This week, as we continue our 6-week study on the person of the Holy Spirit, we will be looking at the empowering of the Holy Spirit.
The third phrase we will think about is the empowering of the Holy Spirit.
i) IT CAN REFER TO THE POST-CONVERSION EXPERIENCE
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
Jesus, prophesying about the Day of Pentecost, speaks of how the Spirit’s coming will empower them. Empowering can be used to refer to the initial experience of the Spirit post-conversion. 'Power' (dunamis) refers to miraculous power, might, and strength. His power transformed those first Christians from fear and disillusionment to courageous faith and loving unity.
ii) CAN POINT TO AN ONGOING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SPIRIT
‘I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being. (Ephesians 3:18 See 3:18 also)
Here, Paul speaks of the empowering of the Spirit as a daily lifestyle. Imagine the difference that praying this daily for yourself and the church would make! God has got glorious riches by which to strengthen and empower us.
Looking at the terms (baptism, filling and empowering) I hope you can see that these terms are used interchangeably. What is important is that all Christians experience the power of the Spirit in salvation (regeneration); that they are to receive a post-conversion experience of empowering; thirdly, one lives a life of being filled with the Spirit.
RESPONSE
Meditate and pray out of Ephesians 1:17-20. Ask for a deeper appreciation of the power who is already at work in you. Pray for fresh empowering from the Spirit.
‘I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 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.’
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