Acts 6:8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

I think the order of the words, “faith and power” is important here. You see, the fact that faith was required means that the power was not Stephen’s, but that it was from God. It  reminds us that faith comes before power and that with God, great faith is better than the greatest human power.

Faith, to put it simply, is a constant outlook of trust and dependence toward God. We might have confidence in the ability and the willingness of God which leads us to acts of faith, manifesting His supernatural power in our lives and our work to advance His kingdom. We might have a commitment that is expressed in prayer and action to being the means by which God does His will.

In both the OT and the NT, we see that the faith of godly men and women was the mechanism by which God chose to bring His will to fruition on earth. Jesus commented several times on faith, both great faith and faith that was lacking. He pointed out how the lack of faith prevented people from being all that God wanted them to be.

Matthew 17:20  “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” 

Contrary to what many teach today, Jesus wasn’t saying that we can use faith for selfish gain, but to do things God wants to do through us, which are greater things than we’ve ever even imagined.

Today I believe we see a lack of faith manifesting itself in the works of the church; works that seem to be more man driven than God given. The works of the early church were characterized by powerful moves of the Holy Spirit. God confirmed the truth of the gospel with signs and wonders; people were miraculously healed and demons were cast out in the name of Jesus. We cannot get around the fact that compared to the early church, today’s church looks quite weak and anemic. Because of this, Bible teachers try to explain why the tremendous miracles of the early church are no longer seen in today’s church. They do that through claims that with the completion of the New Testament God no longer manifests His will in the gifts of the Spirit such as signs and wonders.

Nowhere does scripture say that, rather scripture both says and illustrates that where faith is lacking there is an absence of the outpouring of the miraculous.

Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, “If You can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

This theology of an end to the gifts of the Spirits is nothing more than a means by which church leaders can sweep the faithless condition of the church under the rug, and the church will remain without great signs and wonders until there is confession and repentance for our lack of faith … until we are willing to humble ourselves and say to God:

Mark 9:24 “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”