In 1976, after I came into a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, my wife and I joined with two other couples to begin a weekly Bible study. There were only six of us at first, but as we opened the Word of God together, something began to happen that none of us could fully explain. The Holy Spirit opened our understanding of Scripture in a new way. The Word of God became alive to us, and before long others began joining us. At one point, 28 people were attending.
As we prayed together, God began answering our prayers in powerful ways. We witnessed Him work in our lives and in the lives of others. We saw people with no interest in Jesus come to confess Him as Lord and Savior. We watched Him provide for financial needs. We saw the sick touched by His healing power. Even the small things – the quiet answers, the unexpected provisions, the changes in people’s hearts – increased our faith.
One man from our study anointed his home with oil and prayed for the Holy Spirit to touch his family and draw them to Jesus. In time, we watched his wife, son, and daughter each come to acknowledge Jesus as Savior and Lord. They were baptized and became members of a local church. We also saw boldness rise within us as we openly shared Christ with others.
Many times we found ourselves asking, How could these things be happening? How were hearts being softened? How were lives being changed? How were people being set free from the chains of the evil one? We could not explain it all, but we knew this much: it was God.
Again and again, our experience brought us back to the words of Paul in Ephesians 3:14-21. Paul prayed that believers would be “strengthened with power through his Spirit” in their inner being, that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith, and that they would know “the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” What Paul described became more than words on a page to us. It became reality. We experienced the strengthening of the Holy Spirit. Christ dwelt richly in our hearts. Love grew strong among us. We began to understand, in a deeper way, the greatness of the love of Christ.
Paul ends that passage by saying that God is able “to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” We found that to be true. God was at work within us and through us, and His name was being glorified.
That does not mean every trouble disappeared. We experienced spiritual attacks and seasons of hardship. But even then, in Christ, we found that we were more than conquerors. We took to heart what Paul wrote in Romans 8:31-39. We were undeserving, yet we experienced the faithful love of God.
When we looked at all the Lord had done, all we could say was, “It’s God!” That is His nature – to love His children, to strengthen them by His Spirit, and to reveal Himself in ways greater than we could imagine. When you seek the Lord wholeheartedly, you will come to know the love of Christ more deeply, often in ways you never expected.
In Christ,
David ‘PK’ VanderKlay
