The Holy Spirit is the secret of our power!

Good morning, dear friends! Praise God for this wonderful day that God has given us! Thank God for one more opportunity to be filled with His living Word! Yesterday we talked about the fact that without the Holy Spirit we are not able to manifest God in our lives. Based on the passage in Acts (1:1-12), we saw that: 1) Jesus gave commandments to His disciples by the HOLY SPIRIT. Jesus Himself relied on the Holy Spirit in everything He did while in flesh. Jesus relied on the Holy Spirit to manifest the Father; it means we also have to do likewise. 2) The Baptism of the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit is a commandment and not a suggestion: 

«…until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen» (Acts, 1:2).

 Jesus orders those who want to follow Him to be baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit we are limited and we aren’t able to fulfil our mission. Without the Holy Spirit we lose in the battles of life . Without the power of the Holy Spirit it is impossible to subdue and overcome the flesh. The secret of successful Christian living is in being filled with the Holy Spirit. Apostle Paul knew that, because being filled with the Holy Spirit changed his whole life: 

 «And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit» (Acts, 9:17).

 Being filled with the Holy Spirit is the secret of power and success. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is the supernatural power that we need to be able manifest God. Paul was a rather educated and talented man; nevertheless, the first thing God did for him after his conversion was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He understood how important and necessary it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke of it many times in many of his epistles and sermons. Paul met some disciples in Ephesus; at that moment these men had not affected their surroundings in any spectacular way. So, the first question Paul asked them was: „Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Their answer provided the explanation and the reason for their ineffectiveness: 

 «And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed Ephesus. And finding some disciples he said to them, „Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, „We have not as much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said to them, „Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, „Into John’s baptism.” Then Paul said, „John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about twelve in all» (Acts, 19:1-7).

 These people were not able to affect their society in a positive way. They said that they had never even heard about the Holy Spirit and were not filled with the Holy Spirit. After Paul revealed the truth to them, they received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the secret of our power! 

 «And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit» (Ephesians, 5:18).

 Paul wrote these words because he had experienced what being filled with the Holy Spirit meant for him. It is absolutely necessary to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is a commandment for us, so whoever does not comply is disobedient to God. Obedience is the price for being endowed with power from above. God gives the Holy Spirit to those who is obedient to God: 

 «And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him» (Acts, 5: 32).

 God bless you! Pastor Rufus Ajiboye