God Confirm's His Words

This morning I turned to 1 Thessalonians, and verse 4-5 caught my eye.


(NIV)1 Thessalonians 1:4-5
"For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake."


(NIV)Mark 16:20
"Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it."


(NIV)Acts 14:3
"So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders."


I have been thinking about the reality of the Holy Spirit in me and in the Church.  The Holy Spirit working in and through me provides the ability to confirm that He is real and His words are true. Words apart from these proofs and confirmations are just words. I believe that the Lord intended to enable the Church to walk in power, so that we could prove that God is real. 


This is part of God's loving plan. He doesn't want us to bet our eternal destiny on just words. He doesn't want us to remain under the power of principalities and spiritual entities that exist and oppress and attack us. He doesn't want us to be helpless before sickness and disease.


In Heaven there is no sickness, death, sadness or work of the enemy. Jesus' Kingdom on earth, is meant to prove the existance of His heavenly realm, and the way that He has chosen to demonstrate this is by working through the people of the Church, and demonstrating these realities, here and now.


Lord, so many of us have never experienced this reality - we humbly ask that You will move in power and confirm Your words through the Church. We want to see You glorified and recognized, and the truth of Your words proven to all the world.