EXPERIENCING THE POWER OF GOD by Nicky Cruz

No matter how many times I experience the power of God, I never get used to it. I never grow complacent with the way He can bring even the coldest, hardest neighborhood to conviction. The way He can dissipate evil within a matter of seconds and expose the deepest parts of a person’s heart, bringing him to his knees before the cross.

No matter how much it seems that Satan is winning this war, I know it’s just a matter of time before God steps in and takes charge, before God blows His breath, sending the devil cowering into a dark corner.

During a crusade rally as I was standing on that platform in the Bronx, NY, feeling the power of God’s Spirit settling on us, moving among us, blowing like a cool northern wind, I felt completely invigorated. Like I could take on all the forces of evil and send them back to hell! It’s something I feel every time the anointing of God is near. Every time His Spirit takes charge. Every time we go to battle against evil with Jesus by our side.

You could feel God moving among the crowd, ministering, healing, doing miracles in the hearts of those who needed Him. His Spirit echoed between the buildings, moving in and out of windows and doors, between corridors, down hallways, into apartments. Hearts of sin were broken. Minds of filth were filled with thoughts of remorse and shame. Bodies ravaged with drugs felt the healing power of salvation.

This is how God works. This is how He moves. This is where you’ll find Him at war with Satan. And in the middle of this war is where I most long to be.

“Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city” (Acts 8:5-8).

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Nicky Cruz, internationally known evangelist and prolific author, turned to Jesus Christ from a life of violence and crime after meeting David Wilkerson in New York City in 1958. The story of his dramatic conversion was told first in The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson and then later in his own best-selling book Run, Baby, Run.