Many today are looking for signs, wonders and power. Why? Well to start with it's biblical...

Mar 16:15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Mar 16:16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
Mar 16:17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;
Mar 16:18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

Where does this power come from? It comes from the cross and all what the cross represents. The secret is found in the principles of the cross and with a brief review we can get to the bottom of this issue...

1Co 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The power flows through the message of the cross. What is the message of the cross?

Rom 5:6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The message of the cross from which the power of God flows IS love through mercy, forgiveness and compassion.

Jas 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

To summerize the power of God comes from godly love, mercy and compassion through the Spirit of Holiness. To these things we must give our lives and from them the true power of God will flow.
The opposite is also true, if the power isn't from godly love, mercy, forgiveness and compassion it is not from God.

Luk 9:23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
Luk 9:24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

THe message of the cross is self denial to bless God, our neighbors/brothers and His/our enemies.

Jesus preached this message from the cross that killed Him...

Luk 23:34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."

Godly love, mercy, forgiveness and compassion = true godly power.

All for souls,

wta

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William Thomas Anderson

Hi wta,

I agree with you brother and only pray that I can truly live the message of the cross.

I believe the message of the cross is the only message God will accept.

Many fail to see that the cross was not just for Jesus to pay the price for our sins but also for us to be crucified with Him. The cross is God’s way of getting rid of all we inherited from the fall of the 1st Adam. Jesus, as the last Adam, included all of us in Him when he died on the cross and He arose as the second man from heaven.

In Christ we are new creatures. We are to put on the new man and put off the old man. We leave the ground of the old man and we take the ground of the new man.

Many of the well schooled preachers of our day mention the word “cross” from time to time but fail to preach the message of the cross. Many are still preaching the self-help gospel. That’s the reason so many are still carnal, and many are looking for a better life and don’t understand what it is to be born-again.

They fail to explain the purpose of the cross; that the cross is to rid us of everything that is not Christ. We must deny ourselves and take up our cross daily. The spiritual man’s growth is doing those things in the spirit that pleases God and putting to death, by the spirit, anything that pleases the flesh.