Thoughts About the Holy Spirit’s Power ~ blog

One of the main reasons Jesus told his disciples that it would be better for Him to leave them so that the Holy Spirit would come and not only be with them, as He had been but that He would literally be IN them.

In Acts 1:8 the last words Jesus spoke to his disciples were these words;

“…but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Normally I have seen this passage to teach us that the Spirit would be giving power to the disciples so that they would have that power to witness all over the earth.  However, note He does not say they would receive power “so that” they could be His witnesses. They would receive power from the Spirit, “and” they would be His witnesses.

This idea of the power from the Spirit is intended to go way beyond just witnessing for Christ. He is our source of power in order to live the Christian life.  That just makes sense, right?  It is not like we have the Spirit in this little compartment and then when we are witnessing, we flip a switch and we suddenly get power to witness.  No, the power of the Spirit is for living the Christian life.

When we think about how difficult it is to stop falling back into sin, whether that being a sexual sin, any other sin we find the “deeds of the flesh” to be a battle we face daily.  These deeds are listed for us in Galatians 5:19-21

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these…”

It is the power of the Holy Spirit that is God’s provision to that we do not continue in sin but instead we walk by the power of the Spirit and we are to be being changed by His power.

In case you haven’t figured it out by now…we do not have the power in and of ourselves to live in this fallen world, with our sinful nature and demonic influences.

It is not that we are some weak and pathetic losers.  If your sons Pop Warner football team were playing against the Kansas City Chiefs in a game and they got absolutely destroyed, you would not say it was because of them just not strong enough or big enough.  You would look at the power of the Chiefs and realize this was a terrible mismatch.

Somewhere along the line we need to begin to realize that we are battling against another team. They are bigger, stronger, and faster than us. They are relentless and fixated on defeating us and making our life miserable. So that we will begin to believe that this whole God thing is not working and is not Good News but Fake News.

The problem is we are ignoring the solution God has placed within our very bodies.  His Holy Spirit is in us to give us the power we need to not only survive in this world but for us to be conquerors and by His power be able to walk in purity. If we do not make the power of the Spirit active in our lives, then we will continue to suffer defeat against sin.

Look at what Paul says in Romans 8:11;

“But, if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

So, the Holy Spirit is given to us, we are sealed by Him the moment we accept Christ. He is given to us so that we might have His power AND that He would also “give life” to our mortal bodies.

Since the dead and crucified body of Jesus was resurrected by the Spirit and He literally came back to life…so also the Holy Spirit has the power to give us…our bodies life in a way that is more than just being physically alive.  He gives power to live a life that apart from Him we would not be able to live.

The Holy Spirit has the power to help us in our battle with sin.  In fact, it is only by His power we can walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

So, how do we experience the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives?  Like I have told you over the last few days we absolutely MUST ask daily for the Holy Spirit to fill us and be in control of our lives.  Invite Him to be in control and for Him to guide you through your day.  Stay in communication with Him as you are going through your day.

Then, when the temptation to sin comes knocking on your door, ask the Spirit to help you in that moment. Talk to yourself about what is going on and what you are feeling and ask the Spirit to fill you and help you by giving you the power to say NO to sin and walk or even run away.

If the temptation continues then call for reinforcements.  Text people around you who know and love you and ask for help. This is what the men in our Online Support Teams are doing every day. They never have to be alone and have a team of other men ready and available to help at any time. We even have an online texting team called the 180 – 911 Emergency Room where anybody can text and ask for help.

Please contact me if you would like to be on one of our Online Support Teams so that you too can have weekly accountability, daily support, and not have to fight this battle on your own.  Great help with no condemnation.

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