The Power of the Holy Spirit

Much have been written and taught about the importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual believer and in Church life, but not many Bible teachers realize that, the sending of the Holy Spirit was singled out by Jesus Himself, as the most important promise of the Father.

Jesus was about to be taken from His disciples. His last words to them were:

"Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49, NKJV, emphasis added).

Luke said, "And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ...." (Acts 1:4, NKJV, emphasis added).

Here are some statements of truth:

1. Notice the capital letter "P" in the word "Promise" of both the above passages of Scripture. They said there are 31,000 promises in the entire Bible. But there is only one promise that is called "The Promise".

2. The word "endued" comes from the Greek word "enduo" which means "clothed upon" or "arrayed". Jesus commanded His disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they were "clothed upon with power from on high".

3. Jesus was referring to God's Word when He mentioned the outpouring of the Holy Spirit:

"For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Soirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring; ..." (Isaiah 44:3).

The Promise of the Father is not only for us alone but also for our seed.

4. The clothing of the Spirit is linked with the Promise of God and that Promised was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1 - 13).

The Ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Church today

Jesus said, "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:13 - 15, emphasis added).

Here are some statements of truth:

1. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and He will guide us into all truth.

2. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of prophecy for He will tell us things to come.

3. The Holy Spirit will glorify and exalt Jesus.

4. The Holy Spirit will take all things that belong to the Father and Jesus and declare them to us.

In many of our contemporary Local Churches, churchgoers are twice born, baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues but they are only half alive. They have never discovered the Person of the Holy Spirit in a personal and practical way in their lives.

One of the most glorious ways in which the Scripture helps us to understand more about the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit is through the emblems of the Holy Spirit. In other words, there are times, in the Scripture when we read about the Holy Spirit coming like rain (Hosea 5:3). As rain, the Holy Spirit refreshes and regenerates us. And then we read of the Holy Spirit like oil (Ps. 133:2) and like dew (Ps. 133:3) which gives us a picture of our lives being saturated and comforted by the Holy Spirit. It speaks of moments of the stillness and quietness of the night. It is like a Holy hush upon God's people; but in this type of stillness and quietness there is tremendous life. There are times in our Church meetings when the Holy Spirit was like fire (Acts 2:3; Heb. 12:29), with great demonstrative move of the Spirit to purge people of their sins. And then all of a sudden in the height of tremendous praise there comes a Holy hush over the gethering. We can go on and on, as we become more and more sensitive to the move of the Holy Spirit.

Clothed with (or endued with) Power from on high

John the Baptist said, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Luke 3:16, NKJV, emphasis added).

In the contemporary local Church many are baptized with the Holy Spirit, speak in tongues but do not seem to be clothed upon with Power. You can move around many Pentecostal/Charismatic people but they do not seem to be on fire and do not seem to be able to minister with fire. One thing is lacking, and that is the clothing with Power from on high.

Examples of Old Testament individuals clothed with Power:

Notice that the Holy Spirit's Power is being described as a piece of clothing that we wear. It suggests it is something that we can put on and then take it off. Similarly, we can be clothed and unclothed with Power.

1. Amasai

At a time in history when David was at a place called Ziklag, hiding away from Saul. People out of different tribes came to join themselves with David:

David said to them, "If you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if to betray me to my enemies, since there is no wrong in my hand, may the God of our fathers look and bring judgment" (1 Chron. 12:17).

"Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the captains, and he said: 'We are yours, O David; we are on your side, O son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers! For your God helps you'" (Verse 18, emphasis added).

The phrase "came upon" comes from the Hebrew word "labash" which means "clothed upon".

After having been clothed with the Spirit, Amasai declared his loyalty to David. Similarly when we are clothed upon with the Spirit from on high we are going to be found decalring our loyalty to King Jesus, in everything we say and in everything we do.


2. Gideon

Gideon was a very fearful man. When the Lord sent him to save Israel from the Midianites, he said, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house" (Judges 6:15).

"Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him ..." (Judges 6:33, 34, emphasis added).

When we are clothed with the Spirit we will be clothed upon with bravery and boldness. We will blow the trumpet of victory!

3. Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest

"Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, 'Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you'. So they conspired against him, and at the command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord" (2 Chron. 24:20, 21, emphasis added).

Zechariah was clothed with the Spirit for testimony and was stoned to death. With the clothing of the Spirit upon our lives we are going to stand and testify against that which is wrong and testify for that which is right with boldness and bravery unto death.

We are living in the days when God is taking all fears out of His people.

"And they overcome him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death" (Rev. 12:11).

Satan is not too worried about many of the people in the contemprorary Church because they are so concerned about their lives. But at this end-time hour there will come forth a people who do not love their lives unto the death. These people are going to be a threat to Satan's kingdom.

The clothing of the Spirit and the associated Power

According to the New Testament Scripture the clothing of the Holy Spirit is linked with the word "Power".

1. Power to stand consistently

"... that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; ..." (Col. 1:9 - 11).

Paul's epistles were written to Spirit filled believers. Paul prayed that they may increasingly filled and strengthened that they might endure and stand consistently. When people are clothed with the Power of God from on high they will stand consistently because Jesus said he who endures to the end shall be saved (Mark 13:13). In other words, those who hold on, those who persevere, those who stand consistently shall be saved.

2. Power to know experientially

"... the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power ...."Eph. 1:18, 19, emphasis added).

Paul prayed that God would grant to us the revelation knowledge of His will and His calling and to experience our inheritance in Him.

3. Power to suffer victoriously

God gave "a thorn in the flesh" to Paul in order to humble him. Paul being a man who received so much revelation knowledge that it was so easy for him to be puffed up above measure. Paul pleaded with the Lord three times to remove the "thorn in the flesh" which troubled him greatly, but the Lord said:

"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9).

"With the "thorn in the flesh", Paul was far more effective for God, because he was forced to depend on God totally.

4. Power to pray creatively

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ...." (Eph. 3:29, emphasis added).

As we go into seasons of prayer we begin to pray creatively, we begin to ask God and to think carefully so as to pray according to His will. And as we pray creatively something is birthed before us.

5. Power to give generously

"How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded into the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; ..." (2 Cor. 8:2, 3, KJV, emphasis added).

Members of the Churches of Macedona had the power to give generously and yet they were in deep poverty. They were clothed with the Spirit and they gave themselves to the Lord first (Verse 5).

6. Power to speak courageously

Peter and John prayed that the Lord would give them boldness to speak His Word (Acts 4:29).

"And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness" (Acts 4:31).

They were already filled with the Spirit as recorded in Acts 2. But with the fresh filling and anointing of the Holy Spirit they had a real passion for God.

Conclusion

The clothing of the Spirit is linked with the promises of God; it is also linked with the provision of God and linked with the Power of God. How we need to see the clothing of the Spirit with the associated Power of God upon the Churches today. God's end-time people are going to have the power to stand, power to know, power to suffer, power to pray, power to give and the power to speak. God's people will sound the trumpet of victory as they are going forth in the Power of the Holy Ghost!