Imagine that you are at a conference for Pastors and Spiritual Leaders in the church and you are asked to speak. What would you say? There are breakout sessions on many different topics from Discipleship to Church Vision and Leadership. But you are the Keynote Speaker, and it is up to you to bring the message that gets at the heart of the matter. What really makes the difference in the church? Where is the spiritual power that the Bible talks about? How can we access that power today in the churches that we lead?

I remember attending a small Bible Study in an international church where an old pastor, his wife, and his wife's sister attended. That's it. When I showed up it was a bit of a surprise. They were studying the passage in Acts where Peter says to the cripple begging for money on the steps of the Temple, "silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk" (Acts 3:6-8 NIV).

The old pastor decided to ask me why we don't have the power to do such miracles today. My answer to him those many years ago is the same as today, because we lack the anointing that the early church had. He didn't agree and tried to argue with me the whole time we were together. But argue as you must, the truth is that the anointing is the source of spiritual power, and it comes from the spiritual unity which is a result of confession, repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

Psalm 133 tells us "How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore."

Not only is it "good and pleasant" to live in spiritual unity with others in the church but it is the source of God's anointing. The Psalmist is quite lavish in his description of the anointing oil poured out on the head of Aaron, the high priest, making a complete and beautiful mess in his beard, on his collar and even onto his robe. This is lavish. This is abundance. The Psalmist describes it as a "blessing" and, more specifically, "life forevermore."

That is not to say that the anointing only refers to eternal life but rather every aspect of life starting already now. Otherwise, what would be the point? Spiritual unity is not a prerequisite for salvation after all and the blessings of God are needed and begin in this life not just in the life to come. But there is a definite connection between the two.

Another way to put it would be to say that the abundant life of eternity will become part of our lives on this side of the grave as well when we learn to live together in spiritual unity. That includes many things, such as healing, spiritual maturity, effective ministry, suffering for the gospel, signs and wonders as needed to authenticate our ministry, and resources. But most of all, it means healed relationships between us and God and among God's people. Priceless.

That is the source of spiritual power. Always has been and always will be. The hard part is to learn to live together in spiritual unity. I wrote an entire book series on the subject called "Seeking Jerusalem: Discovering the Power of Spiritual Unity." That blessing of life forevermore that starts in this life and continues on into eternity is what I call the Anointing.

But the truth is that our churches are fractured, divided, hostile or indifferent to the lives of others in our fellowship. Confession and Repentance are not practiced much except on rare occasions and Forgiveness and Reconciliation are paid lip service when the Pastor and the Board are at each other's throats or limit their interaction to the administrative tasks of the church. The Religious Spirit runs rampant in most churches and therefore there is no spiritual power, much less effective ministry. That's the truth with few exceptions.

This is Book 4: Spiritual Power in the series called The Holiness Project.

In Book 1: The Spirit of Holiness we got a glimpse of what holiness might mean from God's point of view.

In Book 2: The Religious Spirit, we took a long, hard look at the spiritual disease that infects most of our churches and keeps us powerless and ineffective.

In Book 3: Spiritual Leadership, we identified a number of traits and attitudes in leadership that are essential for making changes in the church. Going from a culture of shame to a culture of grace is essential but not so easy.

In Book 4: Spiritual Power we get into the meat and potatoes of where that power comes from.

Finally, in Book 5: The 7 Laws of Spiritual Success we try to bring it all together into one complete whole.

So, imagine once again that you are the Keynote Speaker at this Leadership Conference. What would you say? I would focus on the whole question of spiritual power and where it comes from. I would talk about confession, and repentance on the one hand, and forgiveness and reconciliation on the other. But the real key to everything is the relationship between these two sides of the issue. All of this you will find discussed in these pages, but I would like to finish with a discussion and a description of how all of this would come together in our churches when we go back to our real, normal lives.

James 5:16 tells us that you need to "confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." The obvious question is why confession of sins is the prerequisite for powerful and effective prayer (for healing or otherwise). Because of the anointing. Confession is a key ingredient in spiritual unity. It is the first step and, arguably, the hardest as well. But there is more here than meets the eye.

Imagine that you are preaching about spiritual unity, and someone bravely stands up in the crowd and asks if he can come to the front to speak to the people. When he arrives on the stage, he whispers that he has something he needs to confess to the church. Not all confessions need to be that public, but God is obviously at work. It is an exciting moment. But there is a pause in your spirit, and you take a moment to think things through. Finally, you ask this person to give you a few moments to introduce a few key thoughts first.

You address the crowd and tell them that this brother wants to confess his sins to the church as a whole. You don't know what this sin is and neither do they, but it is important to prepare our hearts for this most holy moment.

"The first question I want to ask all of you is this," I would say. "Do you forgive your brother on the basis of the blood of Christ which is the only price that can be paid for any sin?" Some people may think that this is backward. They haven't even heard what the confession of sin is, and they are expected to forgive beforehand. Yes, exactly.

"The second question I want to ask is whether you will continue to treat him with respect and love as the anointed child of God that he is. Will you see him as God sees him in Christ and not in the flesh, even if he continues to sin (which he no doubt will)?" Again, some people will consider that this is putting the cart before the horse, but they would be wrong. This is the way that God deals with all of us. It is a culture of grace and not of shame and judgment that we live in with God and the same needs to be true in our churches.

Even at the point of our initial salvation, the good news comes to us that God is willing to forgive and reconcile based on the blood of the cross and therefore we must confess our sins and turn from our wicked ways. What comes first, the chicken or the egg? As Christians who believe in creation, we say the chicken of course.

The same is true for the new creation. God's offer of mercy comes first, the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, and, because we have hope for salvation (forgiveness and reconciliation), we are encouraged and emboldened to throw ourselves at the mercy of God in Christ.

But it is even more true in our walk with God in holiness. We are already forgiven for all of our sins, past, present, and future and we are reconciled to God for all eternity and the presence of the Holy Spirit is the evidence of those truths in our lives. It is because we live in the context of his grace that we can continue to fight the good fight of the faith which includes confession and repentance.

I would turn to the man who wants to confess his sin before the church and ask him a simple question. "Whatever your sin is that you will confess, you are already forgiven, and we will treat you as you are in Christ and not judge you at all. Will you commit yourself to a lifestyle of repentance and accountability to one of the leaders in the church who will disciple you as you struggle to overcome this sin in the power of the Spirit?"

If he answers in the affirmative, and the church also answers the two earlier questions in the affirmative, then we are prepared to hear this man's confession. If someone doesn't agree, they can leave, and I would tell them so. They do not qualify to hear this man's confession. I would follow up with them later because, no doubt, they have something that they need to confess as well and this man's actions are terrifying to them or their hearts are hard because they are caught, themselves, in a trap of unforgiveness.

In either case, it is important to change the culture of shame that so permeates most churches that are trapped in the Religious Spirit into a culture of grace that is the hallmark of an anointed church. Forgiveness and Reconciliation are the context for Confession and Repentance. That is the key to the entire process. This will all become clearer as you read this book, and I pray that you may not just read but act on the truths contained within its pages.