be able to do what God says. In my life, going to Ukraine, going to Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Poland – is only in OBEDIENCE to what God is calling me to do.

My ministry is to OBEY what God says. God is the Strategist, He is the Planner. We’re not the strategists, the planners in spiritual issues – ONLY God knows the strategy. From the beginning when He created the earth, He also knew man would sin. Jesus Christ is described in the Bible as the sacrificial Lamb of God, slain for our sins BEFORE the foundation of the world! 1 Pet 1:19-20; Rev 13:8. BEFORE sin came, Salvation came. Salvation came BEFORE sin! Before you and I sinned, God had made the way of escape. That’s why Jesus had to be OBEDIENT to the Plan which, right from the beginning of Creation, God had made!

I believe in prayer and in a God of miracles. But in 2003 I was faced with a challenge: do I really believe God or not? The doctors discovered I had a shadow on my lung. On a Monday I had to go for a bronchoscopy when they would put a camera down my lung and take a sample of the growth. The doctors had already fast-tracked me into a process which would lead to an operation to remove all or part of my right lung – on the Wednesday I was booked to go in for the final verdict. The only question, how much of my lung they would take away?

I said, ‘Lord, how can I go back into Russia and preach like I preach and say that You are a mighty God of miracles who’s got power to do everything, including healing cancer, if I have got half of my right lung cut out, followed by chemotherapy? If You have finished with me, if my ministry is over, then don’t heal me, because if I can no longer evangelise I might as well die, I have no other reason to live! But if You want me to go back into Russia and Ukraine and finish the work You gave me to do, then I want You to heal me completely!’

On the Monday I was in the hospital, tubes down my lung looking for cancer – but God had already given me the answer, I knew it was gone. The doctors looked at me in amazement and said, ‘You have no cancer!’

I didn’t go to a healing evangelist, I went to the Word of God and God completely healed me – no operation, no treatment – I only had God and the Bible, and that’s all I needed to confound the doctors. They were shocked, they didn’t believe God. But I do, I believe in a God of power, of miracles.

God has been revealing to me the difference between receiving what most are seeking, which is power from God, and what is even more powerful, how we can receive power with God. In Genesis 32:28, we have the story of how Jacob wrestled with God all night. At the end, God turned to Jacob and said, “As a prince, you have power with God and with man and have prevailed!”

If you want to be active rather than passive as a believer, then you need to have power not only from God, but also power with Him! You cannot have real power with men until you first learn to have power with God, hence this wrestling (in persistent prayer). That is why I have so many battles in my life – in the communist prison, cancer twice – so that I can learn how to have power with God! The result – it has transformed my life, my ministry – so that these last twenty years have been the most effective in my whole life!

Some years ago I was invited to speak at a conference. The theme was how we can know God, how we can come into His presence. Most of the speakers were saying you need to have holiness, quietness and peace. I caused some revolution because I began preaching from Deuteronomy 4:29: ‘If from where you are you shall seek the Lord your God you shall find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul.’ You will find God if you search for Him from just where you are! When you are in tribulation, when all the problems of life have come on you!

When everything’s going well, when you’re not sick, when you have no financial problems – you don’t call upon God as much. But when you are in difficulty, when you’re sick – that’s when you begin to call on God more intensely. I have had long years of experience with God and I know personally that I learned more about prayer when I had cancer, when I was in prison, when I had financial problems, than at any other time! Prayer becomes more urgent when there is no other way – no alternative. When I had both experiences of cancer there were two ways – an operation or a miracle! I chose to go the hard way of asking and believing for a miracle – but this meant a total commitment – not accepting ‘no’. When I was in the prison, there were two alternatives: either accept the inevitability of five-to-ten years incarceration or ‘barnstorm’ Heaven until I got out! That’s not holiness, it’s just following the prayer principles Jesus laid down for desperate widows and people like me! – Luke 18:1-8.

‘The Lord appeared to him at night and said: “I have heard your prayer”’ (2 Chronicles 7:12)

It is not about how much you pray, I want you to have the assurance that God has heard your prayer, the confidence where God says to you, ‘I have heard your prayer and I will answer’. God has heard your prayer and He will answer. For so many reading this, you have prayed for so many years, I want to encourage you, God has heard your prayer.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him. (1 John 5:14-15, NIV)

God never fails! Being a believer longer than most, I’ve experienced many problems - cancer, and have spent a year in prison for the Gospel - but my testimony is: in all my life God has never failed me once. My life hasn't been easy, but He is faithful.

When I first realised that the promises of both the Old and New Testaments were not just for the Jews in the past and for the first disciples, but also for me as an inheritor of the same promises as a ‘son of God’, it opened up a whole new experience for me. Whilst receiving my healing from throat cancer many years ago began to lead me into a more positive experience, it was the miracle which finally brought me out of a communist prison which confirmed this. It challenged my own faith, that God could actually physically open my prison doors in Czechoslovakia. It happened to Paul and Silas in Philippi 2000 years ago (Acts 16), why could it not literally happen for me today? – And it did, God even used British Prime Minister Harold Wilson to make it more dramatic and provide unquestionable proof.

It is a challenge! It is easy for us as believers to read and hear about these things that happened in the Bible without personally identifying with them. But if God worked miracles in the past, why not believe for them today?

When I was in prison God showed me the day I would get out (my birthday), and that I would be speaking in the biggest auditorium in Britain to 10,000 people, sharing the joy of the miracle of answered prayer.

I did get out, exactly on my birthday, as God showed me! The British Prime Minister came to Czechoslovakia, they set me free on his request, I flew back into London with him – it was all over the newspapers, on the television – I was asked to speak to 10,000 people in the Royal Albert Hall in London three days later! Everyone asked: why did the British Prime Minister come to the rescue of a Christian believer? I’ll tell you, it’s because God is a God of power, glory, miracles – He is a prayer-answering God.

Let me encourage you. I remember the day so clearly when, overwhelmed by doubt and distress, I put my head in my hands and cried silently to God in despair. He had given me a definite promise that I would be released the next day, my birthday. It seemed impossible. Yet He had promised! God does not make mistakes. Still, humanly speaking, my hopes were shattered.

Then it seemed as if I heard God speaking to me: “David, how do you know that you are a Christian?”

I knew the answer to that. My salvation did not depend on my own feelings, nor upon my hopes – and if it was dependent on church attendance, I had no chance for it was nearly ten months since I had last been to church. The answer was faith in His Word.

“The Bible says, ‘Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved’.”

Quick as a flash the reply came into my mind. “And do you not have my promise that I will release you?”

Fresh hope rose inside me. I would go home tomorrow. God had promised. The circumstances were immaterial. God does not lie, otherwise my faith in salvation was also in vain. I lifted my head from my hands, and as I did so I saw the clock on the wall, it was twenty past twelve.

At that exact moment, before I had even time to collect my thoughts, a prison guard came running, calling my name. “I have just had a telephone call from the Ministry.” There was a pause. “You are to be released immediately.”

If from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey Him. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which He confirmed to them by oath. (Deuteronomy 4:29-31, NIV)

Call upon the Lord from where you are. Moses encourages the people in Deuteronomy 4:29, ‘If from where you are… you will seek the Lord your God, you WILL find Him, if you seek Him with ALL your heart.’ So, in the midst of every distress, fear, want, even sickness – whatever situation you are in – there you will find God! So often we are told that if you want to find God, you’ve got to be ‘holy’, to give up everything, separate yourself, shut yourself up like in a monastery. No, the reality is that spirituality is not isolating yourself, not trying to be some kind of ‘holy’ person – it’s YOU dealing with GOD right where you are! If you want to meet with God, you don’t have to wait until you have done this or that. I would never have become an evangelist, never seen a miracle of healing if God had waited until I was perfect before He answered my prayers. I call on God, He deals with me where I am. That’s why I was healed, not because I was ‘holy’. What God looks at is the deep desire of your heart.

Some years ago I was invited to speak at a conference. The theme was how we can know God, how we can come into His presence. Most of the speakers were saying you need to have holiness, quietness and peace. I caused some revolution because I began preaching from this passage in Deuteronomy 4:29. You will find God if you search for Him from just where you are! When you are in tribulation, when all the problems of life have come on you!

When everything’s going well, when you’re not sick, when you have no financial problems – you don’t call upon God as much. But when you are in difficulty, when you’re sick – that’s when you begin to call on God more intensely. I have had long years of experience with God and I know personally that I learned more about prayer when I had cancer, when I was in prison, when I had financial problems, than at any other time! Prayer becomes more urgent when there is no other way – no alternative. When I had both experiences of cancer there were two ways – an operation or a miracle! I chose to go the hard way of asking and believing for a miracle – but this meant a total commitment – not accepting ‘no’. When I was in the prison, there were two alternatives: either accept the inevitability of five-to-ten years incarceration or ‘barnstorm’ Heaven until I got out! That’s not holiness, it’s just following the prayer principles Jesus laid down for desperate widows and people like me! – Luke 18:1-8.

I don’t see the powerful miracles and life-changing conversions in my ministry because I am more holy or better than you, but only because I am desperate to see God’s power and call upon the person of the Holy Spirit to help – ‘from where I am’! I want to encourage you: the people who are healed and converted are not the righteous or the ‘holy’, but the sinners, the poor, the needy, the desperate! You don’t have to be ‘holy’ to find God, you find Him when you need Him!

When the disciples asked, “Lord, teach us how to pray!”, in answer Jesus replied, “When you pray, say, Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your Name, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven...” When I was imprisoned for Bible smuggling, I felt abandoned by God. In the first few months it seemed as if God did not answer any of my prayers. When I prayed for food, there was none, when I prayed that my wife would come, she was not allowed a visa to visit me – it seemed that every prayer that I prayed, God said no. I began to despair. “Oh God, if You don’t hear me, I’d rather die, because life has no purpose, no meaning if You don’t answer me.” While I was still saying, “Oh God, I cannot pray anymore”, I remembered the words in the Bible (I had no Bible in the prison – it was forbidden) where Jesus said, “When you pray say…” – and I began hesitantly to say those words, ‘Our Father’ – but as I did I began to argue, I cannot say ‘our’, that’s plural – I’m alone in here, no family, no friends, no believers, how can I speak in the plural? I have to say MY Father. Suddenly I knew the reality of those words, He’s mine, He’s my Father!

Then I came to the next part, ‘Who is in heaven’. Then I argued, Yes, You are in heaven, but I’m in a stinking filthy cell, don’t You understand? Joy, happiness, glory – that’s in heaven. But I’m down here – and then I remembered the truth – You sent Your Son – Your only Son – and You sent Him down to this earth, He was in a prison cell like me. Yes, God was willing, not only to let His Son die, death is easy, but He was beaten and tortured – why – because God loved me! He allowed His Son to suffer – for me! How could I complain? And then I realised, God is not just in heaven; He’s here, in this prison cell with me! Suddenly the glory of that revelation flooded my soul. I began to understand who God is.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:3-8, NIV)

This year in June we had the tremendous Jubilee Celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II – the first British Monarch to celebrate 70 years of service! It was remarkable that almost all commentators made mention of her strong faith in Christ and the godliness of her commitment.

On her 21st birthday (the age of adulthood in those days), as heir to the throne, she made a profound commitment before God and the Commonwealth of Nations, saying “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and to the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong. But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me… God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it.”

Our coronation service is unique in the world, dating back one thousand years. The most spiritual moment is when the monarch’s magnificent coronation robes are removed to reveal a simple white garment and the monarch is anointed with oil as a symbol of the Holy Spirit and Divine Authority. I don’t think there is any other nation that has such strong moment of dedication and submission to God; it was a most solemn moment for the young Queen – and I thank God for our godly Queen!

Often in her annual Christmas broadcast to the Commonwealth, she will speak a strong Christian message. A few years ago she ended her address saying that God gave Himself to us in humble service, what can we give in return? Quoting a simple carol, “If I were a shepherd, I would give Him a lamb… Yet what can I give Him, poor as I am?” – she spoke directly to her television audience: “Give Him your heart!” God bless her! I pray that at 96, she will still have many more years!

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. (Philippians 1:27, NIV)

From here, I want to highlight some points from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, 1:20, where, being in prison and facing a death sentence, he says, in whatever circumstance he might find himself, “My earnest expectation and hope is that I shall in nothing be ashamed, but with all boldness, I shall magnify Christ in my body, whether by life or by death.” I echo that very strongly. When I was in prison in 1972-3, I was praying, seeking that God would work a miracle through my release so great, He would be glorified by the very evidence. Prime Minister Harold Wilson came to rescue me; it was headline news and brought tremendous Glory to God because it opened doors to the Gospel all over the world – people wanting to know my phenomenal testimony.

Paul goes on in v21ff, “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” From the moment of his conversion, Paul’s life was a testimony and a witness to the Glory of God in Christ Jesus. But being in prison, he is torn between two things, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better, and the need to stay to support the Christian congregations in their faith… So many Christians see death negatively. Death is not an end for the Christian, it is the beginning, an entrance into a new life in the Kingdom! That is the message of Christ and the whole purpose of Resurrection. So Paul can say, to live is Christ, but to die is gain. It’s better!

One of the things so effective in my ministry today is my age and the fact that I have lived through so much. I was born before World War II, I lived through the war, I remember King George VI and his wartime calls to the nation to prayer. I remember our Queen as a young girl, learning to drive and repair vehicles for the military. Can you imagine a future Queen learning car mechanics?! My home in London was bombed and badly damaged, but my family, my father, were spared… Now here I am, aged 90, 72 years in full-time ministry, stronger and more on fire now than I was then! I want my life, my strength, my health – my whole life – to be a witness to Christ, to the Glory of God. And I haven’t finished yet.

If there is one thing God desires, one thing I desire in the years that I have left, it’s to see much more unity in the Church. Paul was concerned about the unity of the Philippians, “Let your conduct conform to the Gospel of Christ… stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the Gospel.” Phil 1:27. It is so sad that the Church is so divided and splintered. Yes, we have doctrinal differences, yes, there are errors in doctrine and in practice. But at least, Paul says in Phil 1:15-18, if Christ is preached, from whatever motive, it lifts Christ up before the people.

I’m always so moved by the last prayer of Jesus for His followers before He was to suffer and die on the cross, “O Father, may they be ONE, as we are ONE.”

In reality, our human lives are not free of conflict. I’ve had many difficulties over the years. I’ve been held at gunpoint and faced several assassination attempts pre- and post-communism! But I’ve never been frightened or terrified by it, because I know that they cannot succeed. One man with God is always in a majority. My life is in God’s Hands. We’re not weak, we’re not defeated. If God is with us, we are always on the victory side. Paul commands in Phil 1:28, “In nothing be terrified by your adversaries!”

I have had to learn this over the years. However extreme the circumstances, I have such a sense of comfort, consolation, joy and peace in Christ. My confidence, my trust is in Him. I’ve been one year in a communist prison, faced cancer twice, had my business stolen from me. But never have I suffered fear! I believe my every extremity was allowed in order to fulfil a greater purpose.

Paul writes about this in Phil 1:28 to 2:16 – in everything, good or bad, he saw something that would lead to the greater Glory of God. So in the strife, in the suffering, in the conflict, Paul urges us to be likeminded, to have the same love, be of one accord, one mind – to do nothing out of strife or vainglory, to esteem others – AND LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU THAT WAS IN CHRIST JESUS WHO HUMBLED HIMSELF – and work out your salvation with fear and trembling, that you may shine as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of Life that I, Paul, may rejoice in you in the Day of Christ!

Paul’s words strongly remind of those wonderful years of evangelism I’ve held in the former Soviet Union. Like Paul I thank God, as I look back on all those incredible miracles, for every memory of what He has done. After all these years, people who repented and were healed in those crusades still come up to me. Somebody was talking to me only recently and gave a substantial gift, because he remembered what happened in Kyiv in 1992/3, where for the first time in his life he saw the practical evidence of God – the people that were healed and repented. To see so many thousands come forward to accept Christ changed his own life! So yes, I thank God on every remembrance of those days.

Paul thanks the Philippians for their fellowship in the Gospel, saying in Phil 1:6ff, “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will perform it until the Day of Christ Jesus.” Here Paul is referring to the Power of the Holy Spirit in us who believe. This is so important, because the more I study the life of Christ, the more I realise the influence and the Power of the Holy Spirit working in Him, in His life and ministry. Just as the disciples had to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came, before they could begin their ministry, so Jesus Himself did not begin His powerful public ministry until after He had received the Holy Spirit! Matt 3:16-17; Mk 1:9-12; Luke 3:21. That same Holy Spirit who was in Christ should be in us! And the Holy Spirit who has begun working in us, will continue until the Day Christ returns!

Being past my 90th birthday, that fact that I am still working as much, sometimes even more than I did 20, 30 years ago is because of the confidence I have that the Holy Spirit will not cease working in me! I was filled with the Fire of the Holy Spirit 75 or more years ago. But His Fire and Anointing in me now is not diminished or lessened, and I sense the Holy Spirit is going to continue with me – and will increase – until the Lord comes. I hear of people retiring, slowing down, stopping. But I have no desire to slow down or stop because, exactly as Paul says, He who began to work in me will continue to work in me right to the end! Whatever that end may be – if the Lord calls me Home, or if by His Grace, I am here when He returns.

Paul continues his letter to the Philippians, Phil 1:7ff, “I have you in my heart, because whether in my bonds – Paul was in chains in prison – or in the defence and confirmation of the Gospel, you are all partakers in my grace.” Paul sees that his whole life, even his imprisonment, is a confirmation and demonstration of the Power of the Gospel. I like to feel that my life is, in the same way, a practical demonstration of the Power of God. People say to me, “You don’t just talk about these things, you actually do them.” That’s why I have no intention of stopping the doing-bit! I can talk about it, because I have seen it, done it, and experienced it personally!

This is the Power of the Gospel I preach in my advancing years: I’ve been there, I’ve seen it, I’ve done it, I’ve experienced it! What I talk about is real and undeniable because I have the evidence. And because I was twice healed of cancer, I have the evidence even in my own body.

I want to pick up on Phil 1:12ff, because here Paul says, “I want you to understand that the things which have happened to me – Paul is in prison – have happened in order to further the Gospel of Christ, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in the palace and in all other places.” What a statement! Paul is declaring here that all the things that have happened in his life – even the bad – have happened in order to demonstrate and further the Gospel.

I haven’t had an easy life. I haven’t suffered unto death, but I’ve had cancer twice. Putting God’s Word to the test on both occasions, I was determined to prove the Authority and Power of His Word. I stood firm by faith and refused any medication. And God totally healed me. The fact that I am still full of life and energy is the evidence! I don’t suffer any weakness from either of those two episodes of cancer. When I had the lung cancer in 2002/3 my prayer was, “O God, I’m 70 years old, if You don’t need me here anymore, take me Home quickly. But if You need me to continue my ministry in the former Soviet Union, then I need a miracle to demonstrate this Gospel that I preach!” And God totally healed me by a powerful miracle – the cancer came out of my mouth! I continue my ministry because I have the experience and the demonstration of the Power of God.

Good or bad – whether it was my pioneer overland journey to Israel in 1961 which opened my eyes to conditions behind the Iron Curtain, whether it was my cancers, or my imprisonment in a communist jail – looking back, these things only confirmed the Power of the Gospel that I preach!

We as believers, as Christians are very much like the children of Israel, in this sense, that we are the only witness to the world! We are! We’ve crossed the Red Sea, we have crossed from death to life! “God, You have shown Your Power, and still today, through Christians You demonstrate, You show Your Power through miracles!” I’ll never forget what happened in the Roman Amphitheatre in Caesarea in Israel in 2016, when all the forces of the enemy were against us, trying to destroy us and stop us from having 4000 unbelieving Jews in that stadium! Having tried everything and failed, the last thing the devil threw at me, on the day, was the biggest sea and sandstorm they had ever seen on the Mediterranean. It was so strong, it made the gantry holding our sound system and cameras sway one metre each way until it was in danger of collapsing, and the police wouldn’t let the people in for fear! I jumped up on that platform and said, “O God, You’ve never ever been defeated in battle and You’re not going to be defeated now. In Jesus’ Name I command the storm to stop!” And the storm stopped! In front of 4000 unbelieving Jews! God is still demonstrating His Power today!!!

I love to preach on Deuteronomy 4 where Moses reminds the people who have come out of Egypt, saying, the greatest miracle ever seen on the face of the earth – from the beginning of time till then, from one side of the world to the other – the greatest miracle ever seen was the crossing of the Red Sea! I ask myself sometimes, which was the greater miracle, the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea on dry land, or the total destruction of the crack troops of the elite Egyptian army, chariots and horses that raced in after them – it was like drowning tanks! So here, in Numbers 14, God is saying, “I performed all these miracles and still these people don’t trust in Me.” God is always demonstrating His Power, always calling us to trust Him – and He never, ever fails!

God is calling us to trust Him!

What deeply distresses me is the failure of the Church to use and demonstrate the Power of God, which has to be in the miraculous. Why am I distressed by this? Because the enemies of Christ see a powerless Church as evidence of a powerless God! That’s why sin abounds – there is no fear of a powerless God! That’s why idolatry is taking over our land. People today are not allowed to discuss or criticise Islam. If you dishonour the ‘prophet’, you are likely to be killed by one of his devout followers. Our so‐called ‘Christian’ nation is afraid of dishonouring the ‘prophet’, but has no fear of blasphemy against our Jesus who is the Christ, THE SON OF THE ONLY TRUE AND LIVING GOD! Is this why the shortest and most memorable verse in the Bible is ‘Jesus wept’? As I write this, if tears would flow, I would weep all day and all night.

WE ARE the living EVIDENCE, we are the witness of the Power of God! YOUR life, my life is the witness, the evidence. If God can deliver me from sin, if God can deliver you from sin – God can put before you an inheritance! Come on! We’ve got to go in and POSSESS THAT LAND! Don’t stand back… So many do… But we’ve got to cross the Jordan INTO the Promised Land!

When Moses sent in the twelve spies, only two spoke in faith, “With God nothing is impossible, this is the land God has promised us, go in!” The problem was that the very generation which had seen all the miracles in Egypt had fallen so far into unbelief through different hardships along the way, they could no longer believe that the same God who had defeated the mighty Egyptian army, could just as easily defeat the smaller armies in front of them! I want you to have a bold faith in our God who has never been defeated!

This question of a ‘baptism of fire’ is not a matter just for the church collectively, but rather it is an individual experience that each one of us needs to experience. Jesus, speaking to His closest disciples in the aftermath of the drama of the crucifixion and the miracle of His resurrection realises the situation facing them. They realise that despite these miraculous events He is leaving them again, until His final return as Messiah! They now face a leadership crisis – they need inspiration, direction, but most of all someone who will perform the miracles and empower them!

His answer was for them to wait in Jerusalem for the gift promised by the Father – “John baptised with water but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.” Later, as they questioned the meaning, His answer was simple, “When the Holy Spirit comes, you will receive power and become witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth!” Wow! Then He was gone! (Acts 1:4-9.)

Ten days later the remaining group of only 120 dispirited disciples were meeting in an upper room on Mount Zion behind locked doors. They were now secret disciples desperately trying to hold on to their faith – but in total fear of imprisonment or even death. Suddenly a miracle – the noise of violent wind filled the room and fire that separated and sat on each one individually! All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in foreign languages! But amazingly, they spoke many languages recognised by all the nationalities of the Jews who had come to worship at the feast in Jerusalem. (Acts 2.)

So the Church was born in Fire – the disciples were empowered – they could do all that Jesus had done previously – and now they evangelised the world! That is how the Church began and how it should be today! Was this experience only for the few? No, they laid hands on others, including all the new converts, until all became empowered by this power from the Holy Spirit. The Book of Acts reports that everywhere the disciples ministered many repented were baptised in water and received the Holy Spirit.

It is interesting that on the Day of Pentecost, Peter in his first evangelism spoke of this experience of the Holy Spirit, not just in the words of Jesus, but of the Jewish prophets. He said, “This is that spoken by the prophet Joel… . (Joel 2:28-32.) This prophecy continues until the coming of the ‘Day of the Lord’, and the final prophecy concerning the return of Christ to Jerusalem!

If we believe we are living in the last days, we need the same Holy Spirit desperately!

We need a spiritual re‐awakening! Pentecost was the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples. The significant sign of the arrival of the Holy Spirit was and is speaking in tongues – and a very strong move of evangelism. But some Christian groups are reluctant to recognise Pentecost and its importance today. In my early years, and when I was a young pastor in the 1950s, the Pentecostal experience was not so well accepted as it was to become later.

We all know what happened on that first Day of Pentecost, but let’s look in Acts 2:16, where Peter is saying to the gathered crowds, “This – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit – is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel” – now fulfilled as he was speaking! But the text from Joel that Peter continued to quote actually extends into the ‘last days’ – verse 17 – and as far as the ‘great and notable day of the Lord’ in verse 20! So Peter’s meaning and understanding of Joel and the outpouring of God’s Spirit – verse 17 – must encompass what Joel refers to as the ‘former’ and the ‘latter’ rain!

I believe that the ‘latter’ Pentecostal rain or outpouring of God’s Spirit began after 1904 with the restoration of speaking in tongues, which has continued up until the present time. Then either this must increase as we approach the ‘Day of the Lord’ – or there must be a totally new outpouring now, as I am absolutely certain that these are the ‘last days’ immediately preceding the ‘great and notable Day of the Lord’.

For 3 months I prayed without receiving. But I knew that without the power, the fire, the anointing of God, I could never see men’s lives converted. At Easter we used to have three Pentecostal Conventions in London. I determined to go and not leave until I had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit! The preaching was so long in the morning, there was no time to pray for people to receive the Holy Spirit! As a 13-year old I went up to those great men of God on the platform and said, “I only came to receive the fire, pray for me!” They took me to a small room, laid their hands on me, but their minds were on their lunch! I did not receive the Holy Spirit.

I was searching for something which does not come from men, the real power of God. One of those pastors saw my heart, opened the Scripture to me, then when he prayed and laid hands on me, it was as if the roof came off the building, I saw the Glory of God and felt the fire! The fire of the Holy Ghost, the power of God and the Glory of God came into my life! Now I had to become an evangelist! I had to preach Christ, and see the Power! That baptism was only the beginning!

If you want to be effective in ministry, you MUST be filled with the Holy Spirit! There is a danger today that we do not understand the reality of what the baptism in the Holy Spirit means.

Baptism in the Holy Spirit should be more powerful than in water! – Jesus said, “You shall be baptised in the Holy Spirit.” Why? Jesus said, “Unless I die, you cannot receive the Holy Spirit! But if I go I will send Him – and He, the Holy Spirit, will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment – and nothing will be impossible! You will be My witnesses, preach Christ, demonstrate the power of God on earth!”

The revolution when you are baptised in the Holy Spirit, has to be LIFE-TRANSFORMING! In the Acts of the Apostles the disciples received the baptism of the Holy Spirit – instantly they were no longer frightened and ineffective, but filled with boldness and fire! That’s what we need today in the church – a new boldness, a new authority, a new power – which is the result of a baptism in the Holy Spirit!

From the moment I was baptised in the Holy Spirit, my whole life was transformed – not just by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but absolute change! Saved, baptised in water, now almost 14, that baptism in the Holy Spirit was the greatest change of all, a REVOLUTION in my life! It changed my living, my thinking, my preaching, – a physical and spiritual manifestation that was obvious wherever I went. I was preaching in the school: now my classmates changed, two went on to become preachers; the cynical Scripture teacher, who spent his time criticising the Bible, also changed and started a Bible study group and prayer meeting in the school! Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not just an anointing or a feeling or an emotional experience – it has to be an ABSOLUTE LIFE-CHANGING MIRACLE, a spiritual revolution in your life. If it has not changed you, you need to be immersed and baptised in the Holy Spirit again!

In 1964, only three and a half years after my first visit to Jerusalem, I lost my voice. Unable to preach in my church, I went to the hospital to be told I had throat cancer and needed an operation. I didn’t have time for an operation and, believing God for a miracle because I had seen so many healings in my ministry, I prayed for 3 months. Then, because my faith was strong, I told the doctors that I was healed. They laughed at me, they said that there is no God and the cancer was now so big, I must have an operation within 3 days to remove my vocal chord! I went home in shock – I was an evangelist, a missionary in Israel – and, only 32 years old, my ministry was finished!

I fell on my knees and said, “O God, teach me how to pray!” – It’s one thing to pray when they say you have cancer, it is totally different when you only have 3 days before they take away your voice! I remember crying out, “Oh God, I haven’t yet seen Your power in my life! Oh God, my dream, my vision is not fulfilled! Oh God heal me! I’ve seen so many miracles! But now I need a miracle!” My church members said, “It is so easy for David to see God work miracles when somebody else has cancer. Now he’s got it!” At the end of that day I was not healed.

The next day I changed my prayer to the most dangerous one of my life: “Oh God I believe you are telling me my ministry should be in Russia. If You want me to leave my home, my family, then I need a miracle! Take this cancer out now!” I went to the Word of God. The relationship I have with God is that I say, “Lord, if You want to talk with me, tell me direct and show me in writing, in Your Word!” Men lie, but God is not a man, He cannot lie! The Bible is the most powerful book in the world! All the power and authority that God has is revealed in His Word! – What He says He does! I turned to Romans 8, and read: “When we don’t know how to pray, the Holy Spirit prays for us, according to the will of God.” In that moment, I knew I had the answer. It was the will of God!

Next morning I went to the hospital. There were three doctors, they put the instruments down my throat, pulled them out – three times – and they were angry and began to accuse me, “Who did it? Who operated? – Somebody has cut it out with a knife! The surgeon who operated has left a scar!” I said, “The God you don’t believe in, He did it last night!” God had touched my throat, and touched my life! Now I had to tell my church that I would leave and go to Russia!

But why did this happen? Because I was searching for the power of God in my life. The cancer was the next step, God knew my heart. In 1961 I went to Jerusalem saying I wanted a new anointing, a new fire – and three and a half years later I got the beginning of a new power, a new fire, when God healed my cancer! Without that miracle I would not have known the power of God in my life! I don’t want prophecy, I don’t want emotion, I don’t want to party. I want the Hand of God to touch me. It was one more step towards the real power of God – a baptism of fire!

When I look back over my ministry, I am so grateful for every opportunity God has provided for me to share the Gospel. I often think over the last 30 years of ministry in Ukraine: so many have had the opportunity to give their lives to Christ; I preached in every major town and city, and the services were often broadcast on local TV. I thank God the Gospel has been preached in that nation.

When we look at verse 6 of Philippians 1, it is obvious that Paul is referring to the Power of the Holy Spirit in the believer. It is this infilling of the Holy Spirit which empowers us for ministry and Christian living. Jesus Himself had to be baptised in the Spirit before He entered into Ministry, and for us, it is this same Holy Spirit which was in Christ, that will infill us and make us perfect and complete at the return of Christ.

In verse 12 Paul writes, 'Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the Gospel.' The things which have happen to Paul - the good and the bad - have been used by God to further the Gospel message. Paul could never have imagined that writing these epistles whilst in prison, would actually be his most productive ministry, and that 2000 years later, we are still reading these letters! I've not had an easy life - I've had cancer twice, imprisoned for Bible smuggling - yet God used all these trials for good! Each one has been a stepping stone in the ministry He's called me to fulfill. And God will take what has happened to you to advance the Kingdom. All things will work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8).

for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. (Philippians 1:19, NIV)

As a preacher myself, I find verse 15 particularly interesting. So many Christians are quick to condemn various ministries, preachers and denominations for preaching, what, in their view is false doctrine. However, the Apostle Paul had a fascinating attitude when faced with this same situation. ‘It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.’

Some people preach Christ out of love with good motive, others with selfish ambition and bad motive. But at least Christ is preached! Personally, I cannot accept some teachings, and I do not agree with the doctrines and practices of all denominations, but Christ is still preached, and in that I rejoice. If Christ is preached, and His Name is glorified, then I am glad. I fear that at times the Church can get out of balance in its involvement in politics and social work - that is not to say the Church should remain silent - but the very centre of the Church must be the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are Christians because we are the followers of Christ; we are to be Christlike.

I want to emphasise: Christ must be preached. He is the resurrected Son of God. He died on the cross to pay the price of our sin, but He didn’t stay dead, He arose from the grave!

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16, NIV)

The Temple which David wanted to build was to be outstandingly beautiful. It was the desire of his heart to build a House for the Lord. From verse 11 in 1 Chronicles 28, David outlines all that he has prepared according to the plans which the Spirit revealed to him (v12).

All my life I have wanted to build a ‘Temple’ like King David. Now, I don’t mean a literal Temple, but I’ve wanted to reflect and reveal the Glory of God in an unprecedented way. As I reach my 90th birthday and look back over my life, this has been my desire all along: to do something to bring honour to the Name of the Lord. So much of what I have seen in and through my ministry has come because of the desire in my heart. I didn’t visualise how it would be fulfilled. All I had determined was this would be my life’s work.

I briefly want to mention how in verse 4 David says, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, chose me from my whole family to be king over Israel forever.’ You remember how when Samuel went to Jesse’s house to anoint the next King, Jesse brought all his sons before Samuel except David, who was the outcast working with the sheep. The other sons were rejected by God, but David was chosen and anointed. - Let me encourage you, other people may reject and disqualify you, but when God anoints and chooses you, nothing is impossible.

Of all my sons—and the Lord has given me many—he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. He said to me: ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. (1 Chronicles 28:5-6, NIV)

In these verses I see something really interesting. Solomon has been chosen to build God’s House, for God has chosen him to be His son, and God will be His Father. This is the only place in the Old Testament where you see such a relationship: God is saying that Solomon shall be to Me as a son. It is almost as if Solomon is a shadow and forerunner of the relationship we can have with God through Jesus.

Like with Solomon, God has chosen you, as His child, to build His house here on earth. No, it is not a physical building, this 'house' we build is to reveal God's Glory and Majesty to an unbelieving world.

David urges Solomon in verse 20, '"Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished."' I want to challenge you: Do the work of evangelism. Fill the Kingdom of God. God will not fail or forsake you!

When darkness overtakes him, light will come bursting in. He is kind and merciful — and all goes well for the generous man who conducts his business fairly.

Such a man will not be overthrown by evil circumstances. God’s constant care of him will make a deep impression on all who see it. He does not fear bad news, nor live in dread of what may happen. For he is settled in his mind that Jehovah will take care of him. (Psalm 112:4-7, TLB)

We’ve had Covid and the difficult financial and social consequences following worldwide lockdowns. Now war in Ukraine. The whole world has changed. Historically the world does go through periodic political, financial, spiritual upheavals. And it never goes back to how it was before.

I draw comfort from the story of Elijah. Not just when he called down fire from heaven – but the sheer number of phenomenal miracles that took place in a very short period before that which intrigues me. All during the reign of Ahab, who, according to 1 Kings 16:30ff, did greater evil and more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel before him! An evil time indeed!

Suddenly, in 1 Kings 17:1, Elijah appears before Ahab and says, “As the Lord God lives, before whom I stand, there shall be no dew nor rain these years but according to my word.” This meant disaster for crops and people. In v2, the Word of the Lord came again to Elijah. I find it interesting that in the Old Testament we see the Lord speaks very directly to His prophets, and He commands them. That can, and should, happen today. Many times what I do is in direct response to a command from the Lord. So, now that there is to be no dew and no rain, the Lord tells Elijah to get up and go to the brook Cherith, near Jordan, where, He says, “You will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you.” It happened as God said. But after some time the brook dried up. So again God commands Elijah, “Go to Zarephath and stay there, because I have commanded a widow woman to sustain you.”

Elijah is acting under God’s command – but so did the ravens, and now also the widow. Elijah sees her gathering sticks and asks for water and bread to eat. She answers, “As the Lord your God lives, I have only a handful of flour and a little oil, and I am gathering sticks to make myself and my son a cake to eat and then die.” Elijah replies, “Don’t be afraid, do as you said, but first make me a little cake, and afterwards make for yourself and your son.” Elijah is speaking prophetically, under the command of God: “THE LORD GOD HAS SAID that the barrel of flour and the cruse of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain.” Elijah, the prophet who commanded the rain to stop, prophesies to the woman, “THE BARREL OF FLOUR AND THE CRUSE OF OIL WILL NOT FAIL YOU…”

There is a very strong message for us in this: that when we are working for God, the source of our supply will never dry up. What I need, what I lack, will not stop the supply of the Anointing Oil of the Holy Spirit and the Bread of the Word of God in my life. The Word of God and the Anointing of the Holy Spirit will never fail me, even in a time of drought.

So often we are looking for revival, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and we feel nothing will happen until this spiritual awakening comes and the Holy Spirit is poured out. But if you, as a believer, take this message of comfort from the story of Elijah, even in a time of spiritual drought and lack, God’s promise is that His Word, His Power and the Anointing of the Holy Spirit WILL NOT FAIL YOU – not even through the period of drought – until the rain comes!

This is how I have had to live. In my 72 years of ministry, I have lived through periods of extreme difficulty. Coming out of World War II, our churches in Britain were decimated, there was no move of God. I first went into the Soviet Union countries in 1961 when there was persecution of the churches. This is where I worked for 30 years before the freedom came. And yet, in myself, I never had a lack of the Power of the Word of God, and I never lacked the Anointing and the Power of the Holy Spirit.

This is a tremendous challenge to those who are waiting, thinking, “Oh, I can’t do anything until revival comes and God manifests.” I want to tell you that if you are walking with God and have an experience with God, the barrel of flour and the cruse of oil WILL NOT FAIL YOU. That’s a wonderful promise! I live according to that promise. People talk about revival in the future. I say I’ve got revival! I live in revival, I have revival, and I spread revival wherever I go. It’s true!

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. (1 Corinthians 12:7-11, NIV)

Faith has been the motivation behind my life! Right from the beginning I’ve wanted to please God. When I received the Holy Spirit aged 15, I knew 1 Corinthians 12 says there are nine gifts, and Paul says choose, covet the best gifts… I can pray in tongues ‘more than anybody’, I can prophesy. But the one gift I wanted more than any other was the gift of faith. I saw faith as a GIFT, not just as a way of ‘thinking’, but as a GIFT from God that would change my life and enable me to do all the impossible things that, at that time, I didn’t yet know God was going to ask me to do!

And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts. (1 Corinthians 12:28-31, KJV)

Of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, the one gift I chose, the only gift I was interested in, was that same gift of FAITH we see here in Hebrews 11! According to the internet (and most Christians), the two main evidences of a ‘Pentecostal’ experience are speaking in tongues and healings. Anyone can speak with tongues and we should all believe in what, in my early days, was called ‘Divine Healing’. But from the beginning, growing up, influenced not only by the Welsh Revival, but by Smith Wigglesworth, George Jeffreys, and expecting to see greater, I knew that I needed not just ‘faith’ but an EMPOWERED GIFT of FAITH!

Yes, that kind of faith that I want can only come as a gift. It is not normal, it’s supernatural, but it is what I have spent my life seeking for. I don’t think that I have yet found it, that’s why I have to go on, I don’t want to stop or to die until like those in Hebrews 11, I have found it! My trouble is that I will never claim that I have received that ‘gift of faith’ from the Holy Spirit, because faith is only as good as what I do today!

Faith is demonstrated by what you do!

There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit: three vocal gifts: speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, and prophecy. There are three intellectual gifts: word of knowledge, word of wisdom, and the word of prophecy. And there are three practical gifts: working miracles, gifts of healing, and the gift of faith. Of all the nine gifts, I decided to ask for only one, the gift of faith. Why? Do you want to please God? The Bible says in Hebrews 11 that without faith it is impossible to please God. So if you want to really please God, you need that Gift of Faith. Faith is trust; don' think of it as something mysterious. If I ask most people if they have faith, they'll say yes. And I would simply say, show it! Isn't that what it says in the book of James? '"You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds' (2.18). I'm challenging you, get faith! Trust God! But demonstrate it by what you do!

A few years ago I revisited the place in Brighton where God first spoke to me when I was 15 years old. I was with a group of young Christians walking along the beach, but God was speaking to me, challenging me. God was saying to me, “I want you David!” And the devil was saying, “Don’t you realise you’re saved, you got baptised in water, filled with the Holy Spirit – that’s enough!” But God was saying, “I want YOU!” He didn’t say, “I want you to be a preacher, I want you to be an evangelist, a missionary…” – God said, “David, I want ALL of you, EVERYTHING! – Your life, your family, your time, your house, every single thing – I want the lot!” People talk about tithing, the biblical pattern of giving a tenth of your income to God, but a long time ago I tried the opposite, keep a tenth for yourself, and give God 90 percent! You cannot out-give God! Give everything! The more I give Him, the more I receive financially, the more power of God I receive! – Give and you will receive, ‘pressed down and running over!’ – This is why God says, the only ‘reasonable’ thing is to present your body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God! – And this is only the beginning, the norm, the ‘reasonable’ bit! I want the un-reasonable, the extra-normal! I don’t just want to receive the Holy Spirit like everybody else, I want a double portion, a treble portion, ten times, a hundred times more! I’m hungry for God! I need that anointing, that power! Jesus told of the servant who did everything that was expected of him, what was reasonable – but the master did not thank him – it was expected of him. But I want to receive! The more you give, the more God gives back! I remember that tremendous challenge when God said to me, “David, I want YOU!” That night I had to say, “Lord, I’ll give you everything!”

After I went to bed that night I had wild dreams that the preacher wouldn’t turn up next day in church, dreams of evangelising... Next morning was the most glorious day ever! I got out of bed, on my knees, and said, “Lord, I have given you everything, now I will do whatever You want, I am all Yours!” I was expecting great things! I went downstairs full of excitement. Today was the day when I was going to start preaching to thousands… But the first thing I saw was a row of dirty shoes – I have never liked cleaning shoes then or now – and the Lord said, “Clean those shoes!” And I did it because I had made a commitment. I polished those shoes as if Jesus Himself was going to wear them! That’s reasonable service. You don’t start at the top, you start at the bottom. I didn’t start by evangelising in great meetings. I started witnessing as a boy in the street, in my school. Where did your salvation begin? Your salvation began when Jesus GAVE, when He paid the price – His sacrifice on the cross. That’s where our ministry has to begin – giving – its only reasonable service.

But this has to be a Vision of God, of what HE wants to achieve, of what HE wants to do. Today the Church is so often more governed by its own counsels and ideas, rather than simply being led and guided by prayer and the Holy Spirit. In my life I try not to depend too much on what other people are saying and advising. I’ve had so many people prophesy over me, but not many of those ‘prophecies’ have ever come to pass! They’ve not been in line with what God is telling me to do! From my earliest days I’ve had a clear vision. In fact, my ministry is called Eurovision, because God gave me a vision of Europe. He gave me that clear vision back in the 1980s, a vision – at the height of the Cold War in Europe – that He would break the Iron Curtain that separated East and West, and that the Power of God would sweep across Europe from East to West. That’s why I held the first of four East/West Karlsruhe Conferences in 1988, and within 12 months – that’s what actually happened: in 1989, only one year later, the Berlin Wall fell, and from there the whole of communism began to collapse, though Russia itself did not come free until 1991.

Because God had given me such a clear Vision, I ACTED on that Vision, I ‘ran with it’! But I was in the East, preaching and ministering BEFORE that, in faith that, even if the vision was delayed, God would not fail, God would not lie, He would do what He said. How powerful it was! Look at the revival that came in Russia and Ukraine: the Holy Spirit swept across those nations, first in the satellite states of Eastern Europe – Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria. God never fails!

But that was 40 years ago! That’s a whole generation ago. We need a fresh Vision, a fresh revelation – this is what I am asking God for, and this is what He is giving me: a vision of what He is going to be doing in the future. But not just the future – we need to run with that vision now – and not despair! Look at Joel 2:18ff, ‘Then the Lord will be jealous for His Land and pity His People. Yes, the Lord WILL answer His People, “Behold I bring you corn and oil, and you will be satisfied, and I will no longer make you a reproach among the heathen… Fear not, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do GREAT THINGS!” This is the vision God is giving me. How strong can I be on this point? And how strong can the Lord be? Because He says to you, “Fear not, because I will do GREAT THINGS!”

I don’t think we have seen the end of God’s Power. I believe that what we are about to see is an even GREATER revelation of His Power on earth than anything in the past. God’s Power doesn’t diminish just because there’s sin and wickedness in the world. God doesn’t change! God still loves the sinner. He still wants to redeem the earth. That’s why, in the near future, Jesus Christ is coming back – to fulfil every Promise, every Vision!

Oh yes, there are times like Habakkuk when I’m saying, “O Lord, how long shall and I cry, and how long will You not hear?” That happened to me in a communist prison, 50 years ago, in 1972, when I was saying, “O God, here I am, locked up in a prison, starving, hardly any food, not allowed out of my prison cell!” In the midst of all this, one morning God answered when I was alone in my cell, crying out in desperation that I couldn’t pray anymore… Suddenly it seemed as if the whole roof of the prison was blown off. I could feel the angels coming down, I could see the Glory and the Fire and the Power. I jumped up, singing at the top of my voice that famous song, ‘Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, how great Thou art!’ But where did I see this breakthrough? In the distress and discomfort of a prison cell. I haven’t had an experience like that anywhere else!

But this is God! And like Habakkuk, we’ve got to seek for a fresh Vision, we’ve got to seek that God would revive us, awaken us. Joel is full of this, 2:21ff, “Fear not O land, be glad, rejoice, the Lord WILL do GREAT THINGS! Don’t be afraid… Be glad, rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you the former rain moderately – and He will cause to come down for you the former and the latter rain. The floors will be full of wheat and the vats will overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years the locusts have eaten… And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, that I am the Lord your God and none else, and My people shall never be ashamed!” – In my darkest hours in the prison, that’s what the Lord brought to me: ‘Those who trust in God will never be ashamed!’

I want to remind you. Whatever the circumstances, whatever the difficulties we may be going through, we shall never be ashamed of our faith and our trust in God, and in His Power and in what He is going to do…

…Because the prophecies of Habakkuk and of Joel lead on to the return of Jesus Christ! Yes, they also speak of the suffering. Joel 3:9ff says, “Gentiles, prepare for war, get the mighty men ready for war, beat your ploughshares in to swords, let the weak say ‘I am strong’. Assemble yourselves together… Let the heathen be awakened and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge the heathen. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe and their wickedness is great… Multitudes in the Valley of Decision, for the Day of the Lord is near in the Valley of Decision.” THIS is when the Glory of God will be revealed! Vv15ff, “The sun and the light shall withdraw their shining. The Lord shall roar out of Zion and utter His Voice from Jerusalem, and the Heavens and the earth shall shake. But the Lord will be the Hope of His people and the strength of the children of Israel!”

What a wonderful prophecy! Don’t be discouraged. I want you to get that Vision of what God can do! Get into your ‘watchtower’ and pray until God answers you and shows you His Power and His Glory! O Father, open people’s eyes, let them get into that place in the ‘watchtower’ where You answer them when they cry to You, “How long are You silent?” O God, be not silent, but show Your Power and Your Glory! In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Now the prophet writes in v2, “The Lord answered me! He said, ‘Write the Vision, make it plain, that he who reads it may run with it! For the Vision is yet for an appointed time. But at the end it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it shall surely come and will not delay.’” God is saying, “I’m going to show you the Vision (what will happen) – write it down, speak it clearly. And then run with the Vision, because it is for a specific time, it WILL come, at the appointed time. And although it seems to you to delay, it will not fail!” Sometimes in our lives we need the patience to wait for the fulfilment of God’s Promises…

Looking back over more than 70 years of ministry, seeing the difficult times I’ve been through – God has never failed me! There have been ups and there have been downs in my life, believe me! I’ve been in poverty. There was a time when I was newly married with twin girls, I was evanglising, and I had no money – we lived for a week on mushrooms which someone gave us! But God never fails!

Now the Church, in addition to doing the work of evangelism, must also enter a period of self-examination. And I think the Church would face reproof, because if God were to speak the truth into the Church today, it would not just be, “Oh, how well you have done, what a fantastic job…” Yes, there are times when God says that. But there ARE times of rebuke. Habakkuk says, “What I shall answer when I am reproved? In wrath, remember mercy…” So sometimes what God is saying to us, brings an element of fear. And yet the prophet says, “Revive Your Work in the midst of the years! Make Yourself known!”

This should be our cry, whatever we’re going through – persecution, distress, or the godlessness of the nations we live in… Godlessness is increasing by the day, our governments are passing laws approving things which should not be done – I’m shocked and discouraged by what I see… I’m crying out to the Lord, “In the midst of these years, revive Your Work!” It’s not just ‘revive me’ or ‘revive the Church’, but ‘O Lord, revive Your Work!’ Get a Vision of what God can do!

Proverbs 29:18 says, ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish – they die!” This is why God says to Habakkuk, “Write the Vision!” Where there is a lack of vision in the Church, in our lives – then we are in danger of getting cold, falling away and needing reproof. I NEED a vision of what God WILL do. My vision at my age is not just of the past. Yes, I testify of what God has done in my life, because it’s the past which gives me strength and confidence for the future… Because I can look back and say, if God could do that then, and if we cry out, “O Lord, revive Your Work in the midst of the years” – God can do GREATER things now than anything He has done in the past! When I’m in prayer, and in fellowship with my prayer partners, we are sensing – as we stand on our watch – a vision so clear – of the future!

God can do GREATER things now than anything He has done in the past!

But this has to be a Vision of God, of what HE wants to achieve, of what HE wants to do. Today the Church is so often more governed by its own counsels and ideas, rather than simply being led and guided by prayer and the Holy Spirit. In my life I try not to depend too much on what other people are saying and advising. I’ve had so many people prophesy over me, but not many of those ‘prophecies’ have ever come to pass! They’ve not been in line with what God is telling me to do! From my earliest days I’ve had a clear vision. In fact, my ministry is called Eurovision, because God gave me a vision of Europe. He gave me that clear vision back in the 1980s, a vision – at the height of the Cold War in Europe – that He would break the Iron Curtain that separated East and West, and that the Power of God would sweep across Europe from East to West. That’s why I held the first of four East/West Karlsruhe Conferences in 1988, and within 12 months – that’s what actually happened: in 1989, only one year later, the Berlin Wall fell, and from there the whole of communism began to collapse, though Russia itself did not come free until 1991.

Because God had given me such a clear Vision, I ACTED on that Vision, I ‘ran with it’! But I was in the East, preaching and ministering BEFORE that, in faith that, even if the vision was delayed, God would not fail, God would not lie, He would do what He said. How powerful it was! Look at the revival that came in Russia and Ukraine: the Holy Spirit swept across those nations, first in the satellite states of Eastern Europe – Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria. God never fails!

But that was 40 years ago! That’s a whole generation ago. We need a fresh Vision, a fresh revelation – this is what I am asking God for, and this is what He is giving me: a vision of what He is going to be doing in the future. But not just the future – we need to run with that vision now – and not despair! Look at Joel 2:18ff, ‘Then the Lord will be jealous for His Land and pity His People. Yes, the Lord WILL answer His People, “Behold I bring you corn and oil, and you will be satisfied, and I will no longer make you a reproach among the heathen… Fear not, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do GREAT THINGS!” This is the vision God is giving me. How strong can I be on this point? And how strong can the Lord be? Because He says to you, “Fear not, because I will do GREAT THINGS!”

I don’t think we have seen the end of God’s Power. I believe that what we are about to see is an even GREATER revelation of His Power on earth than anything in the past. God’s Power doesn’t diminish just because there’s sin and wickedness in the world. God doesn’t change! God still loves the sinner. He still wants to redeem the earth. That’s why, in the near future, Jesus Christ is coming back – to fulfil every Promise, every Vision!

There are periods in our lives when it seems God is not answering. But that does not mean God is not there, that He’s not listening. My father always used to say, that in the laws of physics, every action has a reaction. Every wave is followed by a trough. And every tough is followed by a wave. He taught me, our emotions and experiences vary. But under pressure, we mustn’t think God is not listening to us. The communist prison was the worst time in my life – yet God used it to work one of the biggest miracles in my life! When I look back, I thank God for that time! Like Habakkuk, there are times when we have to go through the despair, “How long will I cry and You will not hear?!”

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,[a] you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.” (John 3:3-6, NLT)

The life of faith is a relationship with God through Jesus. Too many are relying on human effort as an entry into God's Kingdom. We depend on the finished work of the Cross and Power of the Resurrection! As the Apostle Paul wrote, 'For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort!' (Philippians 3.3-4, NLT.)

Our 'real' life isn't here on earth, we are looking forward to an eternity with Jesus. We are to forget the past, and reach forward to this new life with Christ. I want you to realise, whether you are in suffering, pain, or are facing death, that is only a looking forward to eternity; our resurrection into new life. Too many old people view their lives as behind them. No! Our lives are in front of us. I want you all to grasp the Power of the Resurrection, the Power of this Hope in Christ.

'I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us... He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like His own, using the same power with which He will bring everything under His control.' (Philippians 3.18-21, NLT.)

Sometimes it appears God is not answering us. When I was in the prison, 1972-3, I prayed and I prayed: for food, for deliverance and for my wife to be allowed to visit. It seemed God didn’t answer. I remember the morning, alone in my cell when I said, “O Lord, I can’t pray anymore. The Heavens are like brass, shut up against me. You don’t answer me!” But in my desperation that day, God DID suddenly answer! With such Power, that it seemed that the whole of Heaven was opened, and all the Glory of God came down into that cell! But it came because, like Habakkuk, I was saying, how long must I pray, and how long will You not listen or hear me?

There are periods in all our lives when it seems God is not answering. But that does not mean God is not there, that He’s not listening. My father always used to say that in the laws of physics, every action has a reaction. Every wave is followed by a trough. And every trough is followed by a wave. He taught me, our emotions and experiences vary. But under pressure, we mustn’t think God is not listening to us. The communist prison was the worst time in my life – yet God used it to work one of the biggest miracles in my life! When I look back, I thank God for that time! Like Habakkuk, there are times when we have to go through the despair, “How long will I cry, and You will not hear?!”

But now in Habakkuk 2:1 the prophet says, “I will stand upon my watch, and set me on my tower, and I will watch what God will say to me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” In the midst of his depression and anxiety, Habakkuk resolves, “I will watch and wait to see what the answer is, and what shall I say to Him if I’m reproved…” You know, there are times, spiritually, when God HAS to reprove us. There have been times in my life when I have had to face reproof. And there have been many times when I have been over-concerned and over-anxious.

Looking back over more than 70 years of ministry, seeing the many difficult times I’ve been through – God has never failed me once! Don’t be discouraged. I want you to get a Vision of what God can do in your life! Get into your ‘watchtower’ and pray until God answers you, and shows you His Power and His Glory!

Regardless of the reasons for our suffering, Jesus has the Power to solve it. Don't be so concerned with the 'Why' in your life, fix your focus on the 'Who' in your life - Jesus! When I had throat cancer in 1964, and then lung cancer in 2003, I was faced with a challenge: do I trust God or not? I didn't go to a healing evangelist or some special prayer meeting, I went to the Word of God, and that is all I needed to confound the doctors.

In verse 4, Jesus then makes an intriguing statement, 'I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.' - Jesus has given all of us a task to fulfil within an allotted time. It is our duty to be about the Father's business while it is day. When the night comes we cannot work, because the light afforded us to work by is extinguished. What has God asked you to do? It can only be done within a set time. Tomorrow is not promised to any of us. Yesterday has passed. We only have today in which to work. Even for Jesus, there was an allotted time in which He could work. He had to fulfil His purpose within the Father's timeframe.

Jesus said in Matthew 6.6, 'When you pray, go into your room, and pray to your Father.' In Verse 8, Jesus said, 'Your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him.' Then finally in verse 9, Jesus told us to pray like this, 'Our Father in heaven.' Jesus told us to call God, ‘our Father’. And in the Bible, He Himself is described as the ‘Son of God’. And we are sons and daughters of God! This is why we have the right to approach Him, and talk to Him personally, as we would with any father.

With Moses, first God had to use the miracle of the burning bush to attract his attention, and secondly, in Exodus 4:3, He commanded Moses, ‘Throw your rod on the ground.’ He did and it became a serpent. Moses fled – he was afraid! The problem is so many people are afraid when they see the power of God and run away from the reality of what God wants to do in their lives. You have got to WANT the miracle! Why do I see miracles? I WANT miracles, I LIVE for miracles. I live to see the Glory and the Power of God! Often it’s difficult, but I won’t give up, I won’t let go of God until He works the miracles, because God cannot fail.

Paul says, 'It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death... All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.' (Hebrews 11.32-40, NLT)

THROUGH FAITH the elders ‘subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions…’ Daniel in the lions’ den! ‘Quenched the violence of fire…’ The three Hebrew children! ‘Escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens…’ All these were phenomenal miracles, and the more you read the Old Testament, the more you are impressed by the extent, the number and the character of all the miracles that occurred!

But these were BEFORE Christ came! BEFORE the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Yes, the Davids and the Elijahs in the Old Testament were remarkable, unusual, and saw powerful miracles. But look what happened after Jesus comes and anoints the disciples, and tells them to wait – 120 of them were in that Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came – there was an EXPLOSION of miracles! I love the Acts of the Apostles because it is the story of the miracles worked, not by the Davids, not by the Samsons, but ordinary men and women were given the Power to do what only the kings, only the prophets, only unusual people could do in the Old Testament. Suddenly that Power which we have seen all through the Old Testament is now available to all who will believe – through the Holy Spirit!

Surely the writer of Hebrews is showing that what happened in the Old Testament should not just be repeated in our lives, but, because of our personal relationship with God through Jesus and the fact that He sent us that same Holy Spirit who empowered Him on earth, our experience should be greater! In fact, to those who either say that we cannot do the same miracles as Jesus, (but He said that we would do greater than He did), or that miracles ended with the New Testament era and are not for today, what about the 4,000 years of miracles demonstrated in the Old Testament?! If you don’t want to live as a ‘New Testament Church’, then do what they did in the Old Testament! So where are the Abrahams, Moses, Davids and Elijahs? Surely this is the whole point that the writer of Hebrews is making!!!

James 1.5 continues, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God." That’s a strong challenge. I try to live out this verse, in that I try always to ask God’s advice. One of my younger co-workers asked me recently how I pray? I don’t believe in formal prayers. In my relationship with the Lord, prayer is a conversation, so that when I talk to the Lord in prayer, I also expect to receive answers. Prayer has to be more than just one-sided, it has to be a two-way communication to be real effective prayer.

Most of you know my testimony, the two times I had cancer – 1964 when it was throat cancer, and 2002/3 when it was lung cancer – on both occasions when I was asking the Lord for a miracle, I also asked Him to give me an answer. How did I get an answer? As I so often do, I said, "Lord I want to see it in writing!" And I get the answer in the pages of my Bible – it is God’s Word to us! So often that’s how God answers me. Although sometimes the answer is just something I sense in my spirit.

So coming back to James 1.5ff, "If any lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally – without criticising! But ask in faith, without wavering – because he who wavers is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed with the wind." Faith has to come with some element of stability, just as God is stable, and we’re asking, we’re trusting, we’re acting on that faith. James says, the man who wavers, let him not think he’ll receive anything! Faith has to be consistent, you have to hold on to that faith. Or you won’t get anything.

Faith is ignited by Works. In James 2.22-23, we see Abraham combined his faith with what he did: his faith was made perfect, it was imputed to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God! Oh, that this might be said about us! “You see,” James says in v24, “by works a man’s faith is demonstrated, and not by faith alone.” Faith HAS to be followed by fact. “For,” v26 “as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is DEAD also.” The ‘works’ are the very spirit that give LIFE to the body of ‘faith’. God bless you.

In Acts 1:5 Jesus said to His disciples, “You have been baptised in water, but you’re about to be baptised in the Holy Ghost!” – It was to be the power to change their lives, yet immediately the disciples got their minds on prophecy: “When this happens, will You then restore the Kingdom to Israel? Get rid of the Romans?” Jesus said, “Hold on, before that happens, you’ve got a job to do, and that’s why I’m telling you, when the Holy Spirit comes, you will receive power, fire, miracles – and you will be My witnesses!” – If we are truly living in the days before Christ’s return, that’s what our job is! And we NEED this baptism of fire to spread the power of this miraculous Gospel!

Our God is about to do great things! His power is on the increase. Biblically God’s power cannot become smaller! At a time of national calamity, Joel 2:21&23 says, ‘Rejoice and be glad, for the Lord is about to do great things – in YOUR nation! ... Be glad, rejoice in your God, because He gave you the former rain moderately, and He will give you the latter rain!’ I know Israel well: the former (first) rain is when they plant the seed, the last rain is just before the harvest and it is greater than the first – that’s why I believe we are living in a new Day of Pentecost (harvest) now! When the church was born on the Day of Pentecost, it was born in fire! And before Jesus comes back, we’re going to have another greater baptism in fire!

In Acts 1 Jesus spoke both of baptism in water and in the Holy Spirit in the same way, using the same Greek word ‘baptizo’, immersed. The Word of God in Acts 2:38 is clear, ‘Repent and be baptised for the remission of sins.’ – Jesus came to John the Baptist and asked to be baptised. John hesitated because he knew who Jesus was (Matt 3:14), but even Jesus had to be baptised in the river Jordan – not sprinkled, but immersed! And immediately after Jesus was baptised, the Holy Spirit came upon Him! Now if Jesus needed baptism both in water and the Holy Ghost, so do you!

Baptism in the Holy Spirit should be more powerful than in water! – Jesus said, “You shall be baptised in the Holy Spirit.” Why? Jesus said, “Unless I die, you cannot receive the Holy Spirit! But if I go I will send Him – and He, the Holy Spirit, will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment – and nothing will be impossible! You will be My witnesses, preach Christ, demonstrate the power of God on earth!”

The revolution when you are baptised in the Holy Spirit, has to be LIFE-TRANSFORMING! In the Acts of the Apostles the disciples received the baptism of the Holy Spirit – instantly they were no longer frightened and ineffective, but filled with boldness and fire! That’s what we need today in the church – a new boldness, a new authority, a new power – which is the result of a baptism in the Holy Spirit!

Psalm 23 says, 'The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures... Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me...'

The 'valley of the shadow' is more literally translated as, where the light of the sun is cut off. I want to tell you: wherever you are, whatever your trial, no matter the problem - even if you feel the light of the sun is cut off - God will not fail you. He says, His rod and His staff will comfort you, and you will come safely through.

I really feel at this time that people need a lot of comfort. I’m very disturbed that the number of young people in Britain suffering mental problems has more than doubled under lockdown and the pandemic. For me, it is my Christian faith that has always kept me strong. You may look at me and think, “Everything goes right for him.” No! I’ve had cancer twice, I spent a year in a Russian-style communist prison, and many, many other things. You ask questions, you begin to think, “Why me?” How did I end up in prison?! I saw the prisoners around me in despair – I prayed with them, witnessed to them, shared the Gospel with them. But for myself I sought the Lord and asked, “Why? Why am I here?” But even then, I realised I was in the prison for a purpose, and that God would work something out through it. The miracle of my release after only one year by British Prime Minister absolutely changed my life! It may seem strange to you, but when I look back, I simply say, “Thank God for that year in prison!” My life as it is now, without some of the tragedies, would never have been what it is today. The prison, that throat cancer, that lung cancer – all changed my life.

I want to encourage you to seek the Lord in a new way. I know we are going through difficult times. Throughout my life I’ve been through difficult times. But through it all God has always made a way of escape, that’s His Promise. 1 Corinthians 10:13. In your greatest difficulties, God makes a way through.

I have the absolute certainty of the promises of God’s Word! I want to encourage you. When you are praying, go to the Word of God and let God speak to you. Let God Himself speak to you through His Word, and give you your answer, as He’s always done for me. God bless you.

I want to show you the Authority and the Power that is in the Name of Jesus!

People ask me how is it that I see so many miracles, so many healings? My life has been truly remarkable, partly because of the length of time that I have been in ministry, and the intensity. Very few people have seen the miracles that I have seen and experienced, and I believe there is a strong Scriptural reason for this. It was only recently in prayer that I felt the Lord pressing on me that the authority that I have and the miracles I see, come IN AND THROUGH THE NAME OF JESUS. This is so important, because the Bible says here in Philippians 2:9, God has highly exalted Him and given Him a Name which is above every name – that in the Name of Jesus, every knee should bow, things in Heaven, things in the earth and under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father!

God has put all Authority and Power into the Name of Jesus!

Look at John 14:13, where Jesus Himself says, “Whatsoever you ask the Father IN MY NAME, that will I do!” That’s powerful! Whatsoever you ask the Father in My Name, He will do it! In Philippians Paul is saying, God has given Jesus a NAME ABOVE ALL OTHER NAMES – because of His obedience to His Father, because He came and humbled Himself, and was obedient even unto death – in order to fulfil God’s purpose. And, because Jesus was sent to fulfil the purpose of God, because He was obedient, He was able to say, “Whatsoever you ask the Father in My Name, I will do it.”

People question, when we are praying with the sick, do we ask or do we command the sickness? Look at Acts 3, Peter and John are going up to the Temple at the hour of prayer. We all know this miracle, soon after the Day of Pentecost, of the healing of the man born crippled. He was asking for money, but Peter replies, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, I give you: IN THE NAME OF JESUS OF NAZARETH, get up and walk.” This is at the very beginning of the apostolic ministry, immdeiately after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, after Peter had stood up and preached his first Gospel message, and it is the very first individually recorded miracle of healing. I find it interesting that Jesus Himself must many times have gone past this crippled man on His way into the Temple. But the significant thing is that Peter says, “I don’t have money, but I’m going to give you the one thing I have – IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH, rise up and walk!”

This first recorded miracle of healing took place by the Authority and the Power that is in the Name of Jesus.

Peter took him by the hand and lifted him up – that’s action – and immediately the man’s feet and ankle bones received strength. He stood up, leaping and walking. I love this picture! Here is a man born lame, who’s never walked! I’ve had children myself. When they first learn to walk, they don’t do it like they eventually will. I can still picture my young children taking their early steps. But here’s a grown man who doesn’t know how to put one foot in front of the other! So he’s leaping and walking, amazed and shocked at the miracle that has happened to him!

Miracles drew the attention of the crowds in the life of Jesus and in the early Church. So a crowd ran together around Peter and the healed man, marvelling! Peter says, “Why do you look on us, as if by our own power or holiness we have made this man walk? The God of our fathers has glorified His Son Jesus” – glorified Him not only in the Resurrection, but in this miracle – “it’s through faith IN HIS NAME that has made this man strong… Yes, the faith that is in Him has given this man perfect healing in front of you all.” Acts 2:12-16. It’s absolutely clear – the healing came IN THE NAME OF JESUS and THROUGH FAITH IN THAT NAME.

How do I pray?

When I pray, whatever I pray – whether I’m praying for health, whether I’m praying over problems, anything – I always pray in the Name of Jesus. Just as He said in John 14:13, “Whatsoever you ask the Father in My Name, that will I do!” My prayer and my requests are in the Name of Jesus! I’m surprised there are people who don’t do this. I bring every request in the Name of Jesus: “Father, I’m asking You in Jesus’ Name…”

Jesus’ disciples got into a ship, but the ship was now in the middle of the sea tossed with waves because the wind was contrary. In the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea, and when the disciples saw Him, they were troubled saying, ‘It’s a spirit!’ and they cried out for fear. But Jesus spoke to them, ‘It is I, don’t be afraid!’ Peter answered, ‘Lord, if it’s You, bid me to come to You on the water!’ And He said, ‘Come!’ When Peter had come down out of the ship he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord save me!’ (Matthew 14:22-30).

Jesus was walking on top of the stormy sea, but notice the time! Time with God is so important. If only you and I knew the time that God has chosen, it would make so much difference to us! Here it was the fourth watch in the night. This is the most dangerous and most difficult hour in the night, the time when most people die, when the body temperature is at its lowest. It’s the time when some of the biggest fears and the biggest problems come, just before the new day dawns. It is so significant that when Jesus is walking towards the disciples in that storm-tossed ship, the time that He chooses is the darkest hour, when the storm is at its highest. But Jesus is there! In your life and mine there are many times when we need the power of God to deliver us, but God’s timing is perfect, coming at the darkest hour, when the storm is at its fiercest and our need is the greatest.

I have learned after more than 70 years of ministry that God always answers prayer. And I want to encourage you. God never fails, He cannot fail. But to get the answer at the right hour we have to be ready, we have to be obedient and God will answer – at the last minute. In my life God so often answers one minute before midnight. One minute before the crisis erupts. We have many kinds of problems, many different needs, but I believe in miracles. Do you?

Every one of us can be in a storm, just like these disciples in the boat. When the disciples saw Him walking on the water their first reaction was fear, they thought they’d seen a ghost, they didn’t realise it was Jesus. They were so afraid because they were convinced their boat was going to sink, they didn’t believe they would last the night. In the darkest hour of your night, when your financial problems are the greatest, when your sickness is getting worse, when you’re crippled with pain, when you cannot escape from alcohol or the power of drugs, in that dark hour, there is one person who will always be there – Jesus. And He chooses the darkest, the hardest moment, to come and walk toward you in order that He can work your miracle.

In the darkest moment in your life, in the moment of your greatest tragedy, in the moment of your greatest suffering, when you’re hurting more than you’ve ever hurt before, Jesus is there. He’s not forgotten you, He’s walking nearer to you. Jesus said, ‘I will be with you always.’ Every day, every hour, in the middle of every storm, in the middle of every sickness, even in a hospital bed, or lying on the road as the result of a car accident, Jesus will always come. Whatever the crisis, there’s never a moment when He’s not there.

All the time that Peter’s eyes are fixed on Jesus, there’s no problem – he’s walking, he’s looking and he can see Jesus. The waves are here and the wind is behind him, but he’s looking and he can see Jesus. No fear – it’s a miracle. Interestingly, at this moment the stormy waves have become safer than the fragile security of the boat with the other disciples in it! Then suddenly, he looked down, saw the water, heard the wind – and when he took his eyes off Jesus, he began to sink. Miracles will happen in your life, but don’t take your eyes off Jesus. Keep your eyes on Jesus and all the time your eyes are on Him you’ll never sink, you’ll never go down – that’s the first miracle!

When Peter began to sink below the water he cried out, ‘Lord, save me,’ and in that exact moment, Jesus reached out His hand and lifted him. Even if for a moment you’re sinking, you’ve taken your eyes off Jesus in the middle of your miracle, Jesus will lift you – every time – if you cry out, ‘Jesus, help me.’ That’s the second miracle!

A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem, and all the believers except the apostles fled into Judea and Samaria. (Acts 8:1)

Revival and Persecution arrive together. What caused the early Church to expand beyond Jerusalem? How did this Pentecostal Fire spread throughout the Roman Empire, and 2000 years later reach you and I? After the stoning and martyrdom of Stephen, the early believers who had fled Jerusalem, went everywhere preaching the Gospel; and everywhere they went, crowds listened intently and were saved. Out of persecution came great joy! (Acts 8.1-8.)

Recently, my attention was drawn to the persecution of the Early Church, and to the martyrdom of Stephen – the first Christian martyr. Looking back into his story in Acts 6, I realised this is only shortly after the Day of Pentecost and Peter’s first sermon in Acts 2; followed in Acts 3 and 4 by the miraculous healing of the cripple at the Temple Gate and the ensuing persecution of the Apostles by the religious Temple authorities, and the command not to preach in the Name of Jesus; their defiance of this; in Acts 5 we see the growth of the Church, the re-arrest of Peter and John, and their miraculous release from the prison, being commanded by the Angel to return to the Temple to preach Christ; their re-arrest again, being beaten by the authorities and commanded again not to preach Christ, and the continued growth of the Church in Acts 6…

In Acts 6:6ff, seven men are brought before the Apostles who laid hands on them – and immediately the Word of God increased and the number of disciples multiplied greatly, and a great company of the Jewish priests were obedient to the faith! Stephen, full of faith and the Power of the Holy Spirit, did great wonders and miracles among the people! Not just the Apostles working miracles, but for the first time, we clearly see one of the other men, appointed simply to be an administrator, so powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith, that he did great wonders and miracles among the people!

What an example! This is a tremendous challenge! Too many people look at the miracles in the Bible and say, “Oh, that only happened in the Bible, with the Twelve Apostles. But no! Even Stephen, who had been set apart and anointed for a ‘secular’ ministry, is so full of faith and the Power of the Holy Spirit that he did great wonders and miracles!

And what happened to Stephen as a result? By the end of Acts chapter 7, Stephen was martyred. But this was not the end of the Church, as one might suppose it could be. Rather, it was the catalyst to the greatest growth in the early Church (Acts 8:1-8).

Yes, I know, the Church began in revival on the Day of Pentecost. And yes, I know we’re believing for another revival, another spiritual awakening. In the recent years of my ministry, I’ve seen Holy Ghost Revival. What else can you call what’s happening in Ukraine when all the denominations unite to pray for their nation? I saw revival in Hungary in the late 1980s; I saw revival sweep across Bulgaria in the early 1990s, from one side to the other. I’ve experienced the Power of God. I LIVE in revival! It’s burning within me with a passion, an intensity. I live in revival. But here, in Acts 7, we see persecution. I believe we are going to see in certain areas a massive revival, but at the same time we cannot deny the fact that there will also be massive persecution. And the nearer we get to the coming of the Lord, I believe we have to strengthen ourselves – like Stephen did, fill of faith and the Holy Spirit! So that when that persecution comes, we will stand strong in the face of it, even if it means death and martyrdom. Yes.

The greater the persecution, the greater responsibility we have to go everywhere and preach the Word. That’s what I am doing in the last years of my life, I’m preaching to the unreached!

In Luke 14, Jesus spoke about a wedding feast. All the preparation was made. The official guests had been invited. But when it came to the time of the wedding, the invited guests all made excuses not to come. The master commanded his servants to go out into the streets of the city and bring in the poor, the maimed, the crippled, the blind. And when the house still wasn’t filled, he sent them out again, saying, "Go out into the highways and byways and compel them to come in!"

We have to fill the Kingdom! I believe in these Last Days the revival we’re going to see is the Gospel of Jesus Christ going out to the poor, the deprived, the war torn; the Kingdom of God will be filled with these people.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17, NKJV)

How does faith grow?

Somebody once asked me, “How can I grow my faith?” How do you grow anything? By feeding it and practising it. I’m hopeless at cooking, but how do you become a good cook, a chef? It’s by putting into practice what you have learnt. No, not everybody will make a good cook, but we can all learn the basics! I know how to turn an oven on and use the microwave, but if you want to be a good cook, you’ve got to work at it! If you want to grow faith, you do it by putting it into practice, by experience, by using it, by working with it. I like driving, I’m a reasonably good driver, but learner drivers, who are just starting out, learn by practice! In order to pass the test, you practice. It’s the same with faith. Faith will only work if you put it to work! In my life, my faith has grown. This is why, aged nearly 90, my testimony is so important! I’ve had more than 70 years of ministry. When I look back on the early days, my evangelism was basic. But I put it to work!

When I was only a few months into Bible College, I was asked to pastor a church. I was putting what I was learning into practice! We used to go to Speakers Corner in Hyde Park, London, every Friday – to put into practice what we’d been learning. You can learn and learn and learn, but unless you put that learning into practice, it’s worthless, valueless.

Our young people in Britain today are being pressurised into going to university. But so many of them are taking degrees in subjects that are irrelevant in the marketplace. Others, unless they follow their degree up and put it into practice, that knowledge becomes worthless. There are people with quite high degrees serving in shops or pubs or driving taxis. Unless you can put it into action, a high level of education is of no use. It’s the same with spiritual issues. You must put them into practice and make them work…

It shocked me when, as a pastor many years ago, and the Lord said to me, “Shut up, I’m tired of listening to you. I want you to leave the church and go out and put into practice all the things that you are telling other people to do!” And the hard point was, He said, “Don’t come back until you have done it!” As a result, I have spent almost 50 years out there, in the wilderness, in the Soviet Union…

It’s only in recent years that I’ve become known in the West, because I’ve now come back and am sharing the testimony of what God has done. It’s not because I’m trying to make something of myself, but I’m trying to obey what God said in the beginning, “Go out and do it. Don’t come back until you’ve done it” – I had to become the witness and the evidence that it works!

When I had the lung cancer 20 years ago in 2002/2003. They offered me an operation and chemotherapy. I said, NO! Because I said to the Lord, “I cannot go back into Russia after having preached all these years there, saying ‘You are a God who works miracles’, and continue to pray for people to be healed – if I myself am not healed!” Don’t talk to God like I do! Because I said, “Lord, I only live to evangelise, if You don’t need me anymore, take me Home. But if You still need me and want me to go back into the former Soviet Union, then I need a miracle so that I can go back as the living evidence of Your Power.” As you know, the Lord healed me, the cancer came out of my mouth. When He healed me of throat cancer in 1964, He literally cut it out and left a scar and to this day, I carry the mark of God in my body.

For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13, NKJV)

How can I grow my faith?

If you want your faith to grow, you’ve got to nurture it, practice it, act on it – and it will grow! That’s what has happened in my life. How did I have the boldness in the prison to pray, “Lord, 2000 years ago when Paul and Silas were in prison, You worked a miracle, broke down the prison walls and set them free. If You could do it for them, You can do it for me, get me out!”?!! I prayed like this, not just because I knew the Scripture, but because, in the back of my mind, it was only 8 years after my throat cancer had been miraculously healed! Because of this I could say, “Lord, You delivered Paul and Silas, You healed my throat cancer – and You can get me out of prison!” You see, my faith grew – experimentally!

But it comes back to this concept of sacrifice. When we get back to this sacrificial worship, your life on the altar, I believe the Glory of God will come back to the Church, just as in 2 Chronicles 5:14, when the Glory of God came down, or in Chapter 7:1, when the Fire came down. If we want the Glory of God, if we want the Fire, we have to be in that position where we can call upon God and make it happen! We’ve got to put our faith to work in our lives. In my life God has filled me with His Fire and His Power – because I have put my faith into practice. What’s the point of the Fire if you don’t put it to work? I want to challenge you. We are going through very difficult times. We need to get back to a new, fresh, Bible-based relationship with God.

I have experienced the Glory of God in my life, several times. The first time was in 1972 when I was locked up in a communist prison. In the desperation when it seemed God wasn’t answering me – when I cried out for food and there was none – when I wanted my family to come and they weren’t allowed to come – when Heaven was like brass shut up against me – one morning in my cell, as I began to pray, the Glory of God came down! It was one of only about three times when I have experienced the Glory of God – it filled the prison cell!

So when they gathered together in Solomon’s new Temple, and they began to worship, the Glory of God appeared. People think they can watch services online or on TV in the comfort of their homes, but that’s not where the Glory of God is. I’m concerned that there are still so many restrictions of public worship. I’m told in some churches you have to register to attend, there’s maybe only one service a week, the number that can go is restricted, and worship is restricted. But here in 2 Chronicles is something without restriction! If only we could get this spirit back into the Church!

Look at Chronicles 7:1! When Solomon had made an end of praying, Fire came down from Heaven and consumed the sacrifices – and again the Glory filled the House! And again the priests could not enter, because of the Glory of the Lord! We really need some evidence and demonstration of the Power and Glory of God! Here, when the children of Israel saw how the Fire came down and the Glory of the Lord filled the House, they bowed down on the ground and worshipped and praised Him for His Goodness, His Power and His Glory!

We have to understand who our God is. People seem to have lost the sense of who our God is, what His Power is. And that our God desires – sacrifice! In the case of Moses, he was to become a ‘sacrifice’ – he had to give his whole life. Elijah – it was the oxen and the wood and the stone. When Solomon built the Temple, the Fire fell – on the sacrifice!

Turn back to Chronicles 6:12ff. Solomon stood before the altar of sacrifice, climbed up on an extension he had built and, in the presence of the congregation, spread out his hands, and kneeled down and began to pray: “O Lord God, there is none like You in Heaven or on earth who keeps promises and shows mercy on Your servants who walk before You with all their heart… When trouble comes because the people have sinned, when they pray towards this place and confess their sin and turn from it, then hear from Heaven… When these things happen and when Your people pray, then hear from Heaven and forgive!” And when Solomon finished praying, Fire came down and consumed the sacrifice! There is such a sense here of sacrifice and of prayer…

In many traditional churches, there is an ‘altar’ at the front – but where is the sacrifice? Yes, I know, Jesus is the Sacrifice. But there is something else very deep spiritually here. Look at Romans 12:1. Paul is saying, “Brethren, I beseech you that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” There is a call to us to become a part of a sacrifice, to make a sacrifice of our lives, in order that the Fire will come. So many people are talking about revival, looking for the Fire to come back in the Church. Yes, we need revival. We need the Fire. But it will only come back when there is a sense of sacrifice. I have to sacrifice. I’ve had to sacrifice personal ambition, personal pleasures, in order that I can find that place before God. Paul says to present your bodies as a living sacrifice – which is your REASONABLE service! So, according to Paul, presenting everything, our lives, on the altar is only ‘reasonable’. It’s what God expects from us. We used to sing in the old days, ‘Lay your life on the altar for God, He’s calling for you today…’ I don’t hear that message these days! Where is that message, ‘Lay your life on the altar for God, He’s calling to you today’? There is a call today for sacrifice.

I’m very concerned about the Church and the future of the Church. Revival Fire will only come when we begin to pray and to sacrifice.

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, (Ephesians 3:20, NIV)

Prayer is not just ‘fellowship with the Lord’. We are encouraged to ASK for what we need and desire. And Paul says, God is able to give you ABOVE what you can ask. Too many Christians are afraid to ask, I don’t know why. I have no hesitation in asking. If there is something I need, I know the Scripture, so I ask! And the Lord answers me! Now if what I am asking for isn’t right, then I don’t get it… But if it’s right – and God is a far better judge than we are if it’s right or wrong – He gives it! I think far too often, we’re afraid to ask. I have a member of staff who was brought up in a very religious home, and she was taught not to ask for anything specifically, not to presume… Yes, it was her father, and yes, he would pray for every member of the family by name, but he didn’t ask… But the Word of God says, Ask, and you will receive! It’s God’s good measure in giving! He says, ask. But it’s ABOVE what we can ask or even think.

Surely like me, you sometimes have wild dreams?! I always have done. Since a teenager I’ve always had wild dreams that weren’t possible. But if that dream, that vision is of God, it WILL happen!!! Before I entered into full-time ministry, I used to dream of being an evangelist, preaching to large numbers of people – but in reality, there was me, in a little tent, in a muddy field, with just a small group of people… But I’m dreaming of a time when I would be preaching to hundreds of people, maybe even a thousand, and I would have choirs and singers…Those were my wild dreams. But look how they’ve been fulfilled – BEYOND my wildest dreams! The tens of thousands, the massed choirs and orchestras… What has actually happened, and is happening in my life today, is something that, back then, I could only dream about! God has fulfilled even my WILDEST dreams!

The Apostle Paul says, “Unto Him who is ABLE to do EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY – ABOVE ALL we can ask. Why do YOU limit your asking, if God is prepared to give you ABOVE what you ask or even think…?! Not to mention your daydreams and visions…

Now look what James, the half-brother of Christ, says, in James 4:2ff, “You lust and you have not, you kill and desire and cannot obtain, you fight and you war, yet you have not, BECAUSE YOU ASK NOT!” Yes, ok, James qualifies it, you ask and receive not, but if you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your lusts – you won’t receive what you want, because you’re asking for what you shouldn’t have and what you don’t need… But he still says, YOU HAVE NOT BECAUSE YOU ASK NOT!

Jesus says, ASK AND YOU WILL RECEIVE! He says very clearly in Mark 11:23-24, you WILL HAVE what YOU SAY! We have to make that confession of faith! In my life, if I don’t ask, if I don’t make that confession of faith, I don’t get what I want, if I don’t in faith confess it!!! And if I confess it, I get it!

I’m trying to encourage you simply to THINK DIFFERENTLY! But don’t just think differently, SPEAK differently, ACT differently. Get your Bible out and read Ephesians 3:20. And then sit down and begin to pray, because He is able to do EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL that we ask or think - according to the Power that works WITHIN US.

The Scripture says that when bad things happen to us – and they do sometimes – what the devil means for harm, God will turn and use to His Glory. There is no question, my time in prison was foreknown by God and transformed my life. When I was arrested, I was an unknown Bible smuggler – because you couldn’t talk about it, even the passengers on my tour bus didn’t know we had 2 tonnes of Bibles hidden in a secret compartment where their luggage was supposed to be... But when I came out, it was to a blaze of publicity, because Harold Wilson used the publicity for his election campaign! And three days later my denomination asked me to speak to 10,000 people in the Royal Albert Hall in London at their Easter Convention. And after that, for two years I travelled the world telling my story and winning thousands to Christ – because everybody wanted to know why the British Prime Minister got me out of prison. I wouldn’t be doing what I am now if I had not been in prison.

When the disciples ask, “Will You restore the Kingdom at this time?” Jesus replies, “No, it’s not for you to know times or seasons – but (v8, this is important) YOU will receive Power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you!” So, before He leaves us, we’re looking at the Promise of the Holy Spirit, at a baptism of Power that comes after receiving the Holy Spirit. In some sections of the Church, I see that there is a lack of Power, and a necessity for the Holy Spirit today! And Jesus continues, “and YOU will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth.” So, the major purpose of the Holy Spirit is that WE become witnesses of Jesus!

The promise of Jesus is that He will return! Acts 1v11, two angels say, “Why are you gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus that you have seen go up will return, in the same manner as you have seen Him go.” So, when Jesus leaves, the promise is – THIS SAME JESUS IS COMING AGAIN. From the beginning to the end, the emphasis is on the Person of Jesus! Who was, and is, and is to come.

What is happening now, in the very words of Jesus, are the signs and the evidence of the times immediately before His Return. God knows what is happening here on earth. He is not distant or remote. The only lasting peace will be when Jesus returns. When we look at the horror of war, it is easy to give into despair. But, JESUS IS COMING BACK! And I believe this must be very soon. I want to tell Christians and non-Christians, if Jesus is coming back to rule the world for one thousand years – as the Bible says – then God, who is in control, KNOWS what is happening here now. When Christ returns to rule the world, there will be PEACE for a thousand years – an end to all fighting, religious and political – ONLY Jesus can do this! Not priests, preachers, evangelists or presidents. This miracle can ONLY happen in and through the Person of Jesus. God is in control, and all these things are leading up to Christ’s Return!

There is Power in the Name of Jesus!

In Acts 3, when Peter and John went up to the Temple at the hour of prayer, and there’s a cripple who’s only asking for money. Peter says, “Look at us, you’re expecting to receive something, but I don’t have silver and gold – but such as I HAVE, in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” It was by the Power and the Authority of the Name of Jesus that Peter, through faith in the Name, took the cripple’s hand and lifted him up! Immediately his feet and ankles received strength, and the cripple was leaping and walking – not as we would walk – but because he was born a cripple – he’d never learnt to walk as a baby! People ran together to get a look, so Peter said in vv12-16, “Why do you marvel, why do you look on us, as if we, by our power or holiness had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, the God of our fathers has glorified His Son Jesus, and it is Jesus who has healed this man, and it is faith in His Name that has made this man strong, whom you see and know…” This crippled man healed is the living evidence of the miraculous Resurrection of Jesus, of the Power of Jesus, of the Gospel of the Name of Jesus! Right from the beginning of the Church, the emphasis is on the Person of Jesus.

How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But You do not listen! (Habakkuk 1:2, NLT)

There are periods in our lives when it seems God is not answering. But that does not mean God is not there, that He’s not listening. My father always used to say, that in the laws of physics, every action has a reaction. Every wave is followed by a trough. And every tough is followed by a wave. He taught me, our emotions and experiences vary. But under pressure, we mustn’t think God is not listening to us. The communist prison was the worst time in my life – yet God used it to work one of the biggest miracles in my life! When I look back, I thank God for that time! Like Habakkuk, there are times when we have to go through the despair, “How long will I cry and You will not hear?!”

But now in Habakkuk 2:1 the prophet says, “I will stand upon my watch, and set me on my tower, and I will watch what God will say to me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” In the midst of his depression and anxiety, Habakkuk resolves, “I will go into my tower. I will watch and wait to see what the answer is. And – what shall I say to Him if I’m reproved?” You know, there are times, spiritually, when God HAS to reprove us. I know. There have been times in my life when I have had to face reproof. And there have been many times, when I have been over-concerned and over-anxious.

Now the prophet writes in v2, “The Lord answered me! He said, ‘Write the Vision, make it plain, that he who reads it may run with it! For the Vision is yet for an appointed time. But at the end it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it shall surely come and will not delay.’” God is saying, “I’m going to show you the Vision (what will happen) – write it down, speak it clearly. And then run with the Vision, because it is for a specific time, it WILL come, at the appointed time. And although it seems to you to delay, it will not fail!” Sometimes in our lives we need the patience to wait for the fulfilment of God’s Promises…

Looking back over more than 70 years of ministry, seeing the difficult times I’ve been through – God has never failed me! There have been ups and there have been downs in my life, believe me! I’ve been in poverty. There was a time when I was newly married with twin girls, I was evanglising, and I had no money – we lived for a week on mushrooms which someone gave us! But God never fails!

Oh yes, there are times like Habakkuk when I’m saying, “O Lord, how long shall and I cry, and how long will You not hear?” That happened to me in a communist prison, 50 years ago, in 1972, when I was saying, “O God, here I am, locked up in a prison, starving, hardly any food, not allowed out of my prison cell!” In the midst of all this, one morning God answered when I was alone in my cell, crying out in desperation that I couldn’t pray anymore… Suddenly it seemed as if the whole roof of the prison was blown off. I could feel the angels coming down, I could see the Glory and the Fire and the Power. I jumped up, singing at the top of my voice that famous song, ‘Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee, how great Thou art!’ But where did I see this breakthrough? In the distress and discomfort of a prison cell. I haven’t had an experience like that anywhere else!

But this is God! And like Habakkuk, we’ve got to seek for a fresh Vision, we’ve got to seek that God would revive us, awaken us. Joel is full of this, 2:21ff, “Fear not O land, be glad, rejoice, the Lord WILL do GREAT THINGS! Don’t be afraid… Be glad, rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you the former rain moderately – and He will cause to come down for you the former and the latter rain. The floors will be full of wheat and the vats will overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years the locusts have eaten… And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, that I am the Lord your God and none else, and My people shall never be ashamed!” – In my darkest hours in the prison, that’s what the Lord brought to me: ‘Those who trust in God will never be ashamed!’

I want to remind you. Whatever the circumstances, whatever the difficulties we may be going through, we shall never be ashamed of our faith and our trust in God, and in His Power and in what He is going to do…

Somebody asked me, “How can I grow my faith?” How do you grow anything? By feeding it and practising it. I’m hopeless at cooking, but how do you become a good cook, a chef? It’s by putting into practice what you have learnt. No, not everybody will make a good cook, but we can all learn the basics! I know how to turn an oven on and use the microwave, but if you want to be a good cook, you’ve got to work at it! If you want to grow faith, you do it by putting it into practice, by experience, by using it, by working with it. I like driving, I’m a reasonably good driver, but learner drivers, who are just starting out, learn by practice! In order to pass the test, you practice. It’s the same with faith. Faith will only work if you put it to work! In my life, my faith has grown. This is why, aged nearly 90, my testimony is so important! I’ve had more than 70 years of ministry. When I look back on the early days, my evangelism was basic. But I put it to work!

When I had the lung cancer 20 years ago in 2002/2003. They offered me an operation and chemotherapy. I said, NO! Because I said to the Lord, “I cannot go back into Russia after having preached all these years there, saying ‘You are a God who works miracles’, and continue to pray for people to be healed – if I myself am not healed!” Don’t talk to God like I do! Because I said, “Lord, I only live to evangelise, if You don’t need me anymore, take me Home. But if You still need me and want me to go back into the former Soviet Union, then I need a miracle so that I can go back as the living evidence of Your Power.” As you know, the Lord healed me, the cancer came out of my mouth. When He healed me of throat cancer in 1964, He literally cut it out and left a scar and to this day, I carry the mark of God in my body.

But it comes back to this concept of sacrifice. When we get back to this sacrificial worship, your life on the altar, I believe the Glory of God will come back to the Church, just as in 2 Chronicles 5:14, when the Glory of God came down, or in Chapter 7:1, when the Fire came down. If we want the Glory of God, if we want the Fire, we have to be in that position where we can call upon God and make it happen! We’ve got to put our faith to work in our lives. In my life God has filled me with His Fire and His Power – because I have put my faith into practice. What’s the point of the Fire if you don’t put it to work?

I’ve always been impressed by the crossing of the Red Sea, and by the walls of Jericho falling down. What I hadn’t put into context is that the people of Jericho were about to see the people of Israel crossing the Jordan! In Joshua 3, Joshua says to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, because tomorrow God will do wonders among you.” And to the priests he said, “Take up the Ark of the Covenant and pass over.” They took up the Ark and went ahead. And the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.” The greatest miracle with Moses was the crossing of the Red Sea, now Joshua, in v10, is prophesying another miracle saying, “Hereby you will know that the Lord God is among you and He will not fail to drive out before you all the inhabitants of the Land, behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord is passing over before you into Jordan.”

As the feet of the priests carrying the Ark dipped into the water (for the Jordan overflows its banks all the time of harvest), the waters stood up in a heap… Believe me, the river Jordan was much fuller in those times than it is now, and the Dead Sea into which Jordan flows was much higher then. These days, fresh water is being siphoned out of the Jordan to supply the needs of the dry Middle East countries, so that both the river and the Sea are drying up. In Biblical times the Jordan was much bigger, and in the time of harvest, was in flood. This was not just a matter of coming to a small trickling river and crossing over, it’s a fast-flowing tide.

As soon as the priests stepped into the flood, the waters stood up in a heap very far from the city, and the waters that flowed down to the Sea failed and were cut off, so that the priests stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the riverbed, and all Israel passed over towards Jericho!

Just as with Moses the greatest miracle was the crossing of the Red Sea – (and the whole might of the Egyptian army was destroyed as the waters closed back over them) – here we have a very similar miracle, in that not just Jericho, but the Jordan stood between Israel and the whole Promised Land. I had always thought that it was Jericho that was the problem. But how do you get two million people, with all their sheep and cattle, and their little children, across this fast-flowing river? But God worked the same miracle as He did for Moses and held up the water so that they crossed over on dry land!

So great was the miracle, Joshua commands twelve men, one from each tribe, to take a stone out of the river bed, and place them on the other side as a memorial; in the future, when their children asked, what are these stones, they were to say, they are a reminder that God was with us, that He opened the waters of the Jordan as He did the Red Sea, and we crossed over on dry land – so that all the people of the earth might know the Hand of the Lord, that He is mighty, and so that you would fear Him for ever. Joshua 4.

I have learnt through 70 years of ministry, that God has Power, but there is something greater, there is an authority which He has given to us. Jesus said in Luke 10.19, 'I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.' Are you living in this authority? When I was evangelising in Communist Eastern Europe, I would see how the Holy Spirit would change the hearts of these communist leaders and give us freedom to evangelise! Why did this happen? Because the whole earth must be filled with the Glory of God! Do you want to know my motivation is? Yes, it is the Holy Spirit, but I yearn to see the Glory of God, here, on earth. And I am determined to see this Glory!

We must live in the Power of the Holy Spirit! Until I see Jesus face-to-face, I shall keep reminding the Holy Spirit to fill me with Power, to get the job done! What happened on the Day of Pentecost is only a beginning. And what I am determined to see through the Power of the Holy Spirit is something greater than what happened at Pentecost.

In Hebrews 11, the famous chapter on faith, the writer is only refers to the Old Testament, before the advent of Christ, before the advent of the Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh. Now this Power is released into the Church! That’s the challenge! God has ALREADY released that Power into the Church, INTO YOU – through the Holy Spirit! That’s the meaning of Pentecost.

What we need today is FIRE to come down! We often say of people who are very enthusiastic that they are ‘fiery’! Come on! We need to have some of that FIRE that came on the first Day of Pentecost! Look at Acts 4:33, ‘With GREAT POWER the apostles witnessed to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus!’ Look, these men were not educated, nor religious – their ONLY Power and Authority was the Holy Spirit and Jesus! We’ve got to get away from the trappings of religion – we’re surrounded by the trappings of religion – they’re worthless and meaningless. We need Jesus and the Power of the Holy Spirit. We need a renewal of this experience in the Church!

This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah… (Matthew 8:17)

You and I are living in fulfilled prophecy. When we read the Gospels, so much of what Jesus did was to fulfil the words of the prophets. I believe that when God gives a prophecy, it is our responsibility to fulfil it. I see myself as fulfilling, in part, Hudson Taylor's prophecy that the last great revival will begin in Russia. One prophecy which motivates me enormously is from Joel 2.23, 'Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.' We are living in the days of the later rain of the Spirit. I have spent my life seeking a second Pentecost. I want more of the Holy Spirit. I have experienced the power of God in my life! Not some emotional experience in a conference, but step by step walking closer to God – my teenage cry for fire, the cancer, the prison – and many other problems and miracles. What will it be next time, what will happen this year? I still don’t have enough power, still not satisfied that God has answered me fully, what will it be next? All I know is that it is step by step by step, and I have not reached the end of the road yet!

The unforgiveable sin and End-Time prophecy

There is only one unforgivable sin. As a child I struggled to understand what this was. So I asked my father, who was a great preacher, and he responded that it is when you attribute the works of the Holy Spirit to the devil. Jesus said, 'All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men' (Matthew 12.31). - And it was this realisation which led me to realise how prophetic the situation in Europe is: as so much of what went wrong in Germany, began after the Berlin Declaration in 1909, which declared that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was demonic.

In the Last Days, God will pour out His Spirit on all flesh! We’re living in the Last Days. Expect the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, pray for it! And when you pray, act as if you’ve got it! How will you know you’ve received this empowerment? ‘These signs will follow those who believe; In My Name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.’ (Mark 16:17-18, KJV.)

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is life transforming! When I was baptised in the Holy Spirit, there were others with me who were baptised at the same time – but where was the change in their life? For me it was an explosion! Of Power! BUT – the first day after, I was in the church in a prayer meeting, everyone there knew I had received the Holy Spirit... There had to be a demonstration, evidence. I didn’t ‘feel’ anything. But I HAD to put the thing into action. And I began to pray in tongues and prophesy – by faith! You know the Word, you study the Word – but we HAVE to put it into action! That’s what I have done my whole life!

I have turned the Word of God into reality. The confirmation is Joel 2:32, “And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be delivered!” There is salvation, this is God’s Word! I’m believing for you, for your nations. Under communism they believed they would destroy Christianity. But they didn’t! Through the persecution, through the suffering has come a revival which has swept those nations. When you stand in faith with me, together we will see that ‘whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord WILL be delivered’! Delivered from sickness, delivered from fear, from bondage – delivered from sin to become the children of God!

There is a lot to be done. We have to work hard. Because after you and I have done this, after you have fulfilled Joel Chapter 2, then we can look at Chapter 3. In Joel 3:2, God says, “I will gather all nations and bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and there I will plead with them for My people and My heritage Israel!” Now that’s the Return of Christ, when the nations gather in the valley of Jehoshaphat, the valley of ‘Decision’, that valley between the Golden Gate and the Mount of Olives – and Jesus comes back to the Mount of Olives, enters Jerusalem through the Golden Gate – at that moment, the nations will be gathered in the valley of Decision! They will make a decision to serve God or reject Him! I’m challenging YOU: YOUR nation has to make a decision, to serve God or reject Him. That is the challenge we are facing: to turn our nations from destruction, to face and to know the Living God.

God is your Hope, God is your Strength. Come on! Don’t be afraid. With God, nothing is impossible! Let’s pray, ask for a gift of faith to believe that your nation can be delivered, that your people shall be saved, before Christ returns as Messiah. O God, give us boldness, give us courage, and give us faith to do it in Jesus’ Name!

Open your Bible to Joel 2:21, where it says, ‘Fear not, O land’ – whichever country you are from – let your nation not be afraid, but be glad!!! Rejoice!!! Because the Lord is going to do great things!

Don’t look at the past, don’t be afraid of the past. People are amazed at the energy and strength that I have at my age, 89! But I’m not looking at the past. I’m looking at the future and to the greater things, the greater miracles God is going to do in the future! I’ve just seen powerful miracles in Kiev, in June 2021, where every religious group and even the government accepts our National Day of Prayer for Ukraine – and they say it’s changed the whole character of the nation! But I’m looking forward, that’s already in the past. I’m looking forward to what God is going to do next year, it will be greater!

When I had lung cancer in 2002/2003, I refused all medical treatment. I said to the Lord, “Look, I’m 70, if my ministry is finished, take me Home. I would rather be in Heaven than down here.” That’s what the Apostle Paul said, to live is Christ, but to die is gain! “But if my job isn’t finished, I will not go back into the former Soviet Union countries where my ministry is, and say, ‘I’ve had chemotherapy, I’ve had my lung removed.’ I will not go back unless You heal me and put the evidence in front of everybody.” So God HAD to heal me! But, I’ve realised – these last 18 years since my miraculous healing from lung cancer have been the most productive and powerful years of my whole life!

I want to encourage you with this. I’m looking forward to what God is going to do! I want to build up your faith in the Power of God! The Scriptures show, God will never, ever be defeated. So, fear not, wherever you are, don’t be afraid – be glad and rejoice, because the Lord is going to do great things! I’m prophesying over you, every one of you, that God hasn’t really started yet, God is going to do the BIG THINGS in the coming days! I want to see it! I want to be part of it!

God is going to give you a restoration. Joel 2 verse 26, “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the Name of the Lord your God who has dealt wondrously with you – AND MY PEOPLE SHALL NEVER BE ASHAMED!” I have stood on this verse so many times in my ministry – if we put our trust in Him, if we demonstrate our faith in Him – WE WILL NEVER BE ASHAMED! GOD WILL NEVER FAIL TO KEEP HIS PROMISES.

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him. (Acts 10:38, KJV)

I love to see God heal people that the doctors cannot help! To me, the real miracles of healing are when doctors have tried to heal and failed, then God takes over and by a miracle does what the most expert of doctors cannot do. I have seen many people healed of broken bones and the effects of accidents, especially young people, and many other young ones born blind, deaf, crippled, where medical science can do nothing.

I love to tell of the 22 year old girl in Australia who was born with a spinal deformity and grew instantly 10 cm taller. And the young man in East Germany who had steel pins inserted into his right hip, knee and ankle, because of a motor accident – the miracle was, God literally melted the steel pins and he could kneel and squat and bend his joints freely! And the 22 year old boy in a Russian hospital, dying from the effects of drug abuse, Aids and gangrene in his right leg. They wanted to amputate his leg above the knee, but I knew he would die, because the Aids had damaged his immune system. I told him not to have the operation, that God would heal him. I said, “When I come to Perm next time, you and I will stand on the platform together and give glory to God for your healing!” Six months later I was back in Perm, holding a crusade live on TV to the whole region. On the first night I made an appeal to Anton via the TV broadcast to come and tell about his healing. Sure enough, on the next night, Anton was there on the platform with me to give glory to God, just as I had told him he would! Anton had believed, refused the operation, and walked out of the hospital – healed! Now he is healed of Aids, married, has children, and went to Bible school to train to be an evangelist like me!

Let me remind you that I have experienced two outstanding personal miracles of healing from cancer, both confirmed medically. In 1964 I was healed of cancer on my vocal chord and in 2003, healed of cancer in my right lung!

Physical healing is an integral part of the atonement of Christ. It has been bought for us together with our salvation, through Christ’s suffering and death. Isaiah 53 states clearly: “He was wounded for our transgressions…And with His stripes we are healed.” We believe that our sin was taken away and the penalty was paid by Christ’s suffering and death. We do not question our salvation, which is by faith in the finished work of Christ’s atonement. However the Bible clearly states that not only our sin but also our sickness was borne by Him. We need to apply the same level of faith to our healing from sickness as we do to our salvation from sin.

My father was a man of prayer. The reason I am an evangelist today is because of his praying. Every morning, as a boy, I would hear my father praying in the kitchen. I knew he was praying for me! His praying changed my life! I want to encourage praying parents with this: my ministry today, is God's answer to my father's prayers, all those years ago. This is the Power of God through prayer: to change, to heal, and forgive.

Prayer is not just a repetition of words or reading from a book. When you present your requests in prayer to God, ask in FAITH! Don’t waver in what you are asking for: be confident and assured that when you pray in accordance with God’s Will – you will get what you ask!

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His Will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him. (1 John 5:14-15, NIV)

My life, my every moment, my destiny - it’s all in Your Hands. So I know You can deliver me… (Psalm 31:15, TPT)

I carry in my body the mark of God's Hand! So often, the reality of our faith is only when it is put to the test and we don’t back off. Somebody said to me recently about my healing from throat cancer in the 1960s, "You put your life on the line! If your faith wasn't going to work, you were going to die!" But God didn't fail me. And when the doctors examined me, they said, "Somebody has cut the cancer out with a knife. We can see the scar tissue. Tell us the name of the doctor and the hospital!" I said simply, His Name is Jesus! The reality and the evidence of my faith was that there was visible evidence that someone had actually cut out the cancer – and without destroying my vocal cords. The doctors were amazed because they knew that they had not done it. Without question, the evidence was there, only God could have done it! Only the actual Hand of God. If the cancer had just disappeared, there would have been no scar, no physical evidence!

The miracle was unusual in that the cancer did not just disappear, it was literally cut out by the Hand of God, there still is a permanent physical evidence in my body – the scar where it was cut out! When I had lung cancer in 2003, the cancer was confirmed by a series of medical checks, first by X‐ray, then a camera down my lungs under anaesthetic and finally by CT‐ scan. I prayed for three months before the miracle happened – I coughed the whole cancer up from my chest, it physically came out onto the bed I was lying on. I was staying in my office in Germany – they had to burn the bed afterwards – it was soaked through!

YOU can live in the miraculous – YOU can command every mountain to move! We need men and women on Fire with the Power of God, with the faith to believe that we serve a God of miracles! I HAVE to see – I declare I WILL see – bigger miracles tomorrow than anything I have ever seen in the past!

We talk about faith, we have to have faith! I laugh, because my wife used to complain that I jumped into bed. But that was an ‘act of faith’ that the bed wouldn’t collapse! We all have to use an element of faith. If you get in a car and somebody else is driving it, you need faith! Faith in its simplistic sense is part of everyday life! It’s the trust you have. You trust people, you have to trust your doctor, the police, your government – though often they fail us – they are only human. But if faith is trust, faith in God is faith in the unfailing God!

Come on! Put your faith to the test, prove it!

The heavens declare the Glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His Hands. (Psalm 19:1, NIV)

Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, (Mark 1:41, NKJV)

As believers, when we wish one another a ‘Happy New Year’, it’s not just about happiness, but confidence and trust in God. I want us to have a confidence and a hope for this new year. I want to share this word with you from Hebrews 10.35, “Cast not away your confidence which has great recompense of reward.”

In 2022 we are entering an unknown. I often quote at the start of a new year the Christmas message spoken by King George VI to the British people. At the suggestion of the then Princess Elizabeth, he quoted Minnie Louise Haskins, ‘I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light, and safer than a known way.”’ If the King could say that, facing the darkest days of the War, I want to say to you, if we want a light to walk safely into this new year, put you hand into the Hand of God, because that will be better than any light and safer than any known way!

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:105, NKJV)

As Hebrews 10:23 says, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, because God is faithful who promised! Our faith is based on the faithfulness of God. 2022 is ‘unknown’ and we need that confidence that God is in control. He is! God has foreseen the end from the beginning! When He created the world, He saw the end. Nothing takes Him by surprise. Politicians are all the time wavering and switching. But God is consistent, and faithful to His Promises. He always does what He says. That’s why Hebrews 10:35 says, cast not away your confidence!

But, as v36 says, you need patience, so that, after you have done the Will of God, you may receive the Promise. You see, we’re living a life ‘in faith’, according to the Will of God, which will end up in the Kingdom!

Don’t let fear destroy or disturb your life. Don’t cast away your confidence. Confidence is trust. Confidence is the knowledge that God will do what He said. I want you to move into 2022 with confidence that God is in control. I’m confident that this will be the best year of my life. I want you to see that your faith is in the Rock which is Christ, a solid foundation, not shifting sands. We move into 2022 with a positive, solid foundation.

Hebrews 11:8 says, ‘By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out to a place which he would later receive as an inheritance, obeyed, though he did not know where he was going!’ Do you understand the confidence that we need to have in God? Confidence in His Word, confidence that God is in control, that the Bible prophesies the future more accurately than any scientist or any politician can. God’s Word is true and the only Rock on which we can build our trust, our faith and our confidence.

This is my word to you for 2022. Forget the problems of the past, forget the glories. Forget the joys, the pain, and let’s press forward into the future with confidence in God.

I want to pray for you: Father, let us not look at the past, except to give You glory – we want to look at the future! I pray for those of us who are in trepidation, in fear of an unknown future. I pray that we will do even as King George VI said, and go out into the unknown and the darkness, and put our hand into the Hand of God - and this shall be better than a light and safer than a known way. What more can You give us, O God, than a Hand and a Light to take us into the unknown?! We commit ourselves into Your Hand and into the safety of Your Light, Your Blessing and Your Control. Amen.

He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (John 1:23)

Just as John the Baptist prepared the Way of the Lord, so I sense that WE have to prepare the Way for His Second Coming. I sense that responsibility. I see this as essential in my ministry, not just simple evangelism, but we HAVE to fulfil the role of John the Baptist – and prepare for His Coming again. Aged nearly 90, I’m not slowing down, I’m still working, incredibly busy, God is working, and I’m going to continue – 2022 is going to be the busiest year of my life!

I am moved when I read Mark 1.1, simply, “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” But continues in v2, “As it is written in the prophets, I send a messenger before Your Face, who will prepare Your Way before You, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the Way of the Lord.’” This is a reference to John the Baptist. There HAD to come someone before Christ to prepare the Way… John the Baptist HAD to come to make the announcement, to make the revelation that this Child that was born IS the Messiah. John HAD to prepare the Way. But we are now looking at the Second Coming of Messiah – we HAVE to prepare the Way by fulfilling the Great Commission.

You shall call Him Emmanuel, God with us! (Matthew 1:23)

To me, Jesus is with me all the time. I have children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren – we remember their birthdays – but the joy is not just their birth, but that they are living with me, living near me, one of my daughters and one of my granddaughters work with me in my office. It’s an ongoing relationship. We have an ongoing relationship with Jesus. We’re not trying to get along without Him. No! We do it WITH HIM. I live with Jesus, I work with Him, I talk to Him all the time, He is the Head of my ministry, He inspires me, instructs me. HE’S WITH ME! Not as a baby at Christmas. He’s with me as Lord and Master, Ruler, King – King of kings and Lord of lords. I declare this, because this is what He is to me! A living reality. He has not left us, He is present with us all the time. That’s why He promised us the Holy Spirit. He was present with Christ in Creation and in His birth. And I say to Him, “Holy Spirit, You know Jesus better than I do, better than any of us, You were with Him and in Him!” And through the Holy Spirit I have learnt so much more about Jesus. Jesus, the Man who came, the Son of God who came – the fulfilment of Prophecy – in visible, tangible form!

This means that through the Holy Spirit we can receive ALL the Power, ALL the Glory that was in Christ and we can receive it NOW! Through the Holy Spirit, we don’t have to wait! This is how we can do the same works Jesus did!

'That [Spirit] is the guarantee of our inheritance [the firstfruits, the pledge and foretaste, the down payment on our heritage], in anticipation of its full redemption and our acquiring [complete] possession of it—to the praise of His glory.' (Ephesians 1.14, Amplified Bible)

You see, if the Holy Spirit is the down payment on our Inheritance, it works like this: if you want to buy a car, most of us don’t normally pay for it outright, you pay a deposit, you buy the car on finance, over a number of years! In fact In the old days under communism, you paid every month out of your wages – it could, and usually did, take at least 20 years, but you didn’t get the car, or even see it until after you had paid the full amount, after 20 years! But here in the West, you go into the car showroom, you see that beautiful, shiny car, you put down a deposit – and you can drive it straight out of the showroom! Literally, as they say, ‘pedal to the metal’, you’re driving it, enjoying it – it’s yours to enjoy fully, without limit, although you only made a down payment! I want you to understand what Paul is saying spiritually! We’ve only got the down payment, but the Holy Spirit is that foretaste, that deposit, which enables us to live in ALL the Glory and Power of God, now!

Put it another way. The house that I live in I built in 1965, but I had to borrow the money to pay for it over a period of more than 20 years! And I think I extended the payments even after that… probably in the end it took me 30 years to actually pay for the house. But of course, when I made the down payment, I got the key! So, I opened the front door and I stood in the hallway... Is that where I stopped? Or in the kitchen? No! I took possession of the whole house, every room, the heating, the lighting, everything! Even though I had only made a down payment! Do you understand – only the down payment!!!

This is an illustration of what happens when we receive the Holy Spirit! He’s our down payment, the key to open the door so that we can go in to ALL the Power and the Glory of the Holy Spirit, ALL the Power of God, to possess it and enjoy it. We don’t stay in that one room, so that we can just boil a kettle and drink tea and nothing more – that ‘house’ is now ours, we’re living in it, enjoying every room, every part of it! So that, from that down payment, the Holy Spirit is that key which unlocks the whole! This is what Paul is emphasising here with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is literally that down payment, so that now we can enter in – to the whole amazing power which we ‘inherit’ from Jesus Himself!

We have become His poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny He has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it! (Ephesians 2:10, TPT)

Jesus is coming soon! This has been my motivation throughout my entire life. I believe God has a plan for our lives, a purpose to fulfil. We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which He prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians teaches that God chose us before the foundation of the world to be holy and pleasing in His sight. Paul introduces this theme in his letter to the Ephesians verse 1:3, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ’! We don’t have to wait until we get into the Kingdom of God to become ‘seated in Heavenly places’. The most important part of Jesus’ whole teaching was the Kingdom of God. - We need to be reminded that the message of Jesus was focused on HIS Coming Kingdom, and all the blessings of that Kingdom! Not the kingdoms of this world! Jesus said, “My Kingdom is NOT of this world!” It’s a heavenly Kingdom. And Paul is reminding us that God has already blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, while we are still down here! As we experience the blessing and the love of Jesus through our relationship with Him in our hearts, that translates us into a spiritual, heavenly place – even while we’re still here!

We read on in v4, God chose us in Christ – before the foundation of the world! That we should be holy before Him in love, having predestined us to be adopted by Jesus Christ, as children of God Himself, according to the good pleasure of His Will. This is remarkable! We were chosen BEFORE the world began! Jesus Himself is referred to as the ‘Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world’! 1 Peter 1:18‐20, Revelation 13:8. Only God, as a Heavenly Father, could make a way of escape from sin, BEFORE we commit the offence! It gives me such a sense of joy and blessing! This is a new aspect of God’s foreknowledge, BEFORE we sinned, the way of salvation was made!

BEFORE I was put in prison in 1972 by the communists, BEFORE that happened, God had ALREADY made the way of escape! We have to understand the foreknowledge of God! BEFORE we were born, when we were in our mother’s womb, God has foreordained a plan and a purpose for our lives! That we should be ‘holy and without blame before Him in love’!

Nothing happens by accident, by chance. To us, maybe, what’s going on is an accident or by chance. Maybe we don’t understand why. But God does. Psalm 139 verse 16 says in The Message paraphrase, ‘Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.’

This inheritance is not a dream for the future. You have that inheritance now! - You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing; what does this mean? You are blessed with peace and health. God says you are ‘alive and well, fully restored’ (Psalm 30.3 TPT). The Scripture tells us who you are: it doesn’t matter your nationality, you have by called and chosen of God. My birth was not an accident; being put in prison was not an accident; having cancer twice was not an accident; why I want to the Soviet Union 60 years ago, was not an accident; my steps are ordered of the Lord. God has made a choice and a decision - you and I are part of that choice and decision. God needs you. Jesus said, ‘You have not chosen me, I chose you!’

'Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you' (Luke 10.19, KJV).

Many people talk about ‘spiritual warfare’. To me this is the ability to come before the Lord in prayer, receive power, then get out there where the action is. In order to do this, we need to know who we are in Christ and what authority and power we have. If we are going to respond to the enormous challenge which is facing us today, we need less words and more action. Surely anyone who actually realises that they have power and authority and who also knows their God is going to get out and DO IT.

We have a tremendous authority here on earth which comes from Christ through His Word: in two places we can find evidence. First, Jesus called twelve disciples in Luke 9 and then seventy in Luke 10. His command to them was simple, ‘Boys, no one knows who I am, so before I come, go into all the towns and villages and in My name, preach the Gospel, heal the sick – so that when I come, they will know who I am.’ Notice that here, in the command to the evangelists, He does not say ‘PRAY’ for the sick, simply ‘HEAL THEM!’ This requires AUTHORITY, and is confirmed by the report these evangelists gave when they returned. They reported that ‘even the demons are SUBJECT to us!’ Why? Because they had the authority and used it!

In Matthew 8, a centurion beseeched Jesus for his servant lying at home, sick of the palsy. He simply said, ‘I ALSO am a man under authority,’ – thus recognising Christ’s authority – ‘just speak the word!’ Once we accept the authority given us we can also become ‘men under authority’.

Further confirmation of our authority comes in the promise of Jesus, ‘These things shall you do and greater, because I go to my Father’ (John 14:12); and Acts 1:8, ‘You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you!’ Our power with God is through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and through our relationship with God in prayer following that experience.

People today say, I cannot see God. Where is He? But whenever I preach the Gospel I say, ‘I will PROVE to you that God is here, because God will work MIRACLES!’

When God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, He said, ‘I have seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, I’ve heard their cry. I know their sorrows.’ So many people do not understand who God is. He is not just a great Being in Heaven. If unbelieving people try to draw pictures of God, often they liken Him to an old man with a beard. But God is not an old man, nor does He look like you, He can only be recognised by His actions! And God is not just in Heaven, He is everywhere, in Israel, in England, in America, in Bulgaria...

Now, how did Moses know that he was talking with God? He saw a burning tree. When I preach the Gospel, you will not see a burning tree, but you WILL see the power of God! God said to Moses, ‘I have heard your prayers, I’ve heard your cry.’ But you say, I don’t know how to pray. God not only hears but sees the cries of your heart! God knows your pain; God knows your weakness. God hears the person who is crippled with arthritis, the drug addict. God does not condemn; He hears their cry. He WANTS to answer with a fiery demonstration.

We need to have a spiritual awakening – we need a new power from God – the power of the Holy Spirit in us today, as on the Day of Pentecost – but the key which will release that power into our lives now, is a new level of faith in Jesus Christ!

When Jesus’ disciples failed to cast out the demon from the epileptic boy and then asked him why, He rebuked them for their unbelief, ‘If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove’, AND AFTER IT DOES, ‘nothing will be impossible to you!’ (Matthew 17:20). What a challenge – while I was preaching this, God showed me the hidden key!

Unbelief brings failure...

Jesus rebuked His disciples because they did not have the faith to do what they had to do – they had been given a specific job and when they were left to do it, they failed! Jesus spoke to them very strongly. Because they knew that they had failed publicly and He had rebuked them openly, they came to Him privately to ask what had gone wrong, in those immortal words, ‘Why?’ – ‘Why could we not cast out this spirit and heal the boy?’

...faith is the KEY

There is something hidden here. Yes, Jesus said in answer to their question, ‘If you had faith... you could move mountains.’ But the real secret of power is hidden. We get stuck at the thought that mortal man could move anything bigger than himself! We agonise over the reality of moving that mountain – call our friends to stand with us in believing prayer – because this mountain is proving harder than we thought to move. Then when it happens – that miracle, that healing, or financial solution – we become so excited (as I experienced so many times personally), that we drop the real key down the drain in our excitement!

The disciples had missed the opportunity of releasing the greatest power into their lives – Jesus was putting a key in their hands, and if they would only use this key, their lives would never be the same again!

Of all the gifts of God, FAITH is the greatest – it’s the KEY to the ‘normal’ Christian life! There are nine gifts which you only receive after you have been baptised in the Holy Spirit (have you received... since you believed?): three VOCAL gifts, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, and prophecy; there are three INTELLECTUAL gifts, the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and the discerning of spirits; and there are three PRACTICAL gifts – I love the practical gifts – healing, working of miracles, and the gift of faith, 1 Corinthians 12. These are the normal every-day gifts of the Holy Spirit to the believer. By the same power with which you speak in tongues, you also heal the sick and work miracles! Paul asks, does everybody work miracles? What a challenge! Does every church work miracles? But this is the NORMAL Christian life! Cry out to God that He will fill you with the Holy Ghost and power!

Faith is what you DO!

Are you living a normal Christian life? Do you have the gift of faith? This is NOT an intellectual gift. Faith is nothing to do with your education OR with what you think – it’s what you DO. Faith is ACTION. Hebrews 11:1 describes faith as SUBSTANCE and EVIDENCE, something solid. It’s not something intellectual, it’s the most PRACTICAL gift God can give.

The challenge today is to repent. If there is no repentance, no transformation you don’t have Christ. That’s why we have believers’ water baptism by full immersion – you are buried with Christ through baptism, and you are born again into the Kingdom of God! In Acts 17, Paul and Silas continue their missionary journey and come to Thessalonica, where Paul begins discussing and debating with the Jews in the synagogue. He’s preaching Christ, who suffered, died – and rose from the dead. The teaching of the New Testament is centred on the resurrection and our need of repentance! - ‘Repent and be baptised for the remission of sins.’

“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31, NKJV)

When Paul preached Jesus and the resurrection in Acts 17, it was regarded as strange… In disputing with the Jews and Greeks, the contentious issue was the resurrection. Are we today as Christians certain and positive in our own minds of the resurrection, the fact that we are literally going to be bodily resurrected from the dead?! It disturbs me to watch films where they show a funeral service; to me, it looks as if the priest is deceiving the people. Because here in the film is an unbeliever, a sinner, being laid to rest, and to comfort the people, the priest recites the words, ‘…in sure and certain hope of the resurrection…’ Oh yes, we are all going to be resurrected, but those who don’t know Christ will be resurrected to damnation.

So the philosophers take Paul to the Areopagus (Mars Hill) saying, “We want to know what this new doctrine is that you are speaking of, because you are bringing strange things to us.” V21 tells us that the Athenians and all the visitors to the city spent their time in nothing else but in telling or hearing different new things. So Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, “You men of Athens, I see that in all things you are too superstitious.”

Three years ago when I went to Athens for a time of prayer. I hadn’t been there for many years, not since my frequent visits many years ago when I had a tour company and was Bible smuggling. Now I was staying close to the centre, where Paul stood preaching from Mars Hill looking up at the Acropolis, a rocky outcrop above the city where they had built the Parthenon and many other prominent temples.

And it was looking up at the Acropolis, standing in the midst of mars Hill, that Paul said, vv23ff, “As I passed by and saw your devotions, I saw an altar TO THE UNKNOWN GOD – I want to declare Him to you.” On the Acropolis they had altars to ‘99 gods’ – gods of war, of fertility, you name it, they had a god for it – they were so superstitious that they created an altar dedicated to the ‘Unknown God’ for fear of offending whoever he might be! Even today, there is the same close link between religion and superstition. In the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, if people are afraid, they cross themselves. In fact, where our Bible says ‘repent and be baptised’, in the Russian Bible it’s written, ‘repent and cross yourself’ –this is the word they use for baptism, though the original Greek word is clear, immersion! There is so much superstition attached to religion, because to so many people the Truth is unknown. We NEED to know the Truth!

That’s why Paul says here, “I found this altar TO THE UNKNOWN GOD – whom you worship in ignorance. I want to declare this God to you! God who made the world, is the Lord of Heaven and earth – He doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He worshipped with men’s hands, seeing that He gives life and breath to all things, and has made of one blood all nations and men to dwell on the face of the earth, and has determined the times and the bounds of their habitation.” In other words, there is only ONE true God!

Paul says, God has made all men of one blood and determined the times and bounds of their habitation - why? That they might seek the Lord, perhaps reach out for Him and might find Him, because He’s never far from each one of us! Verse 27. Paul is saying, God is here, you don’t need these statues, you don’t need to light candles, you don’t need to wear crosses, you don’t need the symbolism and the ceremonies – we need the reality of Jesus who is alive and dwells with us. Jesus lives in me!

I will never forget my first visit to New York when I went to meet with David Wilkerson who wrote the ‘Cross and the Switchblade”, and pioneered the drug rehab programme. One of those young lads, coming out of drugs, cold turkey, had written on the wall, “I know Jesus is alive because I talked to Him this morning.” That’s the reality. We’ve got to get away from the symbolism and ceremonial and come back to the reality that Jesus rose from the dead, and we who believe in Him, have died to self, we’re born again in Him – and we will rise with Him! Do you understand the importance of resurrection?

Paul continues in v28, In Him (Christ), we live and move and have our being. We are His offspring. V29, therefore since we are God’s offspring (His children), we ought not to think that God is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by any man’s image… In the Church there is too much emphasis on the images and symbols, whatever they are. God is not ‘made by man’. In times past, v30, God overlooked, turned a blind eye to such ignorance, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent, because, v31, He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world.

The challenge today is of a real repentance. If there is no repentance, you don’t have Christ. You have to repent, be converted, changed, you have to die to the old – that’s why we have believers’ water baptism by full immersion – you die, you are buried in Christ, and you are born again into the Kingdom of God! We worship a living God who is alive, whom we can contact – I talk to Him every day, all the time, because He’s my friend – I walk with Him, I talk with Him. There’s an old song they don’t sing anymore which goes like this: ‘I go to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses, and the Voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses. And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known!’

Let’s get back to the reality of what Paul knew! God bless you!

The Apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Thessalonians 5v5, “You are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night, not of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep (in ignorance) as others do but let us watch (in faith)! Those who sleep, sleep in the night, and those that are drunk are drunk in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that, whether we wake (whether we are alive), or sleep (in the sleep of death), we will be TOGETHER with Him”!

This is a strong exhortation, to those of us who are still alive, to be ready! That’s why Jesus uses the illustration of the five wise and five foolish virgins… All ten are waiting at the midnight hour for the coming of the bridegroom. How is it that only five are ready and go in? They had oil in their lamps. The other five had run out, they had to go to the supermarket to get some more, and by the time they got back, the door was shut! Jesus makes it clear, not everybody goes into the Kingdom. I’m not going to go into the theology of who the five wise and five foolish are – but it seems to me there will be a clear division between those who are theoretically waiting and believing, and those who are ready. We need to examine ourselves!

Paul continues, in v14ff, to exhort us to be ready, to live according to God’s standards: Warn, comfort be patient toward all, do good to all, rejoice, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks for this is the Will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you; quench not the Spirit…

I want to take you now into 2 Thessalonians 2:1 where Paul talks more about the Second Coming of Christ, “I beseech you, by the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering TOGETHER unto Him” – he’s referring back to those who are asleep in Christ, and those who are alive at His Coming, emphasising the unity of the Body of Christ, because the believing Church is His Body, there’s no difference between the dead and the living – we’re all going to meet, bodily, TOGETHER with Him!

Paul continues in v2, “Be not troubled by word or letter as if from us, that the Day of the Lord is at hand.” Paul, writing 2000 years ago, now begins to list some of the things that have to happen before Christ returns. He says, “Let no man deceive you, that Day shall not come unless there comes a falling away first…” This contradicts much of what so many believe. Yes, I believe in a spiritual awakening. In my life I’ve seen it. In everything God has called me to, in Israel, in the former Communist lands, I’ve seen revival. But according to Paul, there has to come a falling away. Even Jesus Himself said, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8. So immediately before the return of Christ, there will come a falling away, and as Paul continues, then “the man of sin will be revealed, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God and all that is worshipped, so that he, as ‘God’ sits in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is ‘God’.”

When you look today, there is no question that the power of the devil is increasing and multiplying, this demonic iniquity of the man of sin is at work – “only, He who now hinders, will hinder until He be taken out of the way.” It seems to me that it is the Holy Spirit who is holding up that floodtide of evil, and that one day, He, the Holy Spirit, will be removed – and then the man of sin will be revealed, v8. I’m seeing that there is actually coming a time when the Holy Spirit is removed, and, in Paul’s words, “the Wicked will be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth destroy with the brightness of His Coming, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who perish – because they received not the love of the Truth, that they might be saved. For this cause God shall send them a strong delusion, that they shall believe a lie, that they all might be damned who did not believe the Truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8-13.

This is the sequence of events that Paul is revealing will take place in the closing days before the return of Christ. Yes, I’m still believing for revival and I’m still preaching and seeing revival – but the time is limited. Jesus Himself says in Matthew 24:14, this Gospel of the Kingdom in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come.” So not just in the words of Paul, but in the words of Jesus, the time for evangelism, the time for revival is limited. Before Christ returns, it comes to an end. And when we come to the ending of the time of the Gentiles, then Israel will be saved, Romans 11:25-26. That’s why Lord told me many years ago, “David, you began in Israel, and you will end in Israel!” I’m doing everything that I can in the field to which God has called me – that’s Europe and Israel and the former Soviet Union countries, including now certain countries in Central Asia. But this has to be done with a sense of urgency, because a time is coming when it’s time to redeem Israel!