Last night in the midst of a powerful time of worship, I sensed the Lord speaking to me very clearly about a few things. I heard the question, “what distinguishes me and sets me apart as a Christian from the rest of the world and other religions?” As I pondered that question, the first thing that came to my mind was “POWER”. As I thought a little more, the Lord clarified a few things and gave me three distinct responses, which I would like to share and dissect a little.
· Power of Our Message! This includes the gospel & our testimony of Jesus in our lives. The Bible says there is power in the gospel of Jesus & our testimony to transform & change lives. Our message is not a bunch of fancy words, it is full of life changing power!
· Power of Our Love! How we treat people all around us…our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, people we don’t like and even those that could be considered enemies. Are we living out Christ’s command to “love one another”? Paul says it doesn’t matter what we do, if we don’t have love we’re nothing. (1 Cor 13)
· Power of the Holy Spirit in our lives! This is the supernatural active in our lives. Jesus said we would receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes upon us (Acts 1:8) and that we would even do greater things than Him. Jesus commanded us to go and heal the sick and said that signs & wonders would follow us as we go.
As I thought about those three things something very interesting hit me. The common denominator in all three is power, but the power of the Holy Spirit operating in our lives through signs & wonders has a unique purpose. It is to prove that our message & our love is REAL & TRUE! Jesus time and again performed miracles to prove that what He was saying was true. In fact, Jesus didn’t begin his ministry until He was filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus had the message & had love, but needed the power of the Holy Spirit actively working in his life to fulfill God’s purpose for his life. With miracles, Jesus silenced & confused his critics, demonstrated God’s love to those in need and opened the floodgates of repentance & salvation. It was the crucial piece for Jesus, so how much more for us? God is calling us to walk in all three areas. They are inseparable. We must move ahead, carrying the message of Jesus wherever we go, in love and power so that the world can see & know that Jesus is the only way, the only truth and the only life!
