PENTECOST
f power
helpless to do anything about it: • Watching someone you love make decisions you know will lead to great pain, but you can’t change their mind. • Seeing a good person fight a war with disease that you can’t stop. • Standing by as a family is destroyed by the work of the Enemy.
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• Witnessing attitudes of rebellion and evil becoming common, but accept- ing that as just the way it is today. • Bemoaning the fact your church is being rendered ineffective to meet the challenges of this society, and accepting this as a sign of the times.
Sadly, many Spirit-filled believers have this “we can’t do anything about it” attitude. We talk about the power of the Holy Spirit, but have difficulty translat- ing this into our real world. This power is good for preaching and doing church work, but isn’t applied to real-life issues. Something needs to change! In John 14:16-18, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would come to abide with us forever, dwell within us, and never leave us as orphans. Jesus is emphatic about the Spirit’s inten- tion to be part of our everyday life.
Power for the Real World Is in Us
During the earthly life of our Lord, He taught many lessons and was the perfect example. The disciples could never forget what they had seen and heard from Him, yet Jesus wanted them to have more than memories. He want- ed them to be “endued with power” (Luke 24:49), so He commanded them to go back to the Upper Room and wait for the infilling of His Spirit. He knew
14 EVANGEL • MAY 2010
OTHING IS MORE frustrating than watching tragedy unfold before your eyes and feeling
the coming days would require a life of supernatural power.
The New Testament believers depend- ed on the power of the Holy Spirit. We are given many examples of direction, provision, and intervention by the Spirit in their everyday lives. Paul told the Galatians, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25 NKJV)—communicating the need to allow the Holy Spirit to lead them step by step.
“Most believers accept the powerful works of the Holy Spirit in the past, but struggle with a contemporary understanding of His involvement in their world today. For too many Pentecostals, the power of the Holy Spirit is a subject for study but not a part of their practical existence.”
by Les Higgins
or the real world
Jesus told His followers, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8 NKJV). Jesus leaves no room for debate—He simply says power will be given when the Holy Spirit comes upon someone. This is not power for a select few, but for all those baptized in His Spirit.
Sadly, this realization has not dawned on many believers. We talk about the power of the Spirit but fail
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