The Holy Spirit

In talking about our holiness tradition and beliefs, we sometimes focus on what the Holy Spirit does for us or in us.  It is amazing at all that happens when we surrender and consecrate our lives to Him and he sanctifies entirely.  Understanding this, I have long been a student of the Acts of the Apostles and I am fascinated by the work of the Holy Spirit not only in, but through the disciples.  In Acts 1:8, Jesus says “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.”  The Greek word for “power” in this case is dunamis and indicates “ability to act or produce an effect, ability to exert effort.”  (Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary)

 

If you insert this definition into the scripture, it would read “But you will receive the ability to act or produce and effect, and you will receive the ability to exert effort.  You will be my witnesses…”

 

How many of us feel powerless and fruitless in our ministry today?  I wonder how many of us are exerting our own power and using our own abilities to try to do the work of God.  The ministry is “supernatural” work and to be successful, we must have “supernatural ability”, the power of the Holy Spirit.  Today would be a good time to look at ourselves and see who is doing the work, us or God.