David Hathaway

The love of God is simply beyond description, indescribable, too vast to comprehend. And yet, read with me Ephesians 3:18-21, Paul wants you ‘to be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know, the love of Christ which passes all knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the Power that works in us, to Him be Glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.’ World without end is a very interesting statement, as we are living in a time when the end of the age (not the world) is coming, when Jesus will soon return.

“We ought to obey God rather than men!” When I came out of the communist prison, a lovely Christian lady accosted me to my face, saying, “Wilson should not have got you out of that prison. You broke the law. You knew you were breaking the law, taking Bibles into the communist countries. But you did it, so you should have stayed in prison!” That was just a few weeks after my release. It wasn’t very easy for me to hear! But I quoted Acts 5:29 to her, that we should obey God rather than men. 

‘Those who trust in God will never be ashamed!’ I want to remind you. Whatever the circumstances, whatever the difficulties we may be going through, we shall never be ashamed of our faith and our trust in God, and in His Power and in what He is going to do…  

If you commit your life to the Lord, and if you are hearing God’s Voice, and doing what He says, God will not only watch over you and protect you, but the things the devil is trying to do to harm you, He will turn ultimately to His Glory. There is no question, my time in prison was foreknown by God and transformed my life. When I was arrested, I was an unknown Bible smuggler – because you couldn’t talk about it, even the passengers on my tour bus didn’t know we had 2 tonnes of Bibles hidden in a secret compartment where their luggage was supposed to be... But when I came out, it was to a blaze of publicity, because Harold Wilson used the publicity for his election campaign! And three days later my denomination asked me to speak to 10,000 people in the Royal Albert Hall in London at their Easter Convention. And after that, for two years I travelled the world telling my story and winning thousands to Christ – because everybody wanted to know why the British Prime Minister got me out of prison. I wouldn’t be doi

Don’t be discouraged. I want you to get that Vision of what God can do! Get into your ‘watchtower’ and pray until God answers you and shows you His Power and His Glory! O Father, open people’s eyes, let them get into that place in the ‘watchtower’ where You answer them when they cry to You, “How long are You silent?” O God, be not silent, but show Your Power and Your Glory! In Jesus’ Name. Amen. 

"Fear not, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do GREAT THINGS!" This is the vision God is giving me. How strong can I be on this point? And how strong can the Lord be? Because He says to you, “Fear not, because I will do GREAT THINGS!”

I believe that what we are about to see is an even GREATER revelation of God's Power on earth than anything in the past. God’s Power doesn’t diminish just because there’s sin and wickedness in the world. God doesn’t change! God still loves the sinner. He still wants to redeem the earth. That’s why, in the near future, Jesus Christ is coming back – to fulfil every Promise, every Vision!

Looking back over more than 70 years of ministry, seeing the difficult times I’ve been through – God has never failed me! There have been ups and there have been downs in my life, but as the Bible says, "The Lord answered me!" Sometimes in our lives we need the patience to wait for the fulfilment of God’s Promises.

David has recently returned from Armenia where he was able to meet and teach senior pastors from Armenia and Georgia. This is critical as we are planning major evangelism in both countries. Both countries have recently experienced war, Armenia only two years ago. Both are desperate for God’s help and are open for evangelism. Thank you for continuing to support our humanitarian and spiritual relief efforts in Ukraine. Our staff are continuing to assist all those affected by the brutal Russian invasion.  To make a donation eurovision.org.uk/donation

Sometimes it appears God is not answering us. When I was in the prison, 1972-3, I prayed and I prayed. It seemed God didn’t answer. I remember the morning, alone in my cell when I said, “O Lord, I can’t pray anymore. The Heavens are like brass, shut up against me. You don’t answer me!” But in my desperation that day, God DID suddenly answer! Habakkuk begins in Chapter 1:2 saying, “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear?!” - We all go through the despair of unanswered prayer, but God does hear, and He will answer you! 

We need to bring back into the Church a sense of sanctification, of consecration, in anticipation that God is going to answer and move… God will move within the Church, when the Church is obedient to His Word. The Israelites had to be obedient to the commands of God. Joshua was prophesying, sanctify yourselves, because when the priests stand in the water with the Ark, the water will dry up! God will do it, but there needs to come back into us as Christians a knowledge of what God can and will do.

David Hathaway's ministry in Ukraine continues to provide humanitarian and spiritual relief to the displaced, and those who have lived under Russian occupation. Daily we distribute bread, water, sanitary items, medicines and other basic supplies. In addition, our staff provide spiritual and emotional support to people broken-down by war and destruction. Weekly we broadcast the Gospel in both the Ukrainian and Russian languages. And we distribute Bibles.   Even though the Russians have now left the Kyiv region, they left behind many exposed bombs, mines and grenades. But despite these dangers, we will not stop helping those in need.   Will you join us in supporting Ukraine? Many have already given generously,  and we are immensely grateful. But the need is great. And the longer the invasion continues, the worse the humanitarian crisis becomes. There is so much damage to infrastructure, but an even greater damage to people's souls.   To support our work in Ukraine visit: eurovision.org.uk/donation

“Sanctify yourselves, because tomorrow God will do wonders among you.... Hereby you will know that the Lord God is among you and He will not fail to drive out before you all the inhabitants of the Land, behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord is passing over before you into Jordan.” (Joshua 3.) For Moses, the greatest miracle was the crossing of the Red Sea – (and the whole might of the Egyptian army was destroyed as the waters closed back over them) – now for Joshua, we have a very similar miracle, in that not just Jericho, but the Jordan stood between Israel and the whole Promised Land. I had always thought that it was Jericho that was the problem. But how do you get two million people, with all their sheep and cattle, and their little children, across this fast-flowing flooding river? But God worked the same miracle as He did for Moses and held up the water so that they crossed over on dry land!

I’m very moved by Joshua Chapter 1, where God is speaking to Joshua after the death of Moses, saying, “Now therefore, go over this Jordan with the people and enter the Land I have promised you, as I said to Moses… Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid. No man will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you!” I take a lot of courage from this. Despite all the difficulties in life, and even though we make mistakes – I am very conscious of mistakes that I have made – yet God has always been with me and has never failed me.

There are times when we go through despair, as individuals and as nations. This was the experience of the prophet Habakkuk, and of Israel. Habakkuk begins in Chapter 1 verse 2, saying, "O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear?!" But we need to be patient as we wait for the fulfillment of God's promises.   

Jesus could do no mighty works because of their unbelief. Mark 6 reveals a very similar situation to the unbelief in Mark 9, only here, Jesus Himself could do no mighty work, save that He laid His Hands on a few sick folk and healed them, and He marvelled at their unbelief. I’m quite amazed, because in this case, it’s Jesus who could not do the mighty works – because the people in His hometown didn’t recognise who He REALLY was. They only recognised Him as being from Nazareth like them, a carpenter, whose whole family lived there. This is the challenge to me and to you, because even in the Church, even amongst godly people, God is sometimes limited in what He can do because of our unbelief. We’re too familiar with Jesus, too familiar with religion, too familiar with God – not realising who Jesus really is! We have to come back to this question, WHO JESUS REALLY IS! That He IS the Son of God, that He has ALL the Power of God, and ALL the Power of God is IN JESUS! We have to RECOGNISE this. 

Jesus says in Mark 9, “If you can believe – EVERYTHING is possible!” This is incredible, tremendous. EVERYTHING! ALL things are possible to him who believes! This is a tremendous challenge to the Church! It’s not just a challenge to the boy’s father, it’s now a challenge to the disciples themselves, who are there, listening in to the conversation! I want to challenge Christians today – everyone who listens to this – our God is a God of miracles – NOTHING is impossible with God! I’ve had to take this challenge – many times – in my own life. My ministry is not just as an evangelist, but to prove that God is a GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE. 

God is your Father! Many people know God as their Saviour, which is important. Others recognise God as Sovereign and Omnipotent, which He is. But when you know God as a Father, your relationship with him becomes more personal. Jesus said in Matthew 6.6, 'When you pray, go into your room, and pray to your Father.' In Verse 8, Jesus said, 'Your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him.' Then finally in verse 9, Jesus told us to pray like this, 'Our Father in heaven.'  Jesus told us to call God, ‘our Father’. And in the Bible, He Himself is described as the ‘Son of God’. And we are sons and daughters of God! This is why we have the right to approach Him, and talk to Him personally, as we would with any father. 

Jesus says, “If you can believe ALL things are possible to him that believes!” I find this a fascinating and remarkable way in which Jesus is speaking. Quite honestly, it’s a challenge to the Church. It was a challenge to the disciples. But at this point in the story of Mark 9, the challenge was to an unbelieving father who had seen the failure of the disciples! Yet Jesus still said to him, “If you can believe – EVERYTHING is possible!” This is incredible, tremendous. EVERYTHING! ALL things are possible to him who believes!

"I know Jesus is alive because I talked to Him this morning!" That’s the reality of the resurrection and our salvation. We’ve got to get away from the symbolism and ceremonial, and come back to the reality that Jesus rose from the dead, and we who believe in Him, have died to self, we’re born again in Him – and we will rise with Him! Do you understand the importance of resurrection? We worship a living God who is alive! Because He’s my friend, I walk with Him, I talk with Him. There’s an old song which says: ‘I go to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses, and the Voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses. And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known!’