David Hathaway

The substance and confidence of our faith

The faith Paul is describing in Hebrews 11:1 is remarkable. For so many Christians, ‘faith’ is something ‘mythical’, ‘mystical’, something they should have, but they are not sure they do have it: I’m sick, and I wish I had the faith to believe that I could be healed... This is unfortunately an error and a tragedy in the Church. So many people say to me, “Oh I wish I had your faith that I could be healed, will you pray for me?” Yes, the gift of faith is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. When I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit when I was 13, I read carefully where Paul says, “Covet earnestly the best gifts.” I read through the list and decided I would ask for the gift of faith. That has transformed the whole of my life. But it’s one gift you can never say you’ve got! Because ‘faith’ is only as good as your life today. 

Your confidence has great reward

We can understand faith in so many ways. Yes, the faith to receive miracles of healing, faith to receive answers to prayer, but also the CONFIDENCE we have in our Christian walk. Faith should be, that when we get out of bed in the morning, we are confident God is with us. When we open the front door and step out into the day’s life, whatever is in store, we have confidence. It is confidence in God that has always boosted my life, bolstered my life, supported and strengthened my life. 

The greatness of God

The Bible tries to explain to us the greatness of God, the wonder of God. The hymn writers speak about it, the psalms speak about it… But in John 14, Jesus is saying, “I am One with the Father”! He says, “When I go to My Father, I will then pray My Father, and He will send the Holy Spirit (who also is part of God), and He, the Holy Spirit, will dwell in YOU forever!” It was the Holy Spirit IN Jesus that worked the miracles! And when we receive the Holy Spirit, Christ dwells IN us! And if Christ dwells in us, the Power of God dwells in us. We have that Power IN us!

The Lord God Creator

Our God is the Lord God who created Heaven and earth. We call Him Father, yet He is the greatest Power ever known in the universe! The Creator! Who is God? The word for God in Genesis is plural, Elohim. We understand Him as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus has been existent from before the beginning of time, the ‘I AM’. He doesn’t change! Understanding God as Creator is integral to comprehending His character: the Prophet Jeremiah says of Him, 'Sovereign Lord, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for You' (32.17).

Whatever you ask in Jesus Name

Whatever you ask in prayer, believe you have received it, and it will be yours! Jesus is teaching us that IF WE BELIEVE in Him, once He has gone back to be with His Father, we then on earth HAVE to carry on the work that He did - we HAVE to do what He did! So many people seem to read John 14 without seemingly being able to believe it. Jesus has commissioned us to do the greater works! 

"Lord, show us the Father"

Who is God? What is the Trinity? People have such strange ideas of who God is! When we were boys, my older brother thought Heaven was ‘like sitting on a damp cloud with your feet in butter’! I don’t know where he got that idea from!!! But people imagine God as an ‘old man sitting on a cloud’!!! Or they don’t think of God as relevant at all. That’s why He sent His Son Jesus, that we might understand who He is! That’s why Jesus said, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father!” They ARE One!

When Truth falls

Truth has fallen! In Isaiah 59:15 the prophet says, “Truth falls, and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgement.” In our day, Truth has fallen. And those who depart from evil make ourselves victims… It displeases God! Verse 16, “And He saw that there was no man and no intercessor.” The Church today needs to get back to prayer, back to intercession! I live by prayer. Prayer is my daily communication with God.

The Power of Resurrection and Obedience

We need to believe in the Power of the resurrection! In Acts 3, Peter and John were brought before the whole religious council - the High Priest, his kindred, the rulers, elders and scribes - for questioning, "By what power, by what name have you healed this lame man?" And Peter replied, "If we are being examined about this man and how he was healed, let it be known to you and to the whole of Israel that by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom God raised from the dead, even by Him does this man stand, totally healed!" The religious leaders then responded, "Did we not strictly command you that you should not preach in this Name? But you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine!" But in v29 Peter and the other Apostles answered, "We ought to obey God rather than men." Our allegiance is to Jesus, the Son of the living God, who was raised from the dead; it is Him we must obey!  

Faith in the Name of Jesus

There is Power in the Name of Jesus to heal every sickness. In Acts 3, when Peter and John went up to the Temple they stopped after the lame man lying there at the gate asked them for money. Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have I give you. In the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” Immediately the lame man leapt up! Peter said, “Why are you amazed? Why do you look on us as if we had done this miracle, as if by our power or holiness we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has glorified His Son Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied and crucified… HIS Name and faith in HIS Name has made this man strong!” 

We need a revelation of the Power of God!

What we need now is a revelation and demonstration of who God is! When I was in prison for Bible smuggling so many people wrote to me, telling me God would look after me, that I would be released at the end of my sentence… No! I have SEEN THE POWER OF GOD! So, I challenged the Lord, “If You could work a powerful miracle 2000 years ago and break open the prison doors and get Paul and Silas out, I want to SEE YOUR POWER NOW! Not just in the past, but now that I’m in difficulty, in trouble! I WANT TO SEE YOUR POWER IN MY LIFE! God not only opened my prison doors, He sent the British Prime Minister, so I came out in a blaze of publicity!!! WOW! Only because I wouldn’t give in! Get into agreement with God’s Word. Don’t accept mediocrity and failure. Claim the victory in Jesus Name!

The wedding feast of Christ

The challenge to all of us in this pandemic is, how are we going to respond? In Deuteronomy 4.27 Moses says to Israel, "The Lord will scatter you among the nations and you will be left few in number among the heathen." He foresaw God's people would be scattered, under persecution. People will tell you Christ is going to return in a blaze of Glory and before He comes, there's going to be revival and multitudes saved… But that's not actually what the Scripture says! Scripture actually says that in the last days, many will turn away from their faith. Jesus Himself said, when the Son of Man comes back, will He even find faith on the earth? The challenge is to go out into the 'highways and byways' and to compel the rejected to come into the Kingdom!

When everything is going wrong

When is God’s Power revealed the most? – When everything is going wrong! David was not a young man when he wrote Psalm 63. He was facing enormous opposition, adversity, such a struggle, such a battle, and so often alone. So he’s saying, “O God, when I’m in the dry place, when I’m thirsty, when everything around me is barren, when the enemy is raging against me, when everything is difficult – I want to see Your Power in my extremity – as I once saw it in the Sanctuary!” When we’re threatened and suffering, THEN God reveal’s His Glory through our deliverance!

Show me Your Glory (with Vinesong)

We are living in extremely difficult times. Covid-19 has touched every part of the world. We have economic problems resulting from it. We’re facing unusual storms and earthquakes. To be called as Christians is not to live in isolation or in luxury. But I do believe all these are signs of the Coming of the Lord. 
Psalm 63.1-2 is one of my favourite Scriptures from my teenage years. David is saying, “O God, You are my God, early will I seek You, my soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water – to see Your Power and Your Glory as I have seen You in the Sanctuary!” 
'I behold Your Glory' used by kind permission of www.vinesong.com

The Power is in the Gospel

We have to understand the Power, the impact, that is in the Gospel we preach. That’s why Paul said, “I’m not ashamed of this Gospel!” If I weren’t living in the Power of this Gospel, if I weren’t preaching it and demonstrating it, I would be ashamed! How can you preach about something unless you really believe in it? 

The miracles are the evidence

I’m testing and proving what I preach. That’s why the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, ‘I’m going to come to you, but I’m not coming puffed up as a greater speaker. I’m coming to you as one who has seen and demonstrated the Power!’ No one can deny, those early apostles were seeing and demonstrating the Power. The whole of the Acts of the Apostles is based on the demonstration and fulfilment of the Power which came on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell. The whole testimony of the Book of Acts is of men going out and doing everything Jesus had promised! That’s been my life!

The Kingdom of God is in power not words (with Vinesong)

The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4.19-20, “I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills – and I will know, not the speech of those who are puffed up, but the Power! For the Kingdom of God is not in words but in Power!” That’s an amazing statement! Paul is saying, the Kingdom of God is not ‘words’, but ACTION! It’s so easy to speak. It’s not so easy to act. I want you to become people of action, who put their faith into practice. 
'My Everything' used by kind permission of www.vinesong.com