Acts 1:8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The moment you were saved, the Holy Spirit came and took up residence within you. You became the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. You are no longer your own, but you belong to him. He removes the chains of sin and bondage from you as you yield to his leadership. He placed his seal upon you and marked you as a child of God. The Holy Spirit gifts you with special abilities that you did not possess before you were saved. He fills you with faith, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. He gives you strength in your weakness and guides you in all truth. He makes you bold. As you spend time with the Holy Spirit you start to look and act like him. You see evidence of this in your life as when you bear his fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Luke chapter 4 recalls Jesus’ fast, where he was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil for 40 days. It differentiates between Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit, entering into his fast (vs 1), and after successfully resisting the temptations of the devil, came out of the fast filled with the power of the Holy Spirit (vs 14). Jesus went through the process of having his flesh challenged. He was sifted and refined. He walked in holiness and righteousness, not falling captive to the enemy the entire time. He demonstrated we can be filled with the Holy Spirit and we can be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Through his fast we are shown a strategy for inviting the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Jesus relied on the ministry of the Holy Spirit to deny his flesh. He was tempted in the basic need for food, in a desire for earthly power, and in his identity as the Son of God. We know Jesus would never give in to those temptations, but he still had to walk the course of being tested to carry the power of the Holy Spirit. How much more do we need to submit to the process, so we too can carry the responsibility and honor of that same power.
There is so much revealed in how Jesus was tempted. It gives us insight into the areas of our lives where we need to be cleansed and allow the Holy Spirit to work in us. Jesus was first tempted with food. He was hungry. Not the, “I skipped breakfast, the sermon is going long and I’m getting irritable,” kind of hungry. Jesus’ physical body was literally emptied of all sustenance and anything that would give him strength. He was weak, probably light headed, and the idea of bread must have been overwhelmingly appealing to his flesh. What do you use to satisfy your flesh when you feel weak? What do you rely on to fill you, satisfy you, satiate your pain or your places of deep longing? As we fast, we have the opportunity to surrender them to God. Allow him to help you empty yourself of misplaced dependencies and refill those spaces with the Holy Spirit.
Next, Jesus was promised all power and authority over all the things of the world if he would worship the devil. Power and authority in the world is the counterfeit to Kingdom power and authority. It is not meant to be experienced as something that is selfish, self-seeking, controlling, and self-glorifying. Rather, power and authority is meant to be used for Christ. It is for the advancement of the Kingdom of God and administered through the lens of love, compassion, selflessness, and the desire for God’s best for others. It seeks to bring salvation, healing, deliverance, and freedom to others. The power of the Holy Spirit is to be used to glorify God. When you seek the power of the Holy Spirit, are you desiring personal glorification or is it to partner with God and see people touched by him? Does your pursuit come from an outpouring of intimacy with the Holy Spirit? Permit the Holy Spirit to refine you and purify your intentions so you can move in power in partnership with him.
Finally Jesus was tempted in his identity as a Son of God. If the enemy can get us to question who we are and whose we are, we will be ineffective. Walking outside of our identity in Christ is an invitation for the enemy’s lies and deception. Walking in our God given identities reminds us we are not alone, we are a part of God’s family, and deeply loved. We are co-heirs with Christ, filled with purpose and gifts to be used for God’s glory. We have a dad who never runs out of love, resources, solutions to problems, provision, or power. There is always more than enough to go around. He is always present and always has our best interest and the best interests of others in mind.
As we fast and pray, knowing we are filled with the Holy Spirit and being led by the Holy Spirit, let us submit ourselves to him and allow him to sift our flesh so we can be filled with and entrusted with his power. In this season, some of us may need a complete overhaul, others a fine tuning. The process may be uncomfortable, but it is worth the victory and freedom on the other side, both for ourselves and for others. There is nothing more rewarding or exciting than partnering with the Holy Spirit as a conduit through which he moves.
Listening Prayer:
Holy Spirit, what areas of my flesh am I trying to satisfy with things other than you? What places in my identity do you need to heal? What areas of my life do I need to give over to your control so I can be a vessel through which you move in power?
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I want to live a life completely surrendered to you. I submit my flesh, my identity, and my desires to you. Cleanse me and make me new. Purify my motivation and exchange my mindsets for yours. As you remove the things in my life that are not serving me well, replace them with things of you. I desire to be both filled with the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit, so I may do what I was designed to do as a part of the body of Christ. Thank you for your guidance, your wisdom, strength, truth, healing, deliverance, and freedom. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Resource: Bible Verses on the Power of the Holy Spirit
1 Corinthians 12:4-8
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.“
Acts 4:31
“And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”
2 Timothy 1:6-7
“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
Romans 8:9-11
“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
1 Corinthians 6:19
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
John 14:26
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
2 Timothy 2:20-21
“Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.”