Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture- “So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”- Zechariah 4:6
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”- Acts 1:8
“My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.”- 1 Corinthians 2:4
Insight: As we continue our discussion about the many aspects of the Holy Spirit, today we will consider the power of the Holy Spirit and how it can manifest in many different ways. If we simply analyze the three scriptures above, we can see that the Holy Spirit is a great source of power for those who learn how to tap into it. In Zechariah 4:6 we see it as a substitute for brute force In Acts 1:8 we hear Jesus command His Disciples to wait to receive power from the Spirit before they go out and begin building His church. In 1 Corinthians 2:4 we see Paul giving all credit for his preaching prowess not to himself in any way, but rather to the “demonstration of the Spirit’s power.” In fact, in what I find to be one of the most shocking promises found anywhere in the Bible, Jesus explains to His Disciples in John 14:12 that because he is going to the Father and giving them access to Him through the Holy Spirit that they will be able to do even greater things than He did. They had witnessed miraculous healings and cures and even seen Lazarus raised from the dead, and now they were being told they could do even more than that because of the gift that Jesus was about to leave with them. Wow, is all I can say, but truth is often stranger than fiction and the Spirit is available to work in all believers’ lives to do much more than we could ever hope or imagine. It can bring us the hope we need to endure this difficult world we find ourselves in, with all it’s division and pain. In one of my favorite Bible passages, Romans 15:13 promises we have access to that hope through the Spirit: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.“
When we read the Scriptures, we see improbable victory after improbable victory, all because of the power of the Holy Spirit being available to God’s people. The power is not measurable, not comprehensible and not containable. It allows for things that can only be described as “supernatural” to take place. But we ordinary humans have access to this Spirit, because when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we get indwelt with the presence of the Spirit inside of us. Ephesians 1:13 says it this way, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,.” The Holy Spirit is a tool for us to learn the ways of God, to discern the ways of God, and to implement the ways of God into our life with all the power we will ever need. Wait upon the power of the Spirit to come, and then go out and do your life’s work and watch as the obstacles, aka the giants in your life, fall before you. They are no match for the power of the Spirit, and the truth is nothing else in all of creation is either.
Prayer: Father God, thank you that you gave us who believe the Holy Spirit to indwell us, and to give us mortals access to the power of your kingdom. We believe that because Jesus went home to you Father, that we gained access to your Kingdom and its ways through the power of the Spirit. We need it every day to discern how best to live our lives in a way that honors you. Amen!
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