Give me this power….
Acts, 8:18”And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit."
Here we read about Simon who was a new convert from the ministry of Philip and this guy stuck to Philip and the Bible quotes that ‘ he was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.’ (Acts 8:13) Well, later when Peter and John arrived the scene, laid hands on the people and when the people were receiving the Holy Spirit through their prayers, Simon became more excited and became greedy for this power. He thought ‘Christianity’ was another supreme magic show, so the above scripture states that he ‘offered money’ to get this power. There are several such ‘false converts’ flaunting around the church today and some are also into ministry. Don’t faint as yet, let me finish!
There are several pastors who invite ‘guest speakers’ who can draw crowd through (false) prophesies and many other things….except repentance and change of heart, a whole lot of other drama takes place. Let me narrate an experience, a lady was invited by a village pastor and used enormously because she prophesies, but he failed to realize that she was a thief. She would select the elite, rich ones, lavishly pour out prophesies and then privately ask them for gold. Since I regularly visit this village I came to know of this through the members. Sadly within a few years, this lady met with a terrible accident. Friend, inviting such ‘thieves’ into the church, in the name of growth of the church also tantamount to what Simon did. Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! Many are doing this today! Beware! Don’t fall for excitement, emotions and something new, let your focus be on Jesus and His Word. Period. People in ministry are trying to do gimmicks to build the ministry. Nothing, I repeat nothing can bring true revival except change of heart and deep repentance. Anybody listening?
Friend, get into a good church that preaches the word of God with power. Just don’t walk into any church that is close by, would you send your kid to a school near by? Don’t you make enquiries, don’t you investigate and send them to the best school that offers not only good education but also various other things like atmosphere of the school and the caliber of the children that join, are also thoroughly looked into. Then, why do we treat the things of God shabbily? The church that we go is of utmost importance for the growth of your family and also for the well-being of your children. Are you listening? Never think that you can prosper without God in your life. Many, many families have crumpled down like a pack of cards right in front of me, who had ignored God and the church. Go to a good church led by a godly man!
If you are new to the city, speak to believers around you and investigate, let me tell you one thing, when you start searching for God, He would surely help you to find Him. After we got saved, the next thing we were hunting for was a good church, we were thirsting for ‘good preaching’. During this course of searching for a good church, we came across many false ways and false churches that teach false doctrines. God protected us from evil and took us to a good main stream church where we actively participated in all the activities until later we started our own ministry, with the blessings of the Pastor.
