Never think that there is a rationing required by God on how much Holy Spirit power can be released upon the earth. The issue is never the limit of God to pour out, but of man to receive.
The reason we have so few mighty warriors in our churches is not because people are too weak, but too strong. The reason so few stand in victory is because so few kneel in humility. “This is the word of the LORD…’Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit’…” (Zechariah 4:6).
A church will only have Holy Spirit power when the power of man gets out of the way. The power of a church is not how filled a building is with people, but how filled the people are with the Holy Spirit. The church would not need so many gimmicks if it just had the Holy Spirit.
We don’t need a new way, but to return to the old. To solve 21st century problems, we need Holy Spirit power like the 1st century church. “…And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit… And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:5,8).
The secret to spiritual growth is to stop relying upon your natural strength. You cannot fight spiritual battles with the natural weapons, but with the weapons of God. You cannot have the power of God working through you so long as rely upon yourself. The principle is this: either rely upon God or all you have is yourself.
Stop making excuses of why you can’t, and just believe that He can. The reason so few walk in the power of the Holy Spirit is not the scarcity of all that God has, but the scarcity of those willing to live the life that they could receive all He would give them. The greater the yielding to the Holy Spirit, the greater the filling of the Holy Spirit. “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is…be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:17-18).
People say they want Holy Spirit power to serve God. But do not think you can fool God, when you seek the power to serve yourself. You seek the power that God would exalt you before men, and God will have none of that. The gifts of God are not meant for you, but to flow through you that you would be a blessing to others. “Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel” (1 Corinthians 14:12).
We think having the power of God would make our lives easier. Have you never read the prophetic books of the Bible? Everyone wants the power until they realize all that it will cost them. Stop acting Christian and start living Christian. Stop pursuing an easy life and pursue a life of righteousness. You will not have the power of the Holy Spirit unless the power of the Holy Spirit has you.
Growing in faith is not changing yourself, but being changed. Spiritual power is not built up, but poured in. The harder you try, the greater the hindrance you will be. Moses said, “…Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” (Numbers 11:29). Self-help is the cursed worldly idea that you can add more to yourself. You cannot add more to you, but only yield yourself over to Him. You are the limit of you. Let the Holy Spirit have His way with you.
We think we need to increase our efforts and spend less time praying. But the opposite is true. It is by our efforts that we hinder God, and it is the lack of prayers that prevent God from acting. All we have to do to reveal this is to measure the programs verses the prayer meetings in our church. I would argue people spend more time picking out donuts than talking with God, and then they wonder why He is so absent in their lives. Live this verse: “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
You cannot walk in the power of God without spending time in His presence. Jesus said, “…you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” (Acts 1:8). If the Holy Spirit has come upon you then there will be power in you. You may be able to talk a good story, but can you live it?
You may not like getting a rebuke. But if you simply lived your life rightly, you would not need one. A hard message either proves where you are right, or where you are wrong. The Word of God only hurts when it has to cut something out of your life. But if it is going to hurt, be sure that it will produce the saint that God has purposed to be in you. Let it hurt until it does not need to. “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword…” (Hebrews 4:12).
We don’t need another program, we need the Holy Spirit. We don’t need another book to read, but to get on our knees and pray more. And we need to learn how to pray, how to cry out such that our prayers reach the ears of God and change the course of history. Pray like a believer and then watch what God can do with that. “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry entered His ears” (2 Samuel 22:7).
If you want to receive more from God, you need to spend more time near Him. And if you are walking in sin, then you cannot even get close to Him. It is not that He does not love you, but your nature is simply unable to get near His nature. As darkness cannot approach light, the man in sin cannot get near to God. God’s nature is a blazing flame of righteousness, and the only way to get near Him is if you yourself are a flame. “For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).
Let the Holy Spirit have His way with you, and your life will never be the same. “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
May the Holy Spirit fill you,
Paul
Great piece! Prayer has always been the key
Thank you so much Naana! And oh yes, it is by prayer that we can reach God. It is such a privilege that we can talk with God and know Him as we do.
Thank you for this reminder. My prayer life is definitely not what it used to be, and I need to be spending more time alone with God than I have been.
Growing in prayer is a journey of a lifetime. If ever you want to get immersed into the depths of a prayerful life, pick up the book called “E.M. Bounds on Prayer”. It is actually a collection of seven books. Bounds was a civil war pastor and wrote more exhaustively on prayer than anyone I know. It is a big book, I took months to go through it, but is a treasure in the library of any saint!