Clothed with Power

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, December 15th. Does your life feel a little overwhelming right now? Whatever you are facing, as a believer, remember that you are clothed with power. Learn more about the strength God provides through His Spirit. Oftentimes you've heard people refer to the power of the Holy Spirit. What do we mean by the power of the Holy Spirit? Well, when you begin to understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit and all that God has promised about Him, you begin to understand how very important it is that you and I are able to understand adequately what the Bible means when it refers to the power of the Holy Spirit. So if you'll turn to Luke Chapter 24, and I want us to look at a passage here when Jesus promised this power to his apostles, not only to them, but also to us.

And what has happened to give you a little background. He has already been resurrected from the dead. He's down by the seaside eating fish with them. And having finished their meal, he begins in verse 44 like this. He says, Now he said to them, These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me and the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things. And then verse 49 and behold, look, he said, I am sending forth the promise of my father upon you, but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Now it's interesting when you and I began to look at some of the ministries of the Holy Spirit, we begin to see why the power of the Holy Spirit is so very important. When you think for just a moment of the ministries of the Holy Spirit, that is, what is his work in and among the believer? Because God said here in this 24th chapter that before the apostles were to go out and begin witnessing the scripture says they were to wait to terror to sit down in the city of Jerusalem until they were in dude anointed clothed with power from on high. Well, when you begin looking at what the scripture says about the Holy Spirit, first of all, the Holy Spirit is the one who enlightens our minds and helps us to be able to understand any portion of scripture in first Corinthians chapter two, beginning in verse 10.

That's what Paul discusses. Then the Bible says the Holy Spirit is the one who brings about conviction in our life. In John chapter 16, verse eight, he's the one who convicts us of our need of salvation. The Bible says he is the one who brings about the regenerating work whereby our spirit did to the things of God and dead and trespasses and sins. We become alive through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, thereby coming to indwell us.

That is part of his work. He baptizes us, the Bible says, into into the body of Christ in first Corinthians chapter 12. Jesus referred to that.

John the Baptist referred to that, and it is stated in first Corinthians chapter 12 that all of us who believe this have been baptized into the body of Christ. The Bible says part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to seal us as children of God under the day of redemption, making us his now and forever. The work of the Holy Spirit is found in one of the names given to him as Comforter or as Helper, someone who lives on the inside of us, enabling us, helping us and comforting us. One of the primary works of the Holy Spirit is to delegate and to manifest the gifts of the Spirit as is recorded in first Corinthians chapter 12.

Look at that for a moment, because it may be one that you're not quite familiar with. In the 12th chapter, he says in verse seven, but to each one is given the manifestation, the manifestation of the spirit for the common good that is speaking of the gifts. And then he says in verse 11, but one in the same spirit, the Holy Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually, just as he will. So that's just a little bit of the work in the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Now, think about this for a moment. One of the key questions is this. What is and who is this power available to? Has God limited this to the apostles of the New Testament? Has he limited this, for example, to preachers and evangelists and musicians and missionaries?

Or is it available to other people? I'm going to tell you, my friend, it is available to every person who is willing to serve the living God and who is willing to meet the requirements given to us in the scriptures. It is not limited to a small segment of God's people. All of us have available to us, listen, that added dimension, that is the power of the Holy Spirit functioning and working and releasing and giving dynamic energy, dynamic strength, dynamic wisdom, dynamic perception in our life in order to carry out what God has required of us. Now, what is the purpose of the God whom we know releasing this dynamic energy and strength in and through us?

Simply this. We are ill-equipped and inadequate to do the work of God without it. Now, let me show you how God has made that so clear in the scriptures. Twice here, he says in Luke 24 and in Acts 1, but sit down, wait, tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until. Now, he had already said to them in John Chapter 20, the Bible says he breathed upon them and said, receive ye the Spirit. And in John Chapter 7, he said, out of their lives, out of their inmost being would flow, the Spirit of God would flow like rivers of living waters. Something dynamic was about to happen to them. But he said to them, you wait until you have been filled, baptized with the Holy Spirit.

But it's interesting, he said that about someone else in a different way. Look, if you will, in Luke Chapter three, you recall in the beginning of Christ's ministry, what's going on here in the beginning of his ministry in verse 22, he says, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus. He's being baptized now. And the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, like a dove and a voice came out of heaven. Thou art my beloved son in whom or in thee I am well pleased. The Holy Spirit descending.

All right. Turn over to Chapter four, verse one. The scripture says, And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness. Verse 14 of the same chapter.

Temptations over. And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit and news about him spread through all the surrounding districts. So he comes into the synagogue now on the Sabbath and verse 18 says that he begins reading the scripture. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set free those who are downtrodden to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. Before Jesus began his ministry, the Holy Spirit came upon him in a special and unique fashion. Here is one of the most beautiful verses, two verses that you'll find concerning the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of anyone.

Listen to how he describes this. Romans 15, verse 18. Paul says, For I will not presume to speak of anything.

Now listen to how he says this. I will not presume to speak of anything except. What Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, the disciples and apostles were not ready simply because they had walked with him. Paul, the apostle, was not ready until the Spirit of God came upon him. You'll recall, struck down on the Damascus road, Ananias came to him, laid his hands upon him. The scripture says the scales fell from his eyes and the Holy Spirit came upon him. He was baptized. And Paul says what Christ did through him in the power of the Holy Spirit. Why did he tell him to wait?

Because they were inadequate. The reason you and I need the power of the Holy Spirit is because we are inadequate within ourselves to carry out the work of God. Because, you see, the work that God has called all of us to do, whatever your ministry is, it is a supernatural work. It is not to be done in your ability. It is to be done in the power, the dynamic energy and the strength and the wisdom and the enablement and the added potential that God has given to you as a child of God.

Now, friend, let me give you a little warning here. Any time you and I hear anything that is not consistent with the teachings of scripture, I can tell you the Holy Spirit has not anointed it, regardless of what it may be. Any time we see any kind of action or function going on that is inconsistent with the teaching of scripture, it is not the power of the Holy Spirit. There are people today who have abilities psychologically to persuade, to influence, to convince, to reveal and to surface all kinds of information that have absolutely nothing to do with the power of the Holy Spirit. And some of those people stand behind pulpits and claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But inconsistent in their doctrine, inconsistent in the way they carry on God's work. So he says the Spirit of God is given for a specific reason and it is always given in keeping with a ministry that God has given to us to carry out. If you look in your Bible, here's what you'll find. You'll find that every single time the power of the Holy Spirit is mentioned, references to the anointing, the enduement of the power of God, it is always for service.

It is never for satisfaction and contentment. You see, there are so many people who have potential within themselves. And then here is this added dynamic, supernatural potential and dimension that God is willing to add to your life if you are willing to serve him. All of these excuses about you can't serve God and you don't feel capable and you don't feel adequate and you can't do it. All of those are to no avail when you realize what the Bible says that God has been willing to do to fill you and enable you and place within you the presence of one who assumes all the responsibility for convicting and giving you wisdom and directing you and teaching you and empowering your life and your witness.

That leaves us without excuse. So let's ask the question, what must I do, humanly speaking, in order not to get, not for God to send down, but in order for the Holy Spirit who is already living within me to release through me that dynamic energy, that added dimension and touch of God in my life? What must transpire in order for the release of this energy, this strength, this wisdom, this knowledge, this understanding, this added dimension? What must happen? All right, so jot these down.

Number one. The first is this, a conviction of my inadequacy, a conviction of my inadequacy, not just the feeling. Listen, sometimes we feel adequate, sometimes we don't. If you want the Holy Spirit to release his power in and through your life and whatever God has called you to do, there must be a willful conviction on your part. God, I cannot do this apart from the power of the Holy Spirit in my life. That is, Lord, if you don't surge through this body and this mind and this will of mind, your dynamic, your strength, your energy, your wisdom.

If you don't add your potential to my life, it won't get done. First of all, a conviction of our inadequacy. Secondly, purity of life. I didn't say perfection, but purity.

I mean by that, a clean life. Confession and repentance of sin. When sin comes in your life, confess it right then and there. Deal with it at that moment that the power of God may continually flow in your life, because you see, sin short circuits the power flow. When there is willful, deliberate sin in your life, it short circuits the power of God, because you see, God isn't going to release through his Holy Spirit in your life. Listen, he is not going to release in your life his dynamic power when there is hostility and anger and bitterness and unforgiveness and sensuality. When there is carelessness and recklessness about the things of God, God isn't going to release his power.

So what does he do? There's a short circuit. There is a power blackout, and here you are walking in the Spirit, and God has filled you, and the power of God is flowing through your life, and out of neglect, carelessness, allowing sin to creep in your life, you come back to the next time that God requires you to do that, another opportunity of service, and you start doing the same thing, and all of a sudden, nobody else may ever know, but you know there is something missing. What's missing is that added dimension, that added thrust, that added strength, that added dynamic in your life that when you share your faith with someone, it just sort of falls as if it's hit a rainstorm, that there's nothing there.

Somehow the words just sort of come out, but that's all. You see, you can serve God without the power of the Holy Spirit. You can do it in your strength, in your energy, and with your gifts that God has given, minus the Holy Spirit's power, and more than likely, depending upon where you are and what you're doing, you can get by, convince some people, persuade them, they'll be very impressed, and you'll be honored and praised, but my friend, God knows the difference, and I believe anyone who has ever experienced the power of the Holy Spirit released in their life, they know the difference. When he is there releasing it, and when the power of the Spirit is not released in their life, they know the difference. Number three, prayer.

I do not know of a single person that I have ever met in whose life the power of the Holy Spirit was evident, who was not a praying person. You see, if I have a conviction of my inadequacy, I'm going to be a praying person. If I have a conviction, God, I can't.

He's the first one I'm going to tell, and I'm going to keep on telling him. So a conviction of my inadequacy is essential, purity of purpose, purity of life, and thirdly, praying. Number four, believing. Believing that God will do what he promised to do, for surely if he's given me a supernatural work to do, if he's called you to do something and required it of you, God assumes the responsibility of enabling you in his strength and power and energy to get it done. So we must believe that he'll do what he said. This is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. We know this is his will. And if he hears us, we know that we have the petition that we desired of him. So we ask him and we believe it. That is, we appropriate for ourselves the release of the Holy Spirit has nothing to do necessarily with feeling.

I'm not going to tell you you won't feel different at times, but you cannot base it on feeling. You base it on the truth of the promise of the word of God. You ask what the will of the Father is. He will give you that which he's promised in his will. And we are to appropriate and to live out that which he's promised.

But there's one other thing. I must have a conviction of my inadequacy. I must be pure in my heart and life, praying and asking, believing and expecting. But then, last of all, I must be engaged in service. The person who is not going to become engaged in some form of service, some form of ministry, whether it's at home or wherever it may be, you're just going to do your thing and that's it. I want to tell you, you will never experience the flow of the power of the living God in your life through the Holy Spirit. Search the scriptures.

It is always identified with service. Now, you think about this for a moment. God has offered to every single one of us to release within us a supernatural power that we cannot fully ever describe, but experience for every single person who is willing, having been convinced of their inadequacy, who is willing to serve him in any form or fashion.

You know what that means? You don't ever have to do anything in the flesh. You don't ever have to do anything in your strength and energy. And when we do, we falter and we fall, but we don't have to. All of us believe we can be filled with the Spirit.

He said we could. Don't be drunk with wine, but be ye filled with the Spirit. Be ye being filled, continuously filled with the Holy Spirit of God. The fruit of that is overflowing in our life. Every time you and I have a responsibility of ministry in any form, whether to one person, a few, or many, we have the privilege, the right, and the authority to claim the Holy Spirit's release of his supernatural dynamic energy and added potential in our life in order that, listen, in order that what we do through the power of the Spirit may glorify and honor God and never ourselves. If the work is going to be lasting and have eternal consequence, then it must be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, I wonder how many of you have never experienced the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, but you've just sort of gone along thinking, well, you know, I have talents and abilities, and I guess that's the way I'm to do it. Well, you have somebody on the inside of you who is at a moment's notice willing and ready to release that dimension in your life if you are willing to meet the requirements.

Now, think about it. If you're going to live your life and you're going to serve the Lord, then why not give it your best? And how do you give it your best? Reaching the maximum of your potential, depending upon and resting in the power of the Holy Spirit to do that work through you. Thank you for listening to Clothed with Power. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.