Supernatural Power
Good Morning, I pray that you will be blessed in Christ and experience victory today and every day. You are not ordinary because you have been born from above. You are His child and that means you are more than an overcomer through Jesus!
If good news is only about a morally changed life, how does that help the person who has lived a decent moral life and cannot see their need for change?
A morally decent person, and there are such persons, isn’t moved by a message that is only about change from a life of immorality to one of morality. This is why religious ideology is dead and lifeless. It does not focus on the value and privilege of the presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit. The goal was to fix things so that the Holy Spirit could come and dwell with believers. The aim was and still is God’s presence.
If the goal of good news is reduced to behavioral compliance it has lost its power. But the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Salvation from what and just what does power of God really mean?
Salvation is the rescue from the spiritual death and separation caused by sin. Power of God means the real gospel, by heavenly definition, is supernatural because it involves the power and presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit. The difference in man centered gospel and the true gospel is the presence of God. The true gospel reveals the presence of God is available based on what Jesus accomplished at the cross and had been planned in eternity past. It does not exclude any of the members of the Godhead. It recognizes the desire of the Father to have many children He might enjoy fellowship with. It recognizes the completed work of Jesus to make it possible, and that fellowship with all Three is made real by the person of the Holy Spirit, until the appointed time of the end. The gospel reveals each member of the Godhead as being essential and does not marginalize any of them. The Holy Spirit has equal importance.
The disciples believed in Jesus before Pentecost came. They had spent forty days with Him and were eye witnesses to His being alive after His death. They did not need to be convinced Jesus was alive. They did not need to be convinced that they should be witnesses. They were eager to see the kingdom established.
What was it that they still really needed before they would know they have his presence with them after Jesus had departed and they were going out to represent the good news to the world?
The Holy Spirit was not optional in the preaching of the original gospel. The Holy Spirit was not treated as an after thought by the early church. When it was time for the Gentiles to be included as being part of the church the apostles needed to witness something in order to accept it.
What did God determine it would be?
It was the manifestation of the Holy Spirit that testified to the presence of God with them. It was the evidence of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Spirit. It is the operation of the Holy Spirit that is the evidence of the presence of God. This is why the gifts of the Holy Spirit are important to the church. They testify to the presence of God with believers in Jesus. Jesus said something very important about the manifestation of the Holy Spirit coming upon a follower of Him that should never be ignored.
Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The power spoken of here is supernatural. It is more than just an enablement. It is a tangible power that overwhelms. When truly believed and received the Holy Spirit is powerfully felt and the one receiving does not need anyone to reassure them they got it. The Holy Spirit is the active glory of God in the flow of His power to create, alter matter, change hearts and minds, and enable us beyond our natural abilities. Those who prioritize God’s presence, partner with the Holy Spirit in His effort to make known the reality of God’s available presence. They are activated supernaturally! Those who prioritize the presence of God, believe and expect to receive on the basis of belonging to Him and being promised the Holy Spirit.
Always remember that you are loved with an everlasting love by a faithful God who cannot lie and you have everything you need in Christ. Go and enjoy the adventure that is yours when you live submitted to the Holy Spirit each day!
