"Week" 85 has been stretched out a bit through these days of Christmas celebration. I hope you have had a time of joy in remembering Christ's birth and sharing God's gift with family and friends. While this Christmas was certainly not one that we will look back on as our happiest, we did have moments of comfort and joy...primarily by knowing that we have a Savior, who is Christ the Lord! Only because of Him can we know that this life is just the beginning of our eternal existence with Him...Hallelujah!
Now, going back to our Great Commission as given to us by our Jesus...we are to go, we are to teach, and we are to do it with power, the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. When we try to do God's work within our own strength, our own power and our own design, we will never accomplish what He has planned for us.
Read what A. W. Tozer has to say about Acts 1:8
More often, we charge ahead working "for God" within our own power doing what we see needs to be done, rather than allowing the Spirit to move us so that we can work with God in the divine providence of His plans. When we do so, we can never expect the supernatural results that would be in store under the Holy Spirit's direction.
The disciples waited and the promise came true. They, under the Holy Spirit's power, rocked the world with the message of Jesus Christ. They preached in Jerusalem, they preached in all Judea, they preached in Samaria, and through their devotion and dedication the message is still going throughout the world...to the ends of the earth. Who would have thought that a mismatched group of twelve largely uneducated and impoverished Jews would be able to accomplish such? Truth is, they didn't...God did. His Holy Spirit empowered them to do the work that was needed...they just surrendered and allowed Him to have total control over their lives.
What could happen if we did the same? We often think our world is too far gone, too out of control for true revival...when we think such things, what are we saying about God's power? God's power turned the world upside down 2,000 years ago through one group of twelve...
Let's get serious about our commitment, let's get serious about surrender, and let's join with God in the things He is going to do in the coming year.
Now, going back to our Great Commission as given to us by our Jesus...we are to go, we are to teach, and we are to do it with power, the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. When we try to do God's work within our own strength, our own power and our own design, we will never accomplish what He has planned for us.
Read what A. W. Tozer has to say about Acts 1:8
"Ye shall receive power." By those words our Lord raised the expectation of His disciples and taught them to look forward to the coming of a supernatural potency into their natures from a source outside of themselves. It was to be something previously unknown to them, but suddenly to come upon them from another world. It was to be nothing less than God Himself entering into them with the purpose of ultimately reproducing His own likeness within them...Do we, as Christians living in 2012, now about to be 2013, have the promise of this same power? I most certainly believe we do. I believe that the Holy Spirit gives us exactly what we need, when we need it, to further the Kingdom of God. Not anything more, not anything less. If we need a miracle for His glory or for the saving of a soul, I believe He will empower us with miraculous abilities. If we need to be able to speak to a group of people that in normal circumstances we would have nothing in common with, I believe He will give us supernatural insight into a commonality in which we can approach them that will enhance our ability to share His good news. I believe that when we truly empty ourselves of self and allow His Spirit to fully move within us, we are amazed at what can happen...and, sadly, I believe that we don't allow that to happen nearly often enough.
This power is to come upon powerless men as a gentle but resistless invasion from another world bringing a moral potency infinitely beyond anything that might be stirred up from within. This power is sufficient; no additional help is needed, no auxiliary source of spiritual energy.
More often, we charge ahead working "for God" within our own power doing what we see needs to be done, rather than allowing the Spirit to move us so that we can work with God in the divine providence of His plans. When we do so, we can never expect the supernatural results that would be in store under the Holy Spirit's direction.
The disciples waited and the promise came true. They, under the Holy Spirit's power, rocked the world with the message of Jesus Christ. They preached in Jerusalem, they preached in all Judea, they preached in Samaria, and through their devotion and dedication the message is still going throughout the world...to the ends of the earth. Who would have thought that a mismatched group of twelve largely uneducated and impoverished Jews would be able to accomplish such? Truth is, they didn't...God did. His Holy Spirit empowered them to do the work that was needed...they just surrendered and allowed Him to have total control over their lives.
What could happen if we did the same? We often think our world is too far gone, too out of control for true revival...when we think such things, what are we saying about God's power? God's power turned the world upside down 2,000 years ago through one group of twelve...
Let's get serious about our commitment, let's get serious about surrender, and let's join with God in the things He is going to do in the coming year.
