Daily Devotional
Word of the Day
You Shall Take Power
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
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"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."
(Acts 2:4)
Jesus told the disciples to go and wait for the Promise to be filled with power from on high. There is a promise, there is a purpose, and there is the power. "And you shall receive power..." (Acts 1:8). The word "receive" there is "lambano"; it is not passive but active. It really means, "You shall take power." There is something to be done on your part. You have to reach out and take this gift that God is offering you. The Bible says they were filled. "You shall [take] power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you...And they were all filled with the [Spirit], and began to speak...as the Sprit gave them [words to speak]" (Acts 1:8, 2:4). They began to speak. It didn't say, "And the Holy Ghost came upon them, grabbed their mouth, banged their gums up and down and noise came out." It's not like that. As the Spirit of God fills us, we by faith begin to speak as the Spirit gives us utterance, or words to speak. It all happens simultaneously.
"Well, how do I know it's going to happen?"
It is faith. It will happen. It has happened to everybody for 2,000 years. What makes you different? Years ago an old evangelist, speaking about rivers of living water flowing out of your innermost, said, "There is only one thing that keeps most people from speaking in tongues: just dry lips." Have you ever noticed how you can fill a glass of water above the rim? Water will actually stack up above the rim at times if that rim is dry. I'm not talking about feet! I'm talking about the fact that it doesn't overflow. That glass is not full until it can't hold any more. If you were to drop just a pinpoint of water anywhere on that glass, the water comes out. That's where our faith is and we begin to speak; that's our part. They spoke as the Spirit provided the utterance.
Do we need the baptism in the Holy Spirit in this age? Have we been so influenced by this move in Christendom that's building its churches on mass-mailings and seeker-friendly sales techniques? Or do we still believe that in our generation we are a people that realize it's "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts" (Zech. 4:6)? More than ever, we need the infilling of the Holy Spirit. More than ever, we need the gifts of healings and the working of miracles. More than ever, we need prophesy and tongues and interpretation of tongues. Beloved, we are living in a day when the gifts are disappearing. Find a church today where the gifts of the Spirit are biblically in operation. You either have no recognition at all or some type of perverted circus environment solely for the purpose of glorifying man and fulfilling their spiritual jollies. What a demonic age we live in! Every perverted picture, every perverted program on TV, every perverted ideology is inundated with demonic forces that are manifesting in the heavenlies. What weapons are we using in our warfare against these to keep them from assaulting our own minds? I'm not trying to promote fear but trying to make you aware of the fact that we need the power of the Holy Spirit. If we are to go out there and not be vexed, we need the power of the Holy Ghost. If we're not going to be seduced with humanism and the world's philosophy, we need the wisdom of God and understanding of the Scriptures, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. That's what is so vitally needed in our generation as God prepares us as ministers on His behalf.