Holy Spirit Series 8

To grant Power 2:

In our last session we saw what it means to be a witness for Christ. We studied that being a witness is not just about preaching the gospel. We saw that the power is actually the Anointing and that its purpose is to empower the recipient to fulfill the purpose of God, no matter how miniscule it may be. We also saw that the power changes you and so in this session we will delve into this change. In this session we will be exploring how the power transforms you in order to fulfil the Lord’s work.

Faithful to the End

When you think about what Jesus said in Mat 10:22-23 and Mat 24: 9-13 it is not very encouraging esp. when the implications of your faith will cause people to pursue you with hatred and deliver you up to be killed. Relationships by blood or not will not matter and those whom you trusted and loved may one day turn on you. How can people overcome this fear, accept Christ and stand for Him in their hour of trials and persecutions.

                   The Apostle Peter was a jump first, think later kind of guy and this impulsiveness did not do him any favours. After being approved by God to be a disciple and an inner core member; we see him falter exactly when the Lord needed him the most. With great confidence he looked into Jesus’ the eyes and professed that he would rather die than deny Him and within a matter of hours he found out the strength of his faith. We all have this notion that our faith is strong and that we would stand for Christ no matter what. Only when time and situation tests us will we know how strong we really are. The fact lies in what Jesus told Peter – “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not…” Lk 22:32. Our faith stands on what Jesus has done and is presently doing for us. Peter would have perished had Jesus not interceded on his behalf. Today Jesus stands and intercedes on our behalf just as He did for Peter Heb 7:25. The same Peter, who denied Christ, after receiving the power, witnessed Him on a day when every Jew was gathered in Jerusalem. He who faltered in front of three people now stood before thousands. This dramatic change is what the power brings. When the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon you the first thing to go is our fear of death and inhibitions about what other people think when we witness Christ. The focus shifts from self to God. From what I have personally experienced ─ you make your stand and speak because there is a quickening within that literally propels you to do so. There is joy that rises up from within that makes the task no matter how hard or dangerous seem insignificant.

The Heart of Jesus

Being a witness of Christ means to represent Him in every way conceivable. No one has seen Christ in this generation but they see us who represent Him. We see this in Stephen`s preaching and even while dying his prayer mirror`s the Lord`s prayer upon the cross. First he says, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Acts 7:59 which is what Jesus prayed in Lk 23:46. His second and final prayer was, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Acts 7:60 which is also what Jesus prayed Lk 23:34. I seriously do not believe that anyone can pray both these prayers without the Holy Spirit initiating it. To pray like Christ is something the disciples had desired to do Lk11:1 and here Stephen just does it after seeing the Glory of God Acts 7:55. This vision was initiated when he was full of the Holy Spirit. It is at this moment with his last breath he prays the final prayer of forgiveness. The heart to pray such a prayer can only come from the Holy Spirit and for a man to utter it means that he has been granted the power to do so. The power grants us Christ likeness during your ministry. Are we able to forgive and pray for those who have hurt us, or rejected us or have spitefully used us and maybe even accused us falsely? The Beatitudes are the pinnacle of what I believe to be empowerment from above in having the heart of Christ. Truly flesh cannot accomplish such deeds fully. That is why it is considered by all to be the greatest narrative by Jesus in his entire ministry.

Chains of Joy

Paul though in chains and miserable situations counted it all to joy. This is the empowerment that comes by the power from above and just like love it`s cardinal quality is that it does not seek its gain in any form except that which is for Christ. Many of have not considered the cost that Jesus bore for us. We always talk about His sufferings but to Jesus the sufferings pale before His separation from God. The Spiritual implication of His sacrifice was far more painful than all the physical abuse and torture He went through, yet we read that He counted it all to joy in Heb 12:2. To count suffering as joy is beyond understanding esp. if it is for no fault of yours. The mind begins to play when one undergoes miserable situations. The types of chains vary from person to person, it could mean imprisonment, constant jesting by people, poverty, and physical ailments, so on and so forth. It could be anything that restrains us from being free to live and serve Him.  We see the people of Israel asking what profit is there in serving the Almighty God if they are constantly suffering while their enemies suffer no loss Malachi 3:14-15. Now that the Lord’s coming is near the need of the church in the dark hours ahead is the power of the Holy Spirit, by which they will be faithful witnesses as persecutions and various trials are on the rise presently and will peak during the reign of the antichrist.

Christ Likeness

Being a witness of Christ means to represent Him in every way conceivable. No one has seen Christ in this generation but they see us who represent Him. One quote I always refer to is what Mahatma Gandhi made when he said I would have become a Christian had I met one! Think of what might have been had he accepted the Lord seeing the life of a believer or anyone who remotely represented Christ. India as a nation wouldn`t have been the same. Our only focus would be to get the word out however you can and dependency is on prayer, supplication and humbleness before God. The true revelation about the power is that it empowers us to be and do that which we cannot by ourselves. People are so finicky about Christians today that they are on the lookout for the slightest or errors. Christians are accused of being judgemental bigots who think they are above reproach, because the gospel is preached. If we carefully read the scriptures we will see that Jesus never confronted sin head on rather He ministered to people through their situation or need. Though no one acknowledges it, everyone knows that they are not always right. To address peoples sin directly sets them on the offence at the very beginning; thereby rending the goal of introducing them to Christ in vain. We need to remember that we too at one time did not like being called a sinner and may have hated being preached to yet today we are not understanding that others might also be in the same situation. Thus being sensitive enough to know how to conduct ourselves in society in a way that portrays Christ truly requires power from above. Being harmless as doves yet being wise as serpents (Mt 10:16) is something that only the Holy Spirit can teach us. Jesus is the epitome of this verse for He confounded all those who opposed Him leaving them speechless, without being aggressive. Today the Church is in great need of this empowerment to be as Jesus is.

I will not go too deeper than this for now because as I said earlier the Power from Above and the Anointing are synonymous and I would like to leave sufficient space to do an offshoot series on the Anointing specifically once we finish our current topic. One thing I would like to say is that there are a lot of overlapping sections within this study and so there are and will be times where I would have to delay the teaching so that I can do the foundational sections before I go into deeper things. Till next time, God Bless.