Acts 1:8 – But you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth..
The big question is; have you received the Power? And if you have, what are you doing with the power?
Jesus walked the face of this earth preaching about the Kingdom of God, but do you remember that He never started His ministry until He was endued with power from above after His baptism at the river Jordan by John. The heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended on Him like a dove. Matthew 3:6. Thereafter He began to fulfill His ministry, preaching everywhere with signs and wonders accompanying Him. Acts 10:38 says ‘How God anointed Jesus of Christ of Nazareth with the Holy spirit and power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil because God was with Him’. Jesus received the power and He went and did something with it.
After these things, the Lord appointed seventy also and sent them… Luke 10: 1. But before he sent them he gave them something. This we can confirm from their testimony in verse 17 ‘ and the seventy returned again with Joy, saying even devils were subject to us in thy name. 19 Behold I give unto you power…Jesus did not send them out empty handed but equipped the seventy with the power of the holy spirit and when they went, they returned with outstanding results.
‘And he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.. and they went forth, and the Lord working with them, and confirming his word with signs following. Mark 16:17-20. The key word here is that ‘they went’. Jesus gave them the mandate backed with the Power of the Holy Spirit, they received and they went. In Acts 1:4 He instructed them not to depart Jerusalem or do anything until they received the Power from on high and this happened on the day of Pentecost, they received the Holy Spirit and they went out immediately to preach the Gospel and in one day three thousand souls were won.
These accounts and a couple of others in the bible make me to conclude that the main essence of receiving the Holy Spirit is for us to witness Jesus. The Holy Spirit is not only for us to speak in tongues, this is just a sign we have it, it is not for us to feel goose pimples or feel high in His presence. The main reason we received the filling of the Holy Spirit is to go and preach the Gospel. Every one that received went forth. If you have received; go forth.
Jesus knew there was no way we could do the work without the Holy Spirit from personal experience, for the same reason He was empowered by God. The same way He has empowered you to do the same. Receiving and not doing is tantamount to a waste of resources and investment. It could be likened to the story of the servant that hid the master’s talent in the ground and what became of him, he was stripped of his gift.
Friend, you’ve got the power, what are you doing with it? The day you received the Holy Ghost, you were commissioned into the ministry of reconciliation and it is expected of you as others ahead of you to go forward and replicate the life of God in you. God desires to replenish the whole earth with your own kind, it is His desire that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of Him but He cannot do this by Himself, therefore He commissioned you and gave you the power you need to fulfill this commission.
It therefore behooves you to get up and begin to do what you have been commissioned to do. Not doing it will allow evil to continue to replicate and prevail in our society. God is counting on you to do something. He is depending on you to populate the kingdom, He trusts you to be faithful with the gift He has given you, are you going to let Him down? You have all it takes, you have all that is required, and you’ve got the power, come on! Use it! Don’t waste it!
For further Study
Acts 2
Personal declaration for the day
Today, I will use the power that God has given me to bring Him glory.
Questions for you to reflect on
Are you aware God has empowered you?
Have you started using the power?
Comments & Testimonials