When we talk about power encounters as a means of reaching people with God’s love, many different ideas may run through our heads. Most people don’t see themselves as being equipped to have power encounters and may leave this to the more highly gifted. I would like to enlighten you to several ways that most any spirit-filled Christian can engage in a positive power encounter.

The power of presence: Power encounters occur when Jesus’ followers bring God’s power and presence through the Holy Spirit to a person who does not believe or is trapped in darkness by evil forces. There is power in simply bringing the presence of God inside us in contact with those whom God is drawing to Himself.  

Notice that in 1 John 1:5, John writes that the message he heard from Jesus and now declares is that “God is Light”. Light speaks of the power and life of God’s nature.  In John 8:12, Jesus states He is the Light of the world, and the verse finishes by saying that when we follow Him, we will have light as well.  

God’s presence in us is like a light that shines and distinguishes us from those who do not have this light. We are told to “live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). The greater the light and presence of God we release, the more the darkness will be overcome around us. We are finding that when we intentionally allow the presence of the Holy Spirit to be released through us to touch others, people are drawn and experience a peace that they have not experienced elsewhere. I call this the gift of showing up!

The power of Jesus’ name: Most Christians are familiar with the fact that Jesus delegated His authority to us and gave us the power of His name. Take note in the following verses to the things that we have been given power to do in the name of Jesus:  Matthew 10:7–8, Mark 16:17–18, Luke 9:1–2, and John 14:11–13. 

Simply utilizing this authority can dispel darkness and bring the Kingdom of God to earth. 

The power of process: Oftentimes, we miss the fact that people tend to come to Jesus through a process of circumstances and events. Once we allow Christ to enter our lives and begin to change us, we must go through another process to grow into spiritual maturity. We must deal with issues—opinions, judgments, wrong beliefs—that hinder the presence of God from being released through us.  

As we mature, we will grow in faith and in our understanding of the authority God has given us to do the greater works Jesus spoke about. God has patience for this process and will help you as you grow. A great place to start in dealing with this in our own lives is to pray and consider—ask God to show you a specific course of action that would either allow Him to flow more easily through you or increase your faith to see miracles.

The power of love: We all can demonstrate the power of love. The Bible makes it clear that our enemies are in the spiritual realm and are not the people we are trying to reach (Ephesians 6:12). When we take God’s light into spiritually dark places, we are finding that it is best not to pray against the people trapped in darkness, such as psychics. Instead, ask God to bless them and reveal His glory and light to each individual.     

We need to learn to act the opposite of Satan and his powers of darkness. The Bible describes the enemy as a thief who steals and destroys. Acting opposite would allow us to give freely and bring God’s justice. We can pray that God’s glory and light and presence be increased; then, the darkness is revealed and loses its hold. It is also important to recognize that we ourselves are then protected in that light (1 John 4:4). 

A great way to respond to this is to write a simple prayer of blessing you could speak over the places you go. If you have someone specific in mind, write it for him or her. 

God wants us to bring His power, love, light, and presence everywhere we go. As we do this, thousands of people will be drawn to Jesus. People are looking for something real. So by simply being ourselves we can be very effective in sharing God’s love. 

Copyright 2006 by Doug Addison.