I know I risk being misunderstood. More than a few would point not to the lack of power, but to the abysmal theological immaturity in the Church as the source of its struggle. I can't argue with that. Biblical illiteracy and theological naivete have reached epidemic proportions in the Church today. But more than knowledge if needed. Mere doctrine won't suffice. What the Church needs is truth set aflame by the power of the Holy Spirit. What the Church needs is the divine energy of God Himself bringing what we know to bear on how we live and how we pray and how we love and how we witness. And let's not forget that teaching is itself a spiritual gift, no less a manifestation of the power of the Spirit than tongues or miracles (see Rom. 12:7; 1 Cor. 12:29; Eph 4:11)!

-Sam Storms

...Spiritual gifts are not God bestowing to His people something external to Himself. They are not some tangible "stuff" or substance separable from God. Spiritual gifts are nothing less than God Himself in us, energizing our souls, imparting revelation to our minds, infusing power in our wills and working His soverign and gracious purposes through us. Spiritual gifts must never be viewed deistically, as if a God "out there" has sent some "thing" to us "down here." Spiritual gifts are God present in, and with and through human thoughts, human deeds, human words, human love.

-Sam Storms