You never know how much you depend on something until it’s gone. Take power, for example. Without power, not only are we without light and heat, but we can’t charge our cell phones. Sure, light and heat are important, but we can burn something and stay warm, right? But without cell phones – what do we do? I mean, my life is on this cellphone – my address book, my bank account, my calendar, my wallet, my Bible, my maps. I am literally lost without my cell phone. A dead cell phone does me no good. For it to work, I need power.
The same can be said of our spiritual lives. Without spiritual power, we are dead; the church is dead. A dead church doesn’t do much good. We can go about our lives looking all religious on the outside, praying, raising our hands during worship, and quoting Bible verses left and right, but without the power of the Holy Spirit, it means nothing; it is just religion.
The Apostle Paul warned about people who would act religious but reject the power that could make them godly. He said to “stay away from people like that.” OUCH. Brutal, I know.
But he wasn’t alone in his warning: Jesus also warned a dead church, the church of Sardis, in Revelation 3:1a-3. He said:
“I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God” (Revelation 3:1-2).
ARE YOU PLUGGED IN CHURCH? Dead spiritual lives don’t accomplish much. For them to work, we need power. Spiritual power. So let’s look at what we can do to be sure we have the only power source we will ever need!
Jesus Had the Power 
When Jesus walked the earth, he modeled and demonstrated the will of God in all He said and did. Jesus was fully God and fully man. But He didn’t do what He did as God but as a man in right relationship with God, walking in the POWER of the Holy Spirit. Jesus chose to let the Spirit lead Him.
Let’s look at how important the Holy Spirit was in Jesus’ life:
From Scripture, we know that:
1. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary, a virgin, became pregnant with Jesus (Matthew 1:18).
2. Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16). You remember the scene in Matthew 3:16 where John is baptizing Jesus, the heavens open up, and the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus.
3. Jesus even talks about how the Spirit of the Lord was on Him in Luke 4:16 – 18. He was in the Temple reading from the scroll of Isaiah when He proclaimed that “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.”
4. After Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit led Him to the desert to be tempted by Satan. Jesus overcame the temptation and returned to Galilee filled with the Holy Spirit’s power, ready to destroy the works of Satan (Luke 4:14). And He did. Jesus cast out demons and performed many other miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:28).
5. Holy Spirit was with Jesus as He walked toward His death. How else could Jesus have willingly offered himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins other than through the power of the Holy Spirit? The Spirit emboldened Him and sustained Him during that sacrifice (Hebrews 9:14).
6. And finally, the power of the Holy Spirit resurrected Jesus (Romans 8:11). Jesus must have trusted the Holy Spirit 100 percent. Basically, Jesus did a trust fall into the grave, the pit of Hell, believing that the Holy Spirit would CATCH HIM and bring Him back. And we know that He did.
From all of this, we see that Jesus fully relied on the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the purpose for which God the Father sent Him to earth to accomplish.
If Jesus needed the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the will of His Father, how much more do we need that same power to accomplish God’s call on our lives?
It’s a good thing we have a good Father who knows exactly what we need and does not withhold any good gift, including the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Gave the Power
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, and right before He went back to Heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand, Jesus gave the disciples some final instructions. He told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait on the promise from the Father – the Holy Spirit, who would come and fill them with power from Heaven. Another translation says He told them to wait to be clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). Ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, God’s power filled the upper room where the disciples were sitting just as He promised.
A piece of Heaven came down to earth that day.
Luke describes what happened in Acts 2:1-4:
“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from Heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now filled the disciples, all 120 of them!
Peter, the same Peter, who in fear had earlier denied Jesus not once, not twice, but three times, began to preach Jesus to the crowds unashamedly. He was bold and brave for Jesus. I WANT TO BE BOLD AND BRAVE FOR JESUS, TOO, DON’T YOU?
The Holy Spirit had given Peter and the other disciples power from Heaven, and 3,000 people were saved that day. But that power wasn’t just for the 120 in that upper room. No. If you keep reading the book of Acts, you will see that this power was available to ALL those who believed in Jesus as their Savior. To receive this power, the believers didn’t have to reach a certain spiritual milestone or be a follower for this many days, months, or years. They simply believed and received. Believed and received. Believed and received.
Power to Obey and Follow
Jesus knew that His followers, that WE, would need power to walk out our lives fully surrendered to Him. That is why He sent to us as a gift from God the Holy Spirit our Comforter, our Counselor, our Helper, our Intercessor, our Advocate, our POWER FROM HEAVEN.
Jesus knew we’d need more than just ourselves to obey and follow His commandments. And he gave us that “more” by giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit.
It is only through the Spirit that we can follow Jesus. And Jesus expects us to follow Him. He told His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Luke 9:23
Jesus also said in John 14:15, if we love him, we will keep his commandments.
Ok, but what are some of Jesus’ commandments we are supposed to keep? Let me see:
Follow Him (Matt 4:19)
Keep our word (Matt 5:37)
Be perfect. (Matt 5:46-48)
Fear not (Matt 10:28)
Deny ourselves (Luke 9:23-25)
None of these commands we can do in our own power. Can we?
John 14:15 tells us to keep the commands. But the good news is that there is a John 14:16. Let’s start again at John 15.
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— That advocate is Holy Spirit.”
So, yes, Jesus said if we love Him, we will obey His commandments. But He goes on to say, don’t you worry, I’m gonna send the Holy Spirit to live inside of you, and He will help you do what I’ve asked you to do. See, Jesus never tells us to do something without equipping us with the ability to do it.
Power to Love
When someone asked Jesus which of His commandments was the greatest, Jesus said:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37–40).
Love. Love is the greatest commandment. Love is the center of it all. Love God. Love others. Love yourself.
Do you think in your own power you are fully capable of loving others like Jesus did (John 15:12)?
Sure, it’s easy to love those who are nice to you and closest to you, but we are commanded to do more than that. We are commanded to:
Love your enemies (Matthew 5:43-45),
Have mercy on each other (Luke 10:30-37), and
Forgive those who have hurt you (Mark 11:25-26)
Love is more than just a feeling that we conjure up. Love is an action that is described in 1st Corinthians 13:4-8 in TPT in this way:
“Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessings comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honor. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up. Love never stops loving. 1st Cor 13:4-8
Where do you think we get this kind of Love? Do you think we just pull it off a shelf somewhere? No. Absolutely not.
Romans 5:5 tells us that the Holy Spirit fills our hearts with God’s Love.
We can love like Jesus did through the Holy Spirit’s power. And forgive like Him too.
How to Get the Power
We’ve spent a lot of time talking about why we need the power of the Holy Spirit. But now let’s talk about how we tap into the power. You receive Christ by faith. You receive the power of the Holy Spirit by faith too.
You can be filled right now with His power, through faith.
All you must do is desire to be filled, ask and in faith receive.
Just like in the book of Acts
Believe and receive. Believe and receive. Believe and receive.
The Holy Spirit is given to those who ask the Father, so let’s ask right now:
Father, I believe Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I desire to receive your Promise of the Holy Spirit. Baptize me in the Holy Spirit like you did the disciples on the day of Pentecost. Holy Spirit, empower me and fill me to overflowing. I hold nothing back from you. Work your gifts in me so that the Father’s Kingdom may be manifested in and through my life. I ask this in Jesus’ mighty Name. Amen!”
