“...but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.”
Daniel 11:32

Part of our nature as believers in Jesus is to demonstrate the power of God. A powerless Christianity is no Christianity at all. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever and He is still doing His work of saving, healing, and setting people free. Although some may have apprehension about the power of God moving because of a negative experience, it doesn’t change the fact that God is still in the miracle-working business. His heart is that there would be powerful believers who walk in holiness and integrity as they reveal the reality of God.

When I was in Malawi, Africa this year, we participated in street evangelism. On one particular occasion, I walked up to a barber shop and the young man running it came out to talk. 

My friend and I began sharing the gospel with him and he immediately let me know that he was Muslim. He also wanted to argue with me about the divinity of Jesus. I just sidestepped the argument and shared the gospel with him again. I didn’t want to argue, I just wanted to share the good news.

I ended up asking him if he could heal the sick and he said no. Around that time in the conversation, another man walked up to where we were talking. I asked him if he had pain and he told us he did—in his knees and back. So I tapped his knees and back and commanded his body to be healed in Jesus’ name. Then I asked him to test it out and see where the pain was. Instantly the pain was gone and he testified of his healing.

I then looked back at the young Muslim man and said, “Can you do that?”

He changed his mind and said yes! I told him jokingly, “Get out of here! You just told me you couldn’t earlier!”

I realized from that moment that a man with an argument is at the mercy of a man with power.

You can argue me all day long about theology, but when you pray does your God show up? Can you heal the sick? Can you raise the dead? Can you cleanse the lepers? Can you cast demons out? Can you prophesy life?

God wants His people to walk in power. It’s what Jesus said and it’s what Jesus is looking for. (see Matt. 10:7-8, John 14:12, Acts 10:38)

And it’s not just power on the outside, it’s strength and consecration on the inside that God is looking for.

When I think of that, I think of a man of God named Samson. 

By looking at his life, we can learn of at least 3 qualities that make a powerful Christian.

1. Feats on the outside

The life of Samson is found in Judges 13-16. He was a man who, when the Spirit of God would come upon him, would do supernatural feats of strength.

Here is a handful of Samson’s feats:

• He tore a lion apart with his bare hands

• He caught 300 foxes, tied their tails together, set them on fire, and burned up the enemies' harvest

• He struck down 1000 men with a donkey’s jawbone

• He ore the gates of Gaza right out of the ground and carried them up a hill (all the while, the guys plotting to kill him were standing idly by!)

• He killed 3,000 Philistines in one blow by pushing down the temple!

We’re not here to destroy people, but we are here to destroy the works of darkness and release heaven on earth! (see 1 John 3:8, Acts 10:38, Matt. 6:10)

We’re called to walk in supernatural feats!

Look at what Jesus said: “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12 NIV)

Just this year I’ve been blessed to see God move in healing and delivering power—

• A woman messaged me saying that after I preached at her church in February, God delivered her from idolatry in alcohol and a 30-year battle with bulimia!

• At a retreat my wife and I ministered at in March, a woman was healed of iron-deficiency anemia (verified at the doctors!)

• While I was in the Navajo nation in June, we saw ears with varying levels of deafness and issues open up. One of them was a man who was born with a hole in his eardrum and couldn’t hear out of his right ear his entire life. But God opened it up!

2. Strength on the inside

One thing that Samson lacked was strength on the inside.

Feats on the outside should be coupled with strength on the inside.

What do I mean by strength on the inside? I mean a conviction to live holy; to stand for truth; to refuse sin and honor the Lord with your life.

It’s an ability to hold to your core values no matter what winds are pushing against you.

The Lord directed that Samson be a Nazarite his entire life. A Nazarite was someone who was consecrated to God in these specific ways:

• No alcohol, nothing that comes from the grapevine

• No razor shall touch his head

• Not go near a dead body

He broke every rule!
I believe it was because he lacked inner strength. 
That’s not how it’s supposed to be.

God calls us to live pure and holy lives. And we do that by yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit.

It doesn’t matter how many feats of strength you do on the outside, if you’re weak on the inside, it’s not going to turn out well for you!

Gifting is God’s power flowing THROUGH YOU.

Character is God’s nature being formed IN YOU.

We need both.

Your character should grow right along with your gifting. Galatians 5:22-23 tells us of the fruit of the Spirit—all of which are vital. But the last one is commonly known as “self-control”.

The Passion Translation translates it as “strength of spirit”.

We should pray for ourselves as Paul prayed for the Ephesians “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.” (Eph. 3:16)

Powerful Christians don’t just have feats on the outside, they have strength on the inside.

3. Consecrated lives

Look at the account of when Delilah came against Samson in Judges 16:16-17:

“And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”

The Nazarite vow was the secret to Samson’s strength. 

What this means for us is this: True and lasting spiritual strength comes from the consecration of a life.

The devil wants to weaken you so he can take you out. 

Delilah’s name actually means “feeble” because that’s what she comes to do: weaken or make feeble the people of God. But God wants to strengthen you so you can stand!

It’s time for the people of God to take a stand against Delilah, against compromise, and yield themselves completely to the Lord.

Powerful Christians are people who are fully surrendered to the Lord Jesus.

Question: What else do you think should be added to this list? Comment below!

Check out the video of when I preached this at Centerpoint Church: