Monday, June 23, 2008

The Spirit comes in power.....

My post on Saturday, led me to go dig up some Scriptures about God's power and I was so compelled by  Don's wonderful comment I decided to share them in this post. I remember as a child and a youth being well versed in the stories of the Bible, especially the old testament. Now as an adult I can't ever remember thinking as a child that the same spirit that came in power on many in the Bible was for today or for me to experience as a believer. It's interesting though to me that those God used to accomplish his purpose had the "spirit of the Lord come on them in power." You can go dig through the Bible and find many accounts where this was the case. Samson, even Saul in, 1 Samuel 10:6..."the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you and you will be a different person," and David, 1 Samuel 13:16, then  Elijah, Daniel, Micah. Those are some of the ones I found that said specifically, "the Spirit of the Lord came on them with power." You will find John the Baptist in Matthew 3:11 saying, "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Many believers get baptized in water, but why not in the Holy Spirit? Why accept one and not the other? 
We also see that the Holy Spirit came on Mary in power. Acts 1:8....Jesus tells the disciples that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them....Phillip was taken away by the Spirit from one location to another location entirely!! (Acts 8)I didn't include all the many Scriptures that simply talk about God's power. I think most Christians are quick to believe and agree on His power. It's just that there is not a wide spread belief in the power of the Holy Spirit for the believer today. I never knew him personally, I simply lived in naivety due to the environment I grew up in, not just my home church but I also went to a Christian school and never heard about the Holy Spirit. Which to me is interesting, I now think it's a package deal...salvation, baptism of the Holy Spirit and like Don said, signs, wonders and miracles. Again, why is it that we accept salvation, and then get baptized in water,  but not baptized in the Holy Spirit? Hebrews 6, says baptisms, plural, meaning more than one kind of baptism. Salvation is for us, for our eternal redemption, which is a wonderful gift. But it's by the power of God's Spirit that we will be more transformed into His likeness and it's by the power of His Spirit that we will go forth and preach the gospel, and see the sick healed, and the oppressed set free, demons cast out. (Demons were not just for Bible times. Many people need to be set free from demonic oppression.) 
About a year ago my mom and I were talking about whether or not believers could have demons oppressing them. (She mentioned Mary Magdelene) So over the course of this year, I have been exploring this question, can Christians be oppressed by demonic influence? Absolutely! Anyway, I am getting off topic a bit, I do think is important to understand this though. I mean it is obvious people are sick and people need to get saved, but it is not obvious to many believers that they can be oppressed by evil spirits. All of which we have authority and power given to us to overcome, so we shouldn't fear this fact, just simply be aware of it so we can learn to deal with it, or that it may be a reason someone seems to be in bondage to "sin".
What I really want to do in this post is raise questions for people. For me, since coming to a full revelation of God's grace, His pure gospel, I have found myself searching and seeking to know God more and it has been kind of a natural progression for me to find out more about the Holy Spirit, who He is, His job in the life of a believer and to find out what baptism in the Holy Spirit means, then asking to be baptized in the Spirit, getting baptized speaking in tongues, learning to get set free from demonic oppression and now longing to walk in His kingdom authority healing the sick, seeing signs and wonders in my life and getting people saved. 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was pondering your post, Lydia, and feeling somewhat frustrated because I believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is for today, but for some reason I rarely experience it personally. I was thinking about how does one finally start experiencing His power?
So, just now one of my kids who can't find something of his and is really upset about it and has been obsessing about it for a couple days came into my room. So we prayed about it. Maybe it is as simple as that?

Ellie

lydia said...

Ellie,
You are so right, I think it should be as simple as that just ask.....the Bible says...Draw near to God and He will draw near to you........if you want Him go for it, He will fill you.....just ask Him for His presence...after all one of the benefits of the cross was that the curtain was torn in to allowing us total access to God freely any time, we can enter in to His Presence, you can go boldy to the throne room of grace in time of need, you don't have to do anything nor do you need to feel like anything stands in the way of you and your papa daddy.....Come Holy Spirit touch Ellie today and refresh her with your touch of love!!!

Amy said...

i love what ellie said about just praying about the little things...i do truly think life, and finding God in life, is all abut the everyday things, like losing something special....and having God help you find it....my kids take great joy when God answers their little prayers- we are no different as adults...it doesn't have to be all this razzle dazzle power (although I am all for it, and I know God likes that, too)...i think he is even more interested in the relationship side of his spirit~ that we would be known by God, and that we would know him ....the two go hand in hand in my opinion, b/c that's who He is- (the power and the love)....the intimacy we can have with Jesus is limitless, and that gives me great hope.