Supernatural Miracle-Working Power!

Acts 1:8 New King James Version (NKJV)
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
 
What stands out for you in this verse? Think about it for a moment before continuing with today’s devotional.
 
This is the key scripture for the book of Acts. Throughout the book of Acts, we see the Holy Spirit empowering believers and it resulting in the supernatural miracle-working witnessing in Jerusalem (Acts 2-8), Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1) and to the ends of the earth.
 
Acts 1:4 New King James Version (NKJV)
“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me.”
 
Jesus commanded His disciples to wait for the empowering and then they would be witnesses all over the world. Why do you think that Jesus commanded them to wait for the empowering of the Holy Spirit before they went witnessing?
 
Christians often get confused about the empowering of the Holy Spirit because they think that they received the Holy Spirit when they received Jesus. The answer to this is that you did receive the Holy Spirit at salvation (Ephesians 1:13) but need to receive the Holy Spirit for empowering. It is a separate experience to be had after you get born again.
 
Acts 19:1-2 New King James Version (NKJV)
And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”
 
From the passage above consider Who Paul was speaking to?
 
The verse says that Paul found “some disciples” which means that they were believers in Jesus who were seeking to grow in their relationship with God but there was one problem… although they were passionate about God, they did not have all the truth at hand. This is a good lesson for us: we do not know what we do not know. Be humble enough to learn! So, Paul asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” to which they replied, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” After the empowering of the believers in Ephesus, there was a revival in the city! And the church was established there.
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Throughout Acts we see believers being empowered or baptised by the Holy Spirit which results in supernatural, miracle-working power; it results in the advancing of the Kingdom through believers in everyday life. Without the empowering, we are trying to accomplish a huge task (disciple all nations) with no ability. As someone once said, we’re charging hell with a water pistol!

You need to ask yourself some very important questions, today: Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?? Are you empowered for the mission? The empowering is for a purpose! Are you living your purpose in His power or in your self-effort?

If you want to dig into more about the Holy Spirit click here and download my free study on the topic.