The Power of the Holy Spirit

 

Photo Credit: Brothers of the Book Blog

"For this I toil, struggling with all his energy(En) that he powerfully(D) works(En) within me"
Colossians 1:29

There are several words used to describe the "power" that God provides for us to live out our Christian witness. They range from power to live moral lives all the way to power to heal cancer and raise the dead. 

Here are the main Greek words describing power.

• Dunamis (D): Power through God's ability - dunamis is needed in every scene of life to really grow in sanctification and prepare for heaven (HELPS Word-Studies). The power to perform miracles. The power to live with moral excellence. 
  
  
• Energeia (En): The efficient harnessed release of power for controlled purpose, performance, or operation, such as changing a life or healing the sick.
  
  
• Ischuos (I): The might or muscle power that overcomes, binds up, and sets free; both physical and spiritual strength; power that overcomes the strong man and demons.
  
  
• Exousia (Ex): Executive power, authority, and jurisdiction.
  
  (Compiled by Paul & Gretel Haglin – Resurrection Christian Ministries – Used with permission)

Let's look at a few verses from Scripture to help us understand the context of the Holy Spirit's "power". The first has to do with what I felt the Lord spoke to me about 2026, that it would be a year of "Enlightened Hearts",

“…the eyes of your heart being enlightened, in order for you to know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power(D) toward us believing according to the working(En) of the power(K) of His might(I),which He worked(En) in Christ, having raised Him out from the dead, and having set Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms…”

(Ephesians 1:18-20)

“…for Yours is the Kingdom, and the power(D), and the glory, forever and ever amen”

(Matthew 6:13)

“I can do(I) all things through him who strengthens me”

(Philippians 4:13)

"But you will receive power(D) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses..."
Acts 1:8

To only limit "power" to miracles is shortsighted. We are experiencing a reformation where the need for His power working in our character is just as important as His power working miracles, or performing healings in our lives. This has been a common thread throughout history where one is suspended for the sake of the other. As in, we emphasise character over acts of power, or vice versa. In light of all that is happening in the Church at present, I agree that a cohort of charactered leaders are needed. Men and women who will lead the way in moral excellence, serving God and people without building empires. However, we must not allow this at the expense of moving in the same power that the Holy Spirit anointed our fellow brothers and sisters with, in the early church, and throughout history.

Jesus did this,

"And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority(Ex) over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction...'Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons'"
Matthew 10:1, 8

"And he called the twelve together and gave them power(D) and authority(Ex) over all demons and to cure diseases"
Luke 9:1

AND this,

"The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit....'Heal the sick in it and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near to you’"
Luke 10:1, 9

Both the 12 disciples AND the 72 other disciple moved in power to heal the sick. We cannot do these kinds of things without the power of the Holy Spirit. 

I was once in a church where every week the Pastor proclaimed,

"Our mission is the great Commission!"

I gently challenged him about saying this because they never prayed for the sick, cast out demons etc. They just, for want of a better word, preached the Gospel. The Great Commission includes all of what Jesus said His followers would do to demonstrate that His Kingdom was here. It is best proclaimed AND demonstrated. It is more than a sermon, it is a lifestyle. 

There are two "doctrines of demons" that are prevalent in the church 1) Cessationism, and 2) The Kingdom is future tense. These serious errors in teaching remove the power of the Holy Spirit from moving in our communities today as He did in the early church. Equally, history is FULL of accounts of miracles, moves of God, healings, signs & wonders, that are the signs of His Kingdom Come. You have to be wrongly taught these things. For example, I have these two friends, a couple, in Kenya, who attended a Bible Class put on by American Baptist Missionaries to Kenya. The preacher was hammering out the cessationist rhetoric, and my friends told me that every one in the class smiled to themselves because they all saw miracles on a regular basis. They saw the dead raised, demons cast out of people, in other words, all of the things the American Doctor of Theology said doesn't happen anymore, they were living. This is why I love this quote,

"A man with an argument is no match for a man with an experience"
Leonard Ravenhill

There is just no way that wrong teaching trumps empirical knowledge, no matter how many verses they quote. Those who propagate such doctrines do not know what they are talking about, however articulate the argument. Again, they have been wrongly taught these theories, and should be pitied. How can you believe for Revival in Wales whilst holding onto a belief that God does not move in His Church the way He did in the Early Church? That's schizophrenic!  

So, with this year being a year of enlightened hearts, we push forward to live both morally and missionally the way that Jesus modelled for us. Both in holy character and miraculous works. Never sacrificing the one for the other, but growing in both expressions with "all his energy(En) that he powerfully(D) works(En) within" us!

Mwy Arglwydd...