“I am going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)
Tongues of fire, signs and wonders, healings and miracles, convicted hearts, changed lives… these things took place as the promised Holy Spirit came in power. People turned from their sins and boldly declared the love of God and the majesty of Jesus. Believers sold their possessions and gave to those in need, totally trusting their God, the ‘Father of heavenly lights.’
We need for the same power to flow today… for the goodness of God to be realized, for the love of the Creator to be understood, and for salvation to be gained through faith in Jesus Christ. Our Father ‘is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.’ ‘He does not want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’ His power is for His children, and it is ‘the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead.’
Our all-wise Father sometimes reveals His power through a mysterious avenue, though. The Son of God embraced ‘weakness’ to fulfill His mission, and the apostles accepted the same cup. “He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in Him, yet by God’s power we will live with Him…” (II Corinthians 13:4)
‘Lord, won’t You remove this thorn from my flesh?’ Paul pleaded. “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’” (II Corinthians 12:9) How does ‘weakness’ fit with tongues of fire, signs and wonders, and healings and miracles?
No one walked more powerfully in the Spirit than Jesus of Nazareth, but despite His miraculous works, most rejected Him. Mankind was messed up… and it still is. Jesus knew that complete surrender to His Father is necessary, and that the Father chooses humility to reveal Himself. He chose Moses, the most humble man on earth, to deliver the children of Israel from slavery. A much mightier Deliverer has saved the world from sin… the ‘meek and lowly’ Jesus. He invites us to follow. ‘I have placed My power within you, but do not despise weakness. And remember: My Father’s ways are perfect.’
Jesus appeared to Saul of Tarsus and blinded him on the road to Damascus. Through a believer named Ananias, he was healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, baptized in water, and commissioned to be God’s messenger to the Gentiles. With a new name, Paul walked in the power of the Spirit and boldly proclaimed the Gospel. But he also embraced weakness, accepting his Savior’s path. Jesus is the Way…
“I want to know Christ — yes, to know the power of the resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:10-11
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms…” Ephesians 1:18-20
“The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27