David Hathaway

God is light / 1 John Bible Study (Part 2) / Chapter 1

John in vv3-4 says the reason he is writing this letter is ‘so that we may have fellowship with him – that’s John – and with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, that our joy may be full’! He says, v5, “This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: GOD IS LIGHT and in Him is no darkness at all!” Scripture says, in the Beginning God created the Heaven and the earth, and darkness was over the deep, and God said, “LET THERE BE LIGHT!” GOD IS LIGHT! That’s why John says, “In Him there is no darkness!” 
Now John warns in v6ff, “If we claim to have fellowship with Jesus but walk in darkness, we lie – and we don’t live by the Truth! But if we walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

We've seen Jesus (Part 1) / 1 John 1 Bible Study

We’re going through very difficult times worldwide; it needs much prayer. It’s even hard for us to look at the news. Why is there so much senseless violence and war? Satan is still in control, he’s still prince of this world – and that’s why God had to send His Son to die for us, to break the curse that’s on us. Thankfully, those of us who have come to Christ know that Peace which the world so desperately needs. Our world needs Jesus!
John’s First Letter starts: “That which was from the Beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have touched, the Word of Life – this Life has appeared, and we have seen it and testify to it…” He’s talking about Jesus!

What to do in a time of Chaos (Part 3) / Deuteronomy 4

When you trust God and act in faith, that’s when God begins to cooperate with you and work with you! Aged 92, I’ve tried to be obedient to God’s Word. I listen to Him through the Holy Spirit. Let God speak to you, instruct you, and bring vision and blessing into your life. From my teenage years I’ve lived by Isaiah 30:21, “YOU WILL HEAR A VOICE BEHIND YOU SAYING, “THIS IS THE WAY, WALK IN IT.”” I’ve always heard that Voice, saying, “Go this way, go that way; do this, do that.” Why? When I was 15, God called me, not to be an evangelist or a pastor, but to be a servant. A servant does what his master says. 
I’m challenging you, be obedient to the Word of God, KNOW who God is and His Power in your life! THEN, He will answer and deliver you out of affliction and trial and problems! O God bless you. Amen.

What to do in a time of Chaos (Part 2) / Deuteronomy 4

We’re facing enormous problems globally. Warfare in so many areas of the world. Unjust autocracies, rebellions, military governments. Economic hardship, poverty. Moses is saying to us, in the tribulations and trials – not in the comfort and the calm – if you call on God, He will answer you. When all these difficulties and problems come on you, even in the last days – and we are living in the last of the last days now – if you will call on the Lord your God AND BE OBEDIENT TO HIS VOICE – He will answer!
I believe God is speaking to the world now through the circumstances in which we find ourselves. How? Sometimes He speaks through His prophets, but He reveals Himself and speaks to you and me through the Holy Spirit! When I hear the Voice of God, it’s not God Himself in front of me, but revealed by the Holy Spirit. John 16:13-14; 1 Cor 2:9-14. The Holy Spirit, who is God and dwells in us, reveals the ‘deep things of God’, the things He has prepared for those of us who love Him! We need to have THIS relationship with the Holy Spirit so that He CAN speak to us! He will lead us into ‘all Truth and reveal the things to come’. So often we are consumed with all our other issues and don’t hear the Holy Spirit... 

What to do in a time of Chaos (Part 1) / Deuteronomy 4

God is speaking to me now, in our current chaos; I don’t yet know the full response to it, but it’s leading me to speak to you from Deuteronomy 4.29. God is saying through Moses, “If from where you are you will seek the Lord your God, you will find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” In so many countries, so many places, desperate people are crying out to God in prayer. How do we seek God, how do we pray? Do you go away alone, or pray with others? Do we need to be in a special, undisturbed sanctified atmosphere? But Moses says simply vv29-31, “If, from where you are, when you are in tribulation, when all these things are coming against you, even in the last days, if you will turn to the Lord and be obedient to His Voice – for the Lord Your God is a merciful God – He will not forsake you nor destroy you” – God will answer!

Something so big - you'll be amazed (Part 3) / Habakkuk Bible Study

In Habakkuk Ch 3, the prophet admits, “O Lord, I’ve heard Your speech, and I was afraid.” Yes, when we look at the world, and we see that prophecy of violence and destruction is part of the preparation for the Kingdom of Christ, we are afraid at what we see, afraid of what’s going on. But this is the key: Habakkuk continues his prayer, “O Lord revive Your Work, make Your Work known in the midst of the years and remember mercy…”
The prophet is asking God to revive His Work, to bring back to life something that is dead – in the midst of violence! This is the vision God gave me up on the mountain this summer! A revival of God’s Work in our days! This vision is for an ‘appointed time’! I believe we are living in the appointed time NOW! Yes, we’re afraid, but Lord, revive Your Work in the midst of it! Christian, as we see the unfolding situation, this is how we should pray, “O God, revive Your Work! Raise up the spiritually dead, fill the Church with new Power!”
This is why, aged 92, I’m fighting on, telling the young people everywhere, this is the time when God will fulfil the vision! And this is the vision: “Look at the nations, watch, be amazed! For I am going to do something in your days that you wouldn’t even believe if you were told!” I take this very strongly. It’s a challenge to me, in my life. God is going to do something in MY days, something amazing!

Something so big - you'll be amazed (Part 2) / Habakkuk Bible Study

The important thing I want to bring to you is this: Habakkuk, the prophet says in Ch 2:1, “I will stand at my watch and look to see what HE – God – will say to me, and what I shall answer!” This is a challenge to us who know the Lord, to be in prayer, to be watching, waiting to hear and to know what the Lord is showing us for the future! Because in v2ff, the Lord answers, “Write the vision, make it plain and run with it! The vision is for an appointed time! It will not fail!” 
God is in control of everything that is happening. He knows the future. He has set the times and seasons. He knew in advance, before He created the world, what would happen today. That’s why the Bible, speaking about Jesus, tells us that before sin entered the world, God had already prepared the answer! Because Jesus is described as the ‘Lamb slain before the world began’ – the sacrifice for our future sin! 

Something so big - you'll be amazed (Part 1) / Habakkuk Bible Study

Opening my Bible one morning this summer I was struck how God explains – in the Old Testament – the days that we are living in now! It was in Habakkuk. I was quite shocked when I read Ch 1 – it’s a description of how things are today! 
‘This is the burden which Habakkuk the prophet received’ – and this is his complaint – “How long O Lord must I call for help and You do not listen? Or cry out to You of violence, but You do not save? Why do You make me look at injustice, why do You tolerate wrong?! Destruction and violence are before me, strife and conflict abound…”’
This describes much of the world right now! So many nations simultaneously are facing violence, stress, civil unrest, war… Even in Britain this August, violence on the streets… The same in Europe. As I write in Summer 2024, the Russian terror war against Ukraine continues. The Bangladeshi Prime Minister, a woman, had to flee by helicopter to escape the violence in her country. There’s war between Israel and the Palestinians. Changes of government everywhere…
In v5, God answers the prophet, ‘“Look at the nations, watch – and be utterly amazed! For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told!”’

The Power of the Gospel (Part 3) / Romans 1.16

‘The Gospel of Christ is the Power of God’ (Romans 1:16). Evangelism should be part of our spiritual walk with God. If I ask you what are the essentials for every Christian, especially new converts, to do, you would quickly tell me – pray every day – read the Word every day – join a real live church. Water baptism and so on would quickly follow, along with serving God, fellowship with the saints and of course to be filled with the Spirit. I would add to this, evangelise – but not the way so many think of evangelism or evangelists. The Gospel is simply the good news. Your first responsibility after conversion is to spread the wonderful news of what God has done for you! 
Acts 2:22-36 describes how Jesus was approved of God through the miracles, wonders, and signs that God performed through Him. The Power in the Gospel is indelibly linked with the miraculous. Throughout Jesus' ministry in the Gospels, and then with the disciples in the book of Acts, we read that it was the miracles which was the evidence of the message they preached. In 1994 I was preaching in Khabarovsk, Siberia. The Crusade on the Saturday night saw us under a powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit, and many hundreds crowded into the open-air of the football stadium as the praise and worship team ministered. Then when I made the appeal almost every person came forward, so many, that surely everyone who had come into that stadium, lonely, lost, without faith or hope, and without Christ, found Him that night. Their hopelessness and despair had changed into the glory of the reality of knowing Him who loved us with a dying and undying love.

The Power of the Gospel (Part 2) / Romans 1.16

I see the Power of the Gospel in action – and I want you to understand the effectiveness of true conversion! Our faith is in God through Jesus Christ, and in the authority of His Word. Our Gospel has unlimited power to completely deliver and change men! Until you have such an absolute, powerful experience in your own life – that there is no uncertainty, no hesitation that there is one way only, one price, one salvation, complete and life-changing – you cannot demonstrate Christ to the unbelievers! When you yourself have this absolute experience of total salvation in your own life – then this is the demonstration of the Power of the Gospel! 'For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes,' (Romans 1.16, NIV).
In December 1959, I held evangelism in Dewsbury. The local newspaper, the Dewsbury Reporter, published the following report under the headline, ‘REVIVAL CAMPAIGN CLAIMS SUCCESESS’:‘Some astonishing results were obtained at the meeting on Monday of the Revival and Divine healing campaign run by Rev David G Hathaway and his team in Dewsbury Town Hall. At this meeting which I attended (writes our representative) a girl of twelve claimed the restoration of the sight of one eye which had been blind from the age of two, an elderly woman who could not before raise her arm waved it shakily above her head, an elderly man whose arm was permanently crooked straightened his arm in the meeting, and several others of the dozen subjects of the healing session claimed the loss of pain or at least some improvement in their condition. Long before the time of the meeting the Exchange Hall was filling up and by the time the meeting started the hall was comfortably filled. One of the main items of the campaign was a stirring address in a cheerful but determined and emphatic vein given by Mr Hathaway. In his address Mr Hathaway promised that in the crusade, “we shall hold services and pray for the sick and hope that God will pour out His power for us.” Following the address was prayer with a background of piano music, during which time Mr Hathaway exhorted people to make a decision for Christ by raising their hands. It was said that on Sunday out of 300 people present 170 responses had been made. When those who had made a decision had been instructed on what to do to carry out their decision, the healing campaign began, when about a dozen people presented themselves for healing. Mr Hathaway inquired the trouble of each person and then, placing his hands on the person, Mr Hathaway prayed fervently, the congregation joining in silent prayer. As each person described an improvement the congregation was informed. Mr Hathaway said after the meeting that all names and addresses of people healed are taken and the cases followed.’ 

The Power of the Gospel (Part 1) / Romans 1.16

The Apostle Paul said: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.” (Romans 1.16). Why are we not ashamed of the Gospel? Because it is the greatest demonstration of the power of God on earth! – It is the power to deliver everyone who has faith to believe! What changes nations is not some new teaching or doctrine. No, it is the simplicity of God’s Word, the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Today we are in danger of underestimating the power of God, and that’s why Paul said, “I’m not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because it is the power of God!”

Prayer which gets an answer (Part 3) / James 5

Jesus said in John 14:12, “If you believe in Me, you will do the SAME Works I do, and GREATER Works, because I go to My Father. And whatsoever you ask in My Name, I WILL DO IT!” Jesus promises to answer your prayer Himself. Why? In order to glorify the Father through YOU. Prayer is not some formality, wishful thinking, or empty repetition. Jesus said, “WHATSOEVER you ask in My Name, I WILL DO IT!” Ask Jesus, ask the Father in His Name. Why do people pray to Mary and the saints? Scripture says they are ‘asleep in Christ’, waiting for the bodily Resurrection, when the dead whose names are written in the Book of Life shall rise first, and we who are alive shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air! Daniel 12:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17. But at this moment in time, Jesus alone is alive bodily in Heaven, the Firstfruits of the dead. 1 Corinthians 20. He alone is able to answer your prayer. Hebrews 7:25. 
It is a direct relationship with Jesus that you need – approach Him in absolute confidence for the answer! Your strong dynamic prayer will avail, it will work! That mountain in your life will move! Jesus said, “Have faith in God. For truly I say to you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he says. Therefore I tell you, what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.” Mark 11:22-24.
Be specific. Be strong. Pray with faith. God will answer you.

Prayer which gets answers (Part 2) / James 5

James 5:16 says the ‘effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails.’ This is the forceful, powerful prayer of an ‘ordinary’ righteous man! It works! The original Greek New Testament has two words for power: energeo and dunamis. Our praying HAS to be strong! It must generate effective energy like a dynamo and like dynamite – an explosive that, when placed against a wall, does not waste its energy on the air, but pushes the hard obstacle down! In coal mining they use it to blast tunnels through solid rock!
James is giving us a powerful description of what prayer should be like! It should have an objective, either to generate energy like a dynamo, or like dynamite, to break and remove the obstacle! This is how I see and use prayer in my ministry, and why I see so many unusual miracles.
This does not mean that my ordinary, everyday prayer for my family and daily circumstances changes, no. But this is my fighting, overcoming, face-to-face-with-God call for Power! That’s when the miracles happen!

Prayer which gets answers (Part 1) / James 5

There is not just a ‘need of prayer’, but there’s a need for great power in prayer! Power, when we pray! I’m very specific when I pray, I bring very specific questions – and I get very strong answers. 
I find it interesting in the Bible that when God was dealing with people, so many times He would meet them on the mountain – like He did with Moses on Mount Sinai and Elijah on Mount Carmel and Horeb. Even Jesus would come away from His disciples and go up the mountain to pray to His Father. I like to go 10,000 feet, 3000 metres, up the mountains – that’s high! However, I can’t honestly say that you are physically nearer to God the higher you go… He’s Spirit, He’s not ‘up there’! But I enjoy these special times of prayer. I used to go to the mountains once a year, but now I go twice a year – to Switzerland in the winter and to Austria in the summer.
But whether on the mountain or in the valley, I need special times of prayer. And all my life, when I’ve come to the Lord in prayer with very strong objectives, I’ve received powerful and unusual answers! 

Let not your heart be troubled (Part 3) / John 13&14 Bible Study

“YOU will do the SAME works and GREATER, NOW!” We’re facing things today that Jesus didn’t face, but our future is secured, Jesus said, “I will go and come again” - preach the Gospel of the Coming Kingdom. The troubles we see are the prophesied signs of the end. We need to win our families for Christ. Preach the Gospel; the Great Commission is not yet fulfilled; we have a Gospel of conversion, new life, everlasting life (John 3.16). There are so many religions, but only Jesus offers life.
Look at the Word of God, not at the world. It is so easy to say you love the Lord, much like Peter did in John 13.37, but our love must be demonstrated. For those whose love has dimmed, even though Peter denied Christ, He was the first to speak on the Day of Pentecost, winning 3000 souls.

Let not your heart be troubled (Part 2) / John 13&14 Bible Study

“Whatever you ask in My Name, I will do it.” The purpose of Pentecost in the Church is so that we will do the same works Jesus did. He is our intercessor, living in Heaven, praying for us, so that whatever we ask in His Name, He will do it, this is so that the Father will be glorified through the Son. 
These are the days of the harvest. Jesus told the parable of the Wedding Feast. There were so many empty places, the servants were instructed to go to the highways and byways. One of the lessons we learn from this story is that so few believers will be ready, that we must compel the sinners into the Kingdom.