RECEIVING POWER
27th Aug 2014
As Jesus was leaving this earth to return to the Father, He made it very clear to His disciples that there was no way they could live life without connecting to the supernatural power He was about to make available to them.
Statements like, “Apart from me you can do nothing”, “stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” and “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you,” were among the final words that Jesus spoke.
Jesus told the disciples, “In a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.” This power was about to be made available to all believers in order for them to live the kind of life Jesus intended.
So when Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control” this cannot be achieved by self effort. It is only by being filled with His Holy Spirit every day that we have the possibility for all these things to be part of our daily experience.
When we are filled with heaven’s resources - love, joy and peace will be poured into our hearts to connect us with our loving and faithful Father, and in turn they will flow out to others.
When we desire that patience and kindness be shown to all those we come into contact with in our ordinary everyday existence, this will not happen by trying harder, but because we receive power from the Holy Spirit to enable us.
When we seek to be faithful and self-controlled we need to know that “God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self control.” as Paul said to his disciple Timothy. (2 Timothy 1:7)
Peter wrote, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3) Are you trying to cope with your own human resources or receiving power from on high?
by Charles Sibthorpe
