Seeds of the Kingdom 31 January 2022
TOPIC: The Empowerment of Holy Ghost
SCRIPTURE: … the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him because he lives with you and will be in you. – John 14:17, NIV
Seeds of the Kingdom 31 January 2022 MESSAGE
So many bad things are happening in our world. Recently I have been touched by the plight of many in Afghanistan. And we have watched the stream of desperate people trying to escape to somewhere where there is food and safety.
I felt a kind of helplessness. What could I do? How could I help? Prayer seemed so pathetically impractical for the situation.
And then I read these words that Jesus says to His disciples (above): ‘You know the Spirit of truth because he lives with you and will be in you.’
What does that mean? As those disciples live with Jesus, they are seeing God. They are seeing the Spirit of God in this man, Jesus, who is God. They see the power of God in healing and the love of God through Jesus. They see the authority of God as they watch the life of Jesus among them. He takes authority over every work of the enemy. They see His humility, His love, His truth. And a day is coming, Jesus says, when you will know Me within you. You will recognise the Father in you, because you will recognise Me in you. And you will know that I and my Father are one. And the Holy Spirit whom you have recognised in Me will be in you. And as Holy Spirit dwells in you, you will find that the empowering I demonstrated in my life is also within you.
So, when I pray for God to act, I can pray with all the authority of Jesus empowering my prayer, through the Holy Spirit. There is empowerment behind those words when I pray. If I pray with the Spirit of Jesus, I pray with His authority in my praying. My prayers are not just pious wishes. They are words of authority, through Holy Spirit living in me, under the Lordship of the name of Jesus.
That so changes my faith and my confidence in the power of prayer to activate God’s purposes and bring God-changes to what is happening in situations in our world today. My words are not empty wishes to God for a hopeless situation thousands of miles away. Through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, guiding, and empowering, our words go with the authority of God Himself, in the name of Jesus.
Seeds of the Kingdom 31 January 2022 PRAYER: Thank You, God, for Your amazing gift of the Holy Spirit to indwell us as we walk with You. Thank You that You empower our prayers as we pray in the name and with the authority of Jesus. Please keep me in the place of listening for You, so that I pray according to Your will for this world in which we live. Amen.
