He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
(Colossians 1:15-17)

Our God is Almighty. Life of service in church is not meant to improve your religious discipline. The difference between our faith and religion is that we rely on Almighty God and possess His power as believers. We believe in the Lord who was crucified two thousand years ago, but our faith are not restricted to commemorating past truths. We should commemorate the Lord being crucified two thousand years ago. But our life’s purpose is to experience the power of Him who is alive and continues to show He is alive.

Few people today adequately practice their life of faith, even if they believe in Jesus Christ. They reject the will of Christ who reveals His nature and power inside us. God placed the fullness of heaven’s power in Jesus (Colossians 1:19). God has given us Jesus. God pours the Holy Spirit on those who accept Jesus and reveals Jesus’s power in their flesh.

When people see someone manifest spiritual power, they treat him as someone very special. I myself manifested spiritual power for many decades. This power does not come from man’s righteousness. Man is merely an instrument God uses. I am a preacher and I always attract the attention of large crowds. Though I am an instrument of clay, I preach to my audience that they may be instruments of gold. Everyone can be used as an instrument. According to their measure of faith, someone can be an instrument of gold and another can be an instrument of clay. 2 Timothy 2:21 says, “Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” No matter how great an instrument is, there is no power in the instrument. No power comes from man’s righteousness. Power comes only from Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. Man is simply an instrument to contain this power.

I was shocked when I read the Bible the second time. When I read the Bible the first time, I read it through only to reach the end. I had no prior knowledge of the Bible. On the second time round, however, I noticed all sorts of obscene stories. Before I possessed faith, I thought the Bible simply contained teachings to promote ethics. But when I read it with care, I found it was full of shocking stories, so shameful you could never mention them to others! People brutally murder each other and sleep with their own family! When I read these in the Bible, I was afraid I would be caught reading them!

If you seek instruction for humane living in the Bible, you will find it is not holy at all! Jesus Christ is the One who did not sin, unlike the rest of mankind. After He lived righteously, He ascended to Heaven. He is the Righteous One. Jesus said, “Of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more” (John 16:10). In all history, the One the Father considered righteous and took up to heaven was Jesus Christ. After Jesus ascended to heaven, no one since was regarded as righteous. The spiritual power we experience today does not come from our righteousness. It comes from the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The person who has Jesus will also have spiritual power. The person who does not have Jesus will not have spiritual power. God chose those who are weak and made them strong, but God put to shame those who say they are powerful (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).

Jesus is the Word who became flesh and came to us. The Word is the Almighty One. He is the Word who ‘gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did’ (Rom 4:17). God created the world through this Word. John 1:3 says, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” God created the heavens, the earth, and all things in them through the Word. The Word gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. God now gives this Word to us and gives us the same spiritual power He has.

When Jesus said to Peter, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch,” Peter replied, “We have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” Peter resolutely obeyed Jesus. As soon as Peter obeyed, he caught so many fish the net started to break. At that moment, Peter fell down at Jesus’ knees and confessed, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” He became aware only the Righteous One could show such miracles. He knew only the Righteous One could see the future as He did. This is why Peter quickly confessed he was a sinner. He confessed he could see no further than his own nose and could never demonstrate such miraculous powers (Luke 5:4-8).

Jesus Christ is He who calls those things which do not exist as though they did. There was once a crowd of five thousand men starving for lack of food in the desert. Jesus fed them fully with only five loaves and two fish (Matt 14:15-18). He is the One who calls the dead as though they are living. When Lazarus was dead, Jesus said to His disciples, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up” (John 11:11). Lazarus was clearly dead by medical standards, yet the Lord said, “he sleeps.” We have no power because we do not have the Word in us. This is the Word who calls the dead as though they are living and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.

When Abraham was 100 years old, his wife Sarah was 90 years old. She was well past the age of childbearing. God spoke to Abraham and said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son”. When Sarah overheard this, she laughed thinking how unlikely that would be. God again said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Gen. 18:10-14). There is nothing God cannot fulfill by His power.

People have no spiritual power because they are too obsessed with their own circumstances. Our faith is not to believe in ourselves or in our pastors. Some people find weaknesses in their pastors and fall into despair. They can no longer maintain their faith. If you look at the behavior in the Bible, you will fall into despair. God did not give us the Bible to learn from the behavior found in it. We must see Jesus in the Bible.

There is no special power in man. We will be disappointed if we believe in man. God reveals His power through people who are incompetent and flawed. Life of faith is to rely only on Almighty God. Many Christians today do not rely on Him. God gave the Word to us. The Word calls those things which do not exist as though they did, and calls the dead as though they are living. We can rely on the Word in any situation.

When I was leading revival crusades in large tents at Chungjoo in 1966, some people brought to me a woman addicted to a poisonous gas. She became completely paralyzed. This woman’s eyes were open, but she did not react if you touched her eyeballs. It was clear I could not teach her any faith. I felt so much pity due to the state she was in. But I could not do anything for her. I felt so worthless before God. I prayed earnestly to God. I said, “God, please have pity on this person! All I can do is preach the word of God and supply faith. But this person isn’t even conscious! I don’t know how to supply her with faith. Lord, who ‘calls the dead as though they are living’! Please call out to her!” After I finished praying, I moved on to pray for someone else. Suddenly, I heard people making great noises! The woman lying unconscious a moment ago was joyfully dancing with the people!

I led another revival crusade in 1972. Another woman addicted to poisonous gas came to attend the crusade. Her four children consumed gas with her and were lying unconscious at home. The people only brought me the mother. I tried praying for her, but she could not stand upright. She kept falling down. I prayed the same way as I did before. I prayed, “Lord! You regard the dead as though they are living! Please declare this woman clean!” After I prayed, I swiftly cast the demon out. The moment I drove the demon out of her, her children lying paralyzed at home regained their consciousness and started playing! It was as if nothing happened!

We must believe and rely on God – who is Almighty. When you swim in a pool, you swim to stay afloat in the water. If you exert too much force with your body, you sink further into the water. But if you relax your body, you will gently float up to the surface. There was once a reported accident where a bus fell completely into the river. Though all the passengers died, the only survivor was a newly-born baby. The baby stayed afloat on the surface of the water until the rescue team came. The baby survived. In the same way, we should trust ourselves completely to God’s grace. People keep failing because they do things by their own strength.

Instead of trying to succeed by our own righteousness, we should succeed by the words of Jesus – the Righteous One. If Jesus says, “Have this authority!”, you will have that authority! The disciples drove out demons and healed the sick even before the Lord was crucified. The disciples were not yet born again! The Lord simply commanded them to drive out demons and heal the sick. They obeyed this command. If Jesus says, “Have this authority!”, you will have that authority! If Jesus says, “Have this power!”, you will have that power! And if Jesus says, “Be prosperous!”, you will be prosperous!

Jesus is the Almighty One. God let the fullness of His power dwell in Him. No one can possess God’s full power without Jesus. Unfortunately, countless Christians only repeat the words, “Jesus died for me 2000 years ago” and do not have spiritually powerful lives. They only emphasize Jesus being crucified 2000 years ago. They do not place importance on Jesus rising from the dead and showing He is alive today. Jesus resurrected, ascended to Heaven, and continues to show He is alive by the Holy Spirit.

Some people want to believe in me simply because I healed many sick people. Instead of believing and relying on Pastor Ki Dong Kim, we should rely on Jesus. Jesus is our life and power. John 1:3 says, “and without Him nothing was made that was made.” The Word was with God in the beginning. He humbled Himself and became flesh. He came to the world and suffered death. He did not suffer because He was powerless. Jesus said, “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father” (John 10:17-18).

If you believe Jesus received from the Father the fullness of power, you must also believe He is the Lord who reveals Himself in us today. Spiritual power is to trust in Him. He has shown for 2000 years He is alive. We should lay aside our powerless lives and choose powerful ones instead. Spiritual power is not limited to special people. Power is not being manifested in believers because of their laziness and unbelief. The problem is people do not want to acknowledge this. They want to hold to the idea only special people can have power. This leads to special people being glorified. When this happens, they become corrupt and antichrists and false-christs appear. If everyone believed the Lord gave power to all who believe, who would dare consider himself special?

Some people pray for long hours but are very hesitant to believe and rely on God. Some people pray to God all night but do not really believe or trust in Him. How can any power come from such people? Some people pray to God this way. They say, “Almighty God! O God who is worthy of glory! O God who created everything! Please help me with this! Please help me with that!” They pile up their prayers like a long list. They end their prayers with, “In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.” At this point, the Lord will be eager to help them. But as soon as they finish praying, they do not let go of the worry attached that long list of prayers! They keep holding to that worry, even when they finish praying! If we prayed to the Lord about something, we should leave those prayers with Him. When the Lord looks at people, He sees them carrying around these buckets of worry. The Lord asks, “Why are you always carrying around these buckets of worry?” People will reply, “If you don’t help me, I will suffer the damage alone. It is better I carry these buckets with me, though they are heavy.”

These people claim they have faith, but have anxious minds. This is because they do not rely on God. If you worry, you should pray. The one who prays to God but still worries in his heart is not trusting his long list of prayers to God. I see plenty instances of people going around from one prayer house to another. They constantly pray but have anxious faces. When people pray to God this way, they even bring back those past issues they forgot! They shove these previous problems back into the bucket already full of worry!

Many people think those who have good character and do admirable deeds are living a respectable faith. Life of faith refers to living by the spiritual power which reveals Jesus is alive. We believe Jesus hung, died on the cross and took away the wages of sins. We believe He gave us life, though we were destined to perish. Whoever has this faith should pursue a life of faith appropriate to it. The person who does not reveal in power that the Lord is living inside him is living a powerless faith.

We must not believe and rely on our own wisdom, but in the Lord’s power. The Word calls the dead as if they are living. He calls those things which do not exist as though they did. We should accept Him so that He can work powerfully inside us. If the Lord works, nothing is impossible. In order for the Lord to work inside us, we must believe in Him. The Lord will reveal Himself without limit to the person who believes in Him.

If we try to drive out demons from a person with an anxious mind, it will be difficult for them to come out. On the other hand, if the person is at peace, demons will come out easily. When I drive out demons, I often encourage the person to be at peace. Demons will cling to the person with an anxious heart. If he has a peaceful spirit within him, demons will not stand it and flee instantly.

The Lord cannot work inside a person whose spirit is buried deep in worry. This is the same even if he prays. We should pray like this: “Lord, I will leave everything to you. No matter what I do, I know I cannot do anything without your word. Lord, please give me your word! Please command your peace to me! Please give me the command that I will succeed in whatever I do! Please command me through the Word who calls those things which do not exist as though they did!” If we pray like this, and rely on the Lord to the very end, our faith will prove to be genuine. Then spectacular things will happen. The Lord wants to show Himself to us. When we confess with our lips that Jesus helps us, and then praise God, God will receive glory through Jesus Christ.

Almighty Lord! Please show You are alive! Please show Your power!