You Have The Power

"And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven." -- Luke 24: 49 (NLT)

One of the least understood facets of Christianity is the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is also the single most important resource we have as believers. Yes of course prayer, worship and fasting are of dire importance but we have the Spirit of God inside of us according to Scripture. We have the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead living inside of us. Unfortunately I think because of the poor theology in modern churches we have generations of people who may not have actually been converted so now they seek what they do not have -- the power from heaven inside of them. We must be truly regenerated in our heart in order to be saved before the indwelling of the Holy Spirit occurs. But once that happens, it should be the most transformative event in our lives. It is the key to walking in the power Christ appropriated for us on Calvary. It is the key to living the victorious Christian life we hear so much about. It is where the freedom in Christ gains the power to overcome the world we live in.

Think of it like a before and after picture. When we see the lives of the disciples of Jesus we see this play out dramatically. The single most transformative event in their lives was not the crucifixion. It was not even the resurrection. It was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into their lives. That was when they became who God intended them to be instead of who they were in the world. Realize that it was the disciples who turned the world upside down after Jesus ascended into heaven. It was through the disciples that God raised up the church we see today. But if you look at the before picture a skeptic would have to wonder how?

Let's look at the leader Peter. Before Pentecost we see a Peter that had many of the same traits we see in our own lives. In the story where he walks on water we see that Peter was easily distracted by the events around him. Now I understand that there was a fierce storm all around him but remember he chose to get out of the boat when the storm was all around him too! In fact he was the only disciple who dared to step out of the boat. Yet as he is walking on the water he sees the waves and feels the wind and he takes his eyes off of Jesus and begins to sink in his own circumstances. Likewise we too can become so distracted by the world and the storm we often feel all around our lives. But it need not be so beloved. We serve the God who walks above the waves and His Spirit lives inside of us. After Pentecost we see a radically transformed Peter. A Peter who is endued with the power of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the Book of Acts, there would be many storms Peter would face and many distractions, yet now he was singularly purposed on the work of God. That is how we are supposed to be for the Lord as well. No matter what we face in this life we should be able to reflect to the power of the Holy Spirit within us to overcome; not be overwhelmed. It seems too often we see Christians who are completely overwhelmed by the things of this world. They are not walking in any power.

Peter also let pride rule his heart when he walked with Jesus. He was learning but he was worldly. When Jesus first tells His disciples that He must go to the cross it was Peter who rebuked Him. He told Jesus that it would never happen like that! Can you imagine? Telling God He is wrong? If we were honest with ourselves we would admit that we too have done it from time to time. Whenever we push through a "no" answer from God to achieve our will over His we told Him He was wrong. Whenever we stayed in a relationship He told us to get out of, we have told Him He was wrong. Whenever we went searching for confirmations to something we want instead of seeking His will regardless, we were telling Him He was wrong. Yet after Pentecost we see a more humble Peter, who is constantly referring to God and Jesus, not himself.

Lastly, Peter was dominated by fear in the world. After walking with Jesus three years and seeing all of the miracles, including the raising of people from the dead -- he still denied knowing Him when it was his life on the line. After learning and being taught by the Master for three years and being told specifically that he would deny Him three times -- he did so anyway. Why? Because Peter was afraid of what the religious leaders might do to him as well. He feared for his own life. All of the disciples feared and fled.   Yet at Pentecost we see this Peter:

Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, "Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. -- Acts 2: 14 (NLT)

Peter stepped forward? Isn't this the same Peter who sank in his own doubt on the Sea of Galilee? Isn't this the same Peter that reprimanded God Himself when He told him about the cross? Isn't this the same Peter who called curses down upon himself in order to deny even knowing Jesus? NO -- this was not the same Peter at all. In fact right after this verse from Acts 2, Peter gives the first sermon in the church. The result is 3000 people were saved.

Well what changed? Right before this verse from Acts 2 we saw the Holy Spirit fall on the disciples. They in fact were speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance and people were trying to dismiss it as being a result of being drunk! That was what led Peter to address the crowd. But the old Peter could not have. He would not have. It was only through the power of the Holy Spirit that Peter was able to give the Sermon at Pentecost. He did not have it prepared; but God did. As we proceed through Acts we see a different Peter. One who is filled with the power of God and the boldness that comes from that power. Standing up to the Sanhedrin and the religious powers that be. Someone who was so bold that he demanded to be crucified upside down because he felt he did not deserve to die in the same manner as his Lord.

Yet this moment is Acts 2 is the moment of transformation. Before this Peter had just been reinstated if you will. Jesus had visited after His resurrection and had restored Peter by asking him three times if he loved him and three times commanding him to feed His sheep. One time for each of the denials that Peter had uttered. But in Acts 2 the fulfillment of the promise of the Holy Spirit changed Peter forever. Changed the course of his life forever. He had finally become the fisher of men Jesus had promised him he would become.

What has God promised you would become? The Bible says you are a new creation when you are saved. Your old ways of thinking should be changed -- transformed. The Bible says we are transformed into the image of God over time. That transformation only occurs through the working of the Holy Spirit of God inside of us. We have the power of the living God inside of us. We are to walk in that power. It is power to turn the world upside down! Yet too often we let the world turn us upside down. We walk with no power in our Christian lives. Our after picture looks too much like our before picture. We have been filled with power directly from heaven! Lord, I pray that we start to walk in that power. Walk in that promise. Walk in our God ordained destiny.

Rev. Anthony