But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Acts 1:8

The demonstration of the Kingdom of Heaven is in power.  With respect to those who have gone before, who have had only their level of revelation from the scriptures, remembering that we, too, only see the portion of the words of Jesus that have been entrusted to us, unless the Kingdom of God is demonstrated with power, we have not fully preached the Gospel (Romans 15:19).

And this power is founded upon a Kingdom, whose throne is righteousness and justice (Psalm 89:14).  It is always in the context of exercising authority, while being under the authority of another (Matthew 8:9).  A servant that is proven unfaithful to the will of the master, who goes around saying, “In the name of my master, whom I serve”, while not serving Him, will have that power taken away, and given to another.

It is both the walk of complete submission and meekness as well as the walk of absolute power and ability.  It was upon going to the cross that Jesus Himself  said He was quite capable of calling forth His own deliverance by calling forth the armies of heaven.

Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

Matthew 26:53

Unless we can understand this way of God, this perfection of heaven, that considers it more worth it to stand in integrity and to keep one’s mouth shut, rather than simply being proven right, that we demonstrate that we are of His strength.  His patience and long suffering are great, and so must ours as we stand in His Spirit.  We must not be of our own minds, but of His.  We must not be of our compassion, we must be of His.  We must be absolutely devoted to the following of His Spirit.

The only way to fulfill the great commission is to be a people devoted to the absolute devotion to the Father, not doctrine.  Right doctrine, while it never contradicts the written Word, obeys and follows the Father in every situation (John 5:19).  Our doctrine is the Word, as it is said, subject to interpretation by it’s author (2 Peter 1:20).  The only man who ever lived it in absolute perfection was our Master, and He bids us to perfect the same holiness out of reverence for God.

Jesus walked in such an outpouring of the Spirit that when He was in the presence of many demons, albeit not all, that they cried out in torment of His very presence.  They recognized Him in their midst, and cried out saying,

What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?

Matthew 8:29 (portion)

Yet, Jesus, knowing perfectly what they only knew in part, that there was an appointed time for their sentence of torment for disobedience and rebellion, did not step out of His jurisdiction.  Their time of eternal, lasting torment would come, as that time still waits, but that day was not that day.  Yet, He did know the full extent of His own authority.  While it was not eternal torment that day, it was the man’s day of freedom, and from the man, the legion entered into the herd of pigs.

There are two places in Isaiah where God says He will not give His glory to another, Isaiah 42:8, and Isaiah 48:11, and both are proclamations of the New Covenant.  In the first, the promise of God’s glory is promised to us, to bring healing to the blind and deliverance to those who are bound, spiritually as well as physically.  It will be given to those who live by true Faith in the living God, and not to those who serve idols made by man, including religious works that they can prop up with good sounding doctrinal arguments.  It is only by His Spirit that we live.  The second, says this.

For the sake of My name I delay My wrath, and for My praise I restrain it for you, in order not to cut you off.
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.

Isaiah 48:9-11

You see, it is God’s desire that we walk in His Glory (Romans 3:23, John 17:22).  It is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom (Luke 12:32).

Perfect power looks like perfect love, for love is as strong as death, and as unyielding as the grave.  Faith and love have done every miracle both since and before Pentecost, and will do every one yet to come.

The deception in the church is that we are something when there is no power manifest in our lives, and in our body.  We may have a form of godliness, but unless we touch His power, His way, we are weak, babes, tossed every which way by every wind of doctrine.

How many have heard people proclaim “…and then we will have power, signs and miracles like in the days of Acts!”, all the while, they themselves are powerless.  And, if we would begin to have a little bit of honesty, how many of those proclamations are followed up by power five, ten, or fifteen years later?  None, ever.  Why?  Because faith is now.  Faith is the substance of it today, not tomorrow.  That hope may become faith some day, but until it does, you can be sure you will have nothing.  As faith is now, power is now, and those who want to be of it take it by force.  At whatever level, even it is merely to cure a toe-ache.  Start where you’re at, and you’ll get the rest.

When we settle for a powerless church, we are overrun by every evil.  When we cannot discern the spirits that overrun us, let alone cast them out of our midst, we are leavened by their evil (Galatians 5:9).  Instead of being leavened by the Word, by the Spirit, we are run over by every wicked thing.  Rather, the world should come in, and because of their wickedness, be convicted of their darkness, and either fall down in repentance to call out to the Lord, or revile us with such hatred that they want to kill us, due to them choosing darkness, rather than light.

The commission to the Apostles was this.

He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.

Mark 16:15-18

This is the context of the commission to go into all the world.  His command was that we start here, by His model, and make disciples.  Today, we do everything but this, and seem to be unable to produce what He did.  It’s no wonder.

Despite those who have done it wrong, despite the false and lying signs and wonders, despite those who sought power above the King, despite everything, there is still The Way.  There is still The Truth.  There is still The Life.

And His light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out (John 1:5).