Unfortunately, the Holy Spirit is the most neglected person or the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is the energy with which God demonstrates His power. It is the power of God…the “dunamis”. It is the spiritual energy in us to show the power of God and it is the privilege of every believer.
After Jesus was raised from the dead, He met with His disciples and said “I’ll leave you responsible to reconcile the whole world to God”. “As My Father sent Me, so do I send you.”(Jn 20:21) The plan of salvation for the world is left to us and he told His disciples how to do it. “Go ye…Heal the sick, cast out, signs, wonders, and THEN preach”, but He said “wait before you go, wait for the Promise of the father. Wait, you’ll need the power to demonstrate the kingdom. He said, “John baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit and you’ll be witnesses unto me, (not, you’ll go out witnessing) you’ll be a witness of the power of God”.
All along, I was under the impression that the Holy Spirit will give you the power to witness, the boldness to stand up. Well, that’s one aspect, but even more, He’s the POWER to demonstrate, to do the signs and wonders. Let’s re-read Mark 16:15: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized (by the Holy Spirit) will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And [consequently, once you have the Holy Spirit] these signs [demonstrations] will follow those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” This means that there can’t be preaching without demonstration. It’s unscriptural. It’s “hearing, without doing”. It doesn’t demonstrate the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.
Nowadays there is so much talk, and no demonstration of power. The Holy Spirit is the One who does the works. Power is imperative, not an option. You can’t do the work of God without the power of God. “As many as believe and be Baptised of the (Holy Spirit) these signs shall follow them”. It is so sad that we should be baptized in the Holy Spirit and we don’t do anything with it. We either misuse it or abuse it. Or else confuse it and refuse it.
Let’s face it, the biggest objection to Christianity is “I don’t believe because it doesn’t work. People don’t see the WORKing of the Word”. So they refuse to believe. There is no proof.
Or else, we abuse the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And thousands of people reject it. The Holy Spirit was given for signs (proof) to heal the sick, cast out demons, not to have a weird dance, a sceam and a show… Paul calls it “zeal without knowledge”. (Proverbs 19:2) The Word says, “one can chase a thousand, and two can put 10,000 to flight”. (Deut 32:30) But, as it stands now, you can have a couple thousand people in a gathering and still all those who came in sick, leave sick.
The Holy Spirit is not to raise a racket, He’s to demonstrate the POWER of God. The Church has a lot of information about the Holy Spirit but won’t use the power. Education but no demonstration. Theory but no practice. Knowledge, but no power. Excitement doesn’t get miracles. The Holy Spirit power does.
Remember how Jesus’ disciples all saw Him heal the sick constantly. They had information but not the revelation yet. Until Jesus gave them the POWER. He sent 70 of His disciples out and He didn’t just send them to preach. He gave them the power of the Holy Spirit to heal the sick, etc. Read it: “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” (Mat 10:7-8). And when they came back, They said, “you won’t believe what happened, everyone we laid hands on got healed, demons obeyed us, the blind could see, it was AWESOME.” –Here’s the actual account, “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name”. (Lk 10:17). It was unanimous, they all performed signs and wonders.
In the old testament, the Holy Spirit could not come in to the prophets, but rather came upon people. That’s why they’d say, “the spirit of the lord is upon me…” However, in the New Testament, the whole fullness of the Spirit God was in Jesus, in full measure, the Holy Spirit operated fully in and through Jesus. “After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him”. And John 3:34,35 says, “For He whom God has sent utters the Words of God, for He gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand”.
So this is why Jesus had to tell His disciples, “Wait till I go up and fulfill the new testament with the Father and you’ll receive the “Promise of the Father”, the Holy Spirit will not only be with you, but IN you.
After His resurrection, He gathered the 12 and said, “As my Father sent me, so do I send you”. (Jn 20:21) And He BREATHED on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. Before they were followers, but now they could be sons. Remember at creation when God BREATHED His Spirit in Adam and he became a living soul. He breathed His Holy Spirit from the start. So by sending the Holy Spirit in each one of us, it completed the mission of Christ; to bring back the Spirit into man so we could be fully empowered to represent God and bring the will of God on earth as it is in heaven. We’re fully equipped to do the works of God as Jesus demonstrated. He said, “I do nothing of my own. I only do what My Father shows Me“. They are ONE, they all move as ONE.
Jesus never said that He performed miracles. He talked about the works of God. He said, “the works that I do, you will do also, and greater works will you do”. God works. “My Father is always working” (Jn 5:17). He transforms the impossible into the possible. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is the power of doing the “works” of God, the power to demonstrate that the kingdom of God is here, now.
The word used in Greek here for power is the “Dunamis” of God, meaning the “POWER of enablement”. The power to do it. Not just to go out “witnessing”, but to BE the WITNESS, the proof. It’s the demonstration that matters. Jesus said, “if you don’t believe the Words that I say, believe me for the works that I do”. In other words, I’m proving what I’m saying. “If I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God is come upon you” (Lk 11:20).
When Jesus told the disciples that they would receive the Promise of the Father, He said, “and you shall be witnesses unto Me, not of the Gospel, but proof of My power, proof of the Kingdom, you’ll be able to prove that it’s the real deal. You will receive the “power of enablement”. You’ll be able to say that Jesus is the real deal. You’ll be able to say, “Here, let me heal your illness”. You preach the kingdom by demonstrating the power of the kingdom.
Earlier, when Jesus sent out the 70, He gave them power. He imparted the Holy Spirit power on them before they went, but Jesus later told them that the Spirit shall be “in” you. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate (lawyer, to defend your rights) to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him [it’s ME], for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. [in the form of the Holy Spirit]. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me… Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
Jesus told His disciples “I’m giving you the same responsibility My Father gave me. I’m giving you the same job. “As My Father sent Me, so do I send you.” So, what was that responsibility? “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised (Lk 4:18).
And He gave them the same Holy Spirit power to do the job with. We have the energy of God working through us. As soon as God speaks the Holy Spirit moves. The Holy Spirit activates God’s Word (Jesus). They all work together. That’s why Jesus said “we will make our abode in you”.
None of this resembles religious services, nor a one-hour-a-week acknowledging what we believe. The Holy Spirit is the bottom line of the Christian faith. You believe, you demonstrate. Less talk and more show. Less hearing, more doing, demonstrating! We have the charisma of God in us. The Holy Spirit is the energy of God that brings into reality what God says. Charismatic means filled with the charisma of God; the SPIRIT of God acting out God’s will through us.
Let’s demonstrate the gospel of the kingdom of God. Hallelujah for the Holy Spirit.