Empowered By God

Acts 1:8 says “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

One of the most common excuses for not becoming a Christian is the fear of failure to live by faith in the Christian life. Besides overlooking the fact that men cannot be saved on the basis of good works, this objection neglects the truth that God provides the power to live the faith life.

Before Christ was crucified He promised the coming of the Holy Spirit to help believers.  The subsequent events of the Book of Acts supply ample evidence of the fulfillment of this prophecy. Let’s stop here for a moment. This is the exit point which every denomination grabs the power, makes it human, and not supernatural. They will use and rely on water baptism as the basis and not Holy Spirit power. It takes generations of developing and working with the power, and authority.  You must move the Holy Spirit down line and what He provides until He comes back. The power of the Holy Spirit was not designed solely for the First Century church. Rather, all believers are indwelt by the Spirit of God, and thus have His power available.

This is the point where folks will blame God for allowing bad things to happen believing that He is testing them. As hard as the Holy Spirit is at work helping us to fight the works of darkness, Christ logic would say this is against all scriptural power available to us. This belief system asserts that  God uses the devil and evil by initiating his acts. However, this is not so. John 10:10 reminds us that the thief (devil) comes except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. Christ came that we may have life, and it more abundantly. Acts 10:38 illustrates that Christ, Himself, was empowered by the Holy Spirit and went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil because God was with Him. The believer is not tested but empowered by God.

The Christian who struggles in his own strength to live the Christian life will fail. He must by faith appropriate daily the power of the Holy Spirit. In practical terms, this means the believer trusts the Spirit to empower him in specific instances such as sharing his faith with others, resisting temptation, being faithful,…etc. There is no secret formula that makes the Spirit’s power available.

What must one do?

It is simply a reliance on the Sprit to help. One begins by learning to live by faith.

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Thank you for reading!

Doctor James P. Norman Jr.