The ministry of the Spirit, such as healing and miracles are testimonies of God's love. They also reveal that Christ has risen and is Lord of all " And with great power, the apostles gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace fell upon them all" (Acts 4:33).
In other words, giving witness to the resurrection of Christ and His love with great power, is normal Christianity - the way Church life is created to be.
Without revealing Christ and His love in our midst by the power and demonstration of the Spirit, we are merely preaching and promoting a gospel without power that lacks the authority and Kingdom of heaven.
Jesus gave the commission to every believer to GO and preach the KINGDOM IS AT HAND (that's how close the Kingdom is - at hand) with the mandate to "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely you have received, freely give" (Mathew 10: 7).
It is written that the testimony of Jesus is THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY (Rev. 19:10). The Spirit of prophecy is the Living Word, the person of Jesus revealing Himself in our midst. Are we quenching the Spirit by limiting this ministry, or empowering the people with the liberty to be His voice?
God's heart has a voice, His voice is revealed by the Spirit of God, among other Biblical ways, through prophecy, visions and dreams. The Lord speaking to and through His people that reveals Christ - the Word of God "For it is Christ in you the hope of glory " that reveals His Kingdom "on earth as in heaven" in the power and demonstration of the Spirit is also normal Christianity.
I wonder, are we really bringing people to the Lord Himself, or to our Church programs and events and services that we call ministry but is void of the reality of the manifest presence of the Spirit where there is true liberty, "Now the Lord is that Spirit, For where the Spirit of theLord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17).
Are we indoctrinating people into Church life or Kingdom life to become manifest sons and daughters of the Kingdom of heaven Colossians 1:12-13)?
Christ came not only to give us salvation and eternal life but to restore us to our original creation as a people that rise and shine with the light of God's glory, for it i is "Christ in you the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
Perhaps we need to get to know the Holy Spirit better. In doing so, we will be led by the Spirit as sons of God, to be all we are created to be to walk in the fullness of the inheritance that is ours in Jesus Christ.
In His heart with great joy - Roy
