David Hathaway

'Display Your Power, O God, as You have in the past!' Throughout the Old Testament we read such incredible miracles, yet why are they not happening today? I want to see something of the magnitude of the miracles we read about in the Old Testament displayed today. And I am going to seek God until I see incredible, unbelievable miracles happening today, as a demonstration that God is alive in Power. And I believe God can do more today than He’s ever done in the past.

God still works miracles today. He reveals Himself through the wonders He performs. In my own life, God has used miracles to confirm His will. In 1964, I was dramatically healed of throat cancer, but this was to confirm God’s instruction to leave the pastorate and evangelise communist Europe. Then aged 70, God healed me of lung cancer, again in confirmation of the calling on my life. When we read Exodus 3&4, God used miracles to demonstrate His Will to Moses, and His intention to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Psalm 103 says, ‘He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel.’ I believe, God still today, demonstrates who He is by miracles, signs and wonders.

The promise of God to us today is, even in the most difficult times and circumstances, the oil of the Holy Spirit, His anointing and power, will not fail us, until the time the Lord provides the final answer. Even in times of famine and crisis, the Lord will not fail you, He will provide.

Moses is having a conversation with God. Troubled by God's instruction to go to Egypt, Moses asks, ‘What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?’ God then performs three signs to confirm His word. Sometimes God has to use these physical, demonstrative signs to convince us and to show others that He is God.  Often, I find that people read the Old Testament and don’t realise its relevance to our lives today. Yes, we are New Testament believers – we are saved by grace through faith – but the God of the New Testament is also the God of the Old Testament. He is our God. In my ministry I have seen some incredible signs and wonders. In the 1990s God told me to evangelise Siberia. – Remember this was the period immediately after the collapse of Communism. I asked Him, “How can I do it? No one will listen, they will not believe me and in any case, how can I win the whole of Russia?” His answer was to show me Moses from Exodus 4:1 where Moses asks the same questions and God

Prayer is a conversation with God. Talk to Him, ask God for what you need. And listen for His response. When I pray, I get the answer in the pages of the Bible. After all, it is God's Word to you and me. And sometimes, I sense a knowing in my spirit. In our daily lives we need to talk to each other. If there is no communication, there is no meaningful relationship. It is the same in our relationship with God. Religion has 'hijacked' prayer and turned it into a formula. People light candles, repeat set prayers, even read what someone else has said. That's not prayer. Prayer is simple; it's not just communion, but conversation with God.  

Abraham was called the friend of God! Oh, that this might be said about us! “You see,” James says in 2v24, “by works a man’s faith is demonstrated, and not by faith alone.” Faith HAS to be followed by fact. “For,” v26 “as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is DEAD also.” The ‘works’ are the very spirit that give LIFE to the body of ‘faith’.

Thank you for your support both in prayer and giving during this challenging time. I praise God for you, without whom our evangelism would not be possible! We are living through a very difficult period, and I am deeply conscious of the many problems facing us all. My heart and my prayers are with you. Let us keep on praying in Faith that God will answer – prayer changes things – and changes us. Paul reminds us to pray without ceasing. To me prayer is part of my daily conversation with the Lord.

Throughout the Old Testament we read such incredible miracles. In this series of episodes, David has been preaching on Elijah from 1 Kings 17-18. But Elijah didn't work these miracles. It wasn't Elijah who fed the widow woman or raised her son from the dead. And it certainly wasn't Elijah who caused fire to fall from heaven. God did these miracles. It's God's Hand, His power. Just as the Scripture teaches, 'Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you.' Whether in the Old or New Testaments, the miracles are done by God as evidence of His greatness and majesty. 

Do you want to see revival? All God needs is one man or woman who can pray like Elijah. We need to be more like Elijah. We have a prayer-answering God, but do we really believe Him? Do we believe the power of God? Well, if we do, then we must act. Faith is where your feet go, faith is what you do. But you can only be like that if you know God. Elijah called down fire from Heaven, and it consumed the sacrifice. If you today, are not Elijah, at least be the sacrifice on God’s altar! In 1 Kings 18:36-37, Elijah asks God to 'let it be known, that Thou art God in Israel, that I have done all these things at Thy word, and that Thou hast turned their hearts back.' This marks Elijah as an intercessor, who had remarkable power with God, so much so, that literal fire fell from heaven, and consumed the sacrifice. Not only this, but by his dynamic faith and personal relationship with God, he brought about the conversion of a WHOLE nation in a day! If we can experience this relationship and power with God, then we also ca

Jesus says to you today, "Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Let Me teach you, and you will find rest for your souls." So many people have 'secret' problems, burdens you cannot share. They are too deep, too hurtful, you cannot open up. Talk to Jesus, He's listening. Whatever disturbs you, whatever the frustration, keep talking to Jesus. He will comfort and restore your soul. Jesus is your Good Shepherd, He knows and cares for you. God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid."

How do I receive answers to my prayers? In my relationship with the Lord, prayer is a conversation. Prayer has to be more than just one-sided dialogue, it has to be a two-way communication to be real effective prayer. Most of you know my testimony, the two times I had cancer – 1964 when it was throat cancer, and 2002/3 when it was lung cancer – on both occasions when I was asking the Lord for a miracle, I also asked Him to give me an answer. How did I get an answer? As I so often do, I said, “Lord I want to see it in writing!” And I get the answer in the pages of my Bible – it is God’s Word to us! So often that’s how God answers me. Although sometimes the answer is just something I sense in my spirit.

There is Resurrection Power available to those who believe. In 1 Kings 17, we read the story of how the widow, who was caring for Elijah, was struck by an unspeakable tragedy. In verses 17-23, her son dies, but miraculously, in answer to prayer, God resurrects the boy. We see similar miracles in the ministry of Jesus where he heals a 12 year old girl in Mark chapter 5. And also in Luke 7, Jesus was moved with compassion when he saw a widow at the funeral procession for her son; He immediately raised the boy from the dead. These miracles are the evidence of the power and authority we as believers have in Christ. In verse 24 of 1 Kings 17, the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth."

Some of the biggest miracles in the Bible occurred in the Old Testament; we recognise the blind seeing, the lame walking, the deaf hearing in the New Testament, but when we read what happened on the Old Testament, it was phenomenal: the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and the conquest of the Promised Land, but in this message I want to look at 1 Kings 17 & 18. In 1 Kings 17, the prophet Elijah speaks prophetically. In verse 14 he says, 'For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: "The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land."' I believe this passage is prophetic about the generation we live in. The oil of the Holy Spirit, which was poured out on the church at Pentecost will not run dry. Regardless of the circumstances we face, whatever the difficulties in the world, the oil of the Holy Spirit, and the flour of the Word of God, will not fail us.  

The Holy Spirit is powerful within you! You can work miracles! You will see the signs and wonders promised by Jesus! But we have got to be like the early disciples and experience a personal Pentecost. We need to break out from every restriction. It was this Holy Ghost empowerment which enabled me to believe to be delivered from that communist prison. It gave me the confidence to believe for my healings from cancer. You too can be the living witness and testimony that the miracles of the Bible can happen today! 

The life we live, we live by faith. In 2003 when I had lung cancer, I had no treatment, and was healed by a miracle. When I had throat cancer in 1964, I was pastor of a church which, under my ministry had seen tremendous miracles. We still have the newspaper reports of the blind seeing, cripples walking – this was in the local newspaper! My congregation really challenged me saying, “It’s all very well telling us to have faith. But now you have cancer, what are you going to do?” I had to say to the Lord, “Lord, I have to demonstrate my faith. I cannot have an operation!” Both times I had cancer I prayed for 3 months before I was healed, and with this lung cancer, it actually came out of my mouth in a massive cough! I was in bed at the time, and they had to burn the bed afterwards! The Apostle James says, some people say they’ve got faith, but they don’t act it, they don’t demonstrate it. But I try to demonstrate my faith by the way I live. 

Faith must result in some action! James says, without accompanying action, without 'works', faith alone is dead, (2.17). When I was a young pastor, God called me with a tremendous challenge, I think it was after a Sunday service. He said to me, "Stop talking, I'm tired of listening to you. Go out and do all the things you are talking about! And don't come back until you've done it!" The Holy Spirit was literally saying to me what James is saying here, that if you have faith, that faith has to become action. And the testimony of my life is that my faith has led to action.

Jesus said that the same works He did, we should do and greater! For those who don’t believe this applies to us today, let me challenge you: at least do what Jesus did! But I am believing for the greater works! In Acts 3, Peter and John healed the lame man at the gate of the Temple. What I want you to understand is, previously Jesus worked the miracles, but now it was the disciples working miracles in and through the Name of Jesus. Miracles happen by the Power of God working through us.

There is great Power in Prayer, but we must ask in faith, without wavering. Scripture teaches, “If any lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally – without criticising! But ask in faith, without wavering – because he who wavers is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed with the wind.” Faith has to come with some element of stability, just as God is stable, and we’re asking, we’re trusting, we’re acting on that faith. James says, the man who wavers, let him not think he’ll receive anything! Faith has to be consistent, you have to hold on to that faith. Or you won’t get anything. Most of you know my testimony, the two times I had cancer – 1964 when it was throat cancer, and 2002/3 when it was lung cancer – on both occasions when I was asking the Lord for a miracle, I also asked Him to give me an answer. How did I get an answer? As I so often do, I said, “Lord I want to see it in writing!” And I get the answer in the pages of my Bible – it is God’s Word to us! So often that’s how God answe

The Holy Spirit is Powerful within you. Through Him, you can work miracles! But we must be like the early Church and have a Pentecost experience. We must have a Baptism of Fire. Be bold in your faith; believe for the impossible; put your trust in the Name of Jesus. In Acts 2, the disciples were filled with the Spirit. In chapter 3, we read that faith in the Name of Jesus healed the lame man. And in chapter 4, Peter and John prayed, 'Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out Your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the Name of Your holy servant Jesus.'

The Name of Jesus is so Powerful – His NAME conveys all the majesty and glory of God! Today, if you talk about someone remarkable – an actor, a scientist, a politician, a leader – they have a NAME – and they are known, by name, for what they do. That person has a name as an explorer, as an athlete… You can name tennis players, swimmers, rugby players – you know the specific thing they do by their name. But Jesus has a NAME! He has a NAME for what He stood for. It is a specific NAME and it conveys the specific Authority and Power God has – to us!