Surprised by the Power of the Spirit Quotes

“Sometimes, when you have spent a long time rejecting the gifts of the Spirit and come to believe in them, you almost feel as if you are being born again. You feel as if you have a whole new Bible. By that latter statement I mean that the Gospels and Acts come alive for you in a way that they never have before. Things that you had relegated to the first century now become a possibility for today's church.”
― Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today

“If you ever make it in the Christian life, it won’t be because you are a good follower. It will be because my Son is a good leader. Put your confidence in his ability to lead you, not in your ability to follow.”
― Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today

“Don’t ever try to talk God into healing someone because that sick person deserves it. No one is healed because they deserve it. We are only healed because of the goodness of the Son of God expressed in his sacrifice for us.”
― Zondervan Publishing, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today

“Sick people have no difficulty in telling you why healing is important.”
― Zondervan Publishing, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today

“A person who has wrong doctrine and humility can be corrected. A person with mostly right doctrines and no humility will be resisted by the Lord he professes to serve.”
― Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today

“When supernatural phenomena do not occur, what is the attitude of the writers of Scripture toward their absence? When there is an absence of the supernatural in the Old Testament, the Scripture writers do not take that as normative for the people of God; rather they take it as a sign of judgment.”
― Zondervan Publishing, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today

“Jesus is not a doctrine, a theology, an abstract principle, a ministry, a church, a denomination, an activity, or even a way of life. Jesus is a person, a real person. And he demands that we put him above all of these good things. None of these things died for us; the Son of God did. None of these things controls our destiny; the Son of God does. Anytime I begin to give more attention to one of these things or pursue one of them more than I am pursuing the Son of God, it will become an idol in my life to take me away from him.”
― Zondervan Publishing, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today

“Divine power does not travel in words but in a personal relationship (John 5:19; 15:5). We cannot simply go around saying the right words and shouting the right commands and expect results. Jesus had to be led by his Father, and so do we.”
― Zondervan Publishing, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today

“Remember that Jesus only did what he saw his Father doing (John 5:19). The miraculous ministry of Jesus was absolutely dependent on his intimacy with his Father. Likewise, the ministry of the apostles was absolutely dependent on their intimacy with Jesus, for without him they could do nothing (John 15:5). Therefore, the loss of intimacy means the loss of power for ministry.”
― Zondervan Publishing, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today

“If you want to be used by the Lord in a significant way when you pray for the sick, cultivate a desire to see the Son of God glorified. Wanting only the Son's glory is the most effective way I know to keep ourselves from being deceived and led into error.”
― Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today

“Among other things, the Devil employs supernatural power to blind the minds of unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:4-6), to hold people in bondage through the fear of death (Heb. 2:14-15), to cause physical illness (Luke 13:11; Matt. 9:32; 12:22), to cause mental illness (Luke 8:26-39), and ultimately to cause demons to enter and dwell in a person (Matt. 12:45; cf. Judas in John 13:27). These are some of the works of the Devil that Jesus came to destroy. The works of the Devil cannot be destroyed by mere human power.”
― Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today

“it is possible to put almost any good thing above Jesus Christ without realizing what we are doing. We can put the Bible and its commandments above the Lord. We can put the spiritual gifts and even various kinds of worship above the Lord. We can put various forms of ministry—witnessing, caring for the poor, praying for the sick—above the Lord. It is possible to be seduced by all of these things.”
― Zondervan Publishing, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today

“I believe that some people who advertise great healing ministries are frauds. I believe that others, at the beginning of their ministry, were used in a significant way by the Lord for healing and miracles. But along the way they allowed themselves to become deceived, and now they are promoting themselves more than the Son of God. That kind of promotion may get large crowds and bring in significant amounts of money, but it does not please the Lord. Eventually those who promote themselves will lose their ministries and their intimacy with the Lord.”
― Zondervan Publishing, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today