Why Do You Want the Power of the Holy Spirit?

NOTE TO READER.  The following is taken from my original blog posting entitled:  "Where is the power?"  I begin this post by re-stating it, for the sake of continued "focus" upon the topic we are dealing with.  Stated now here from my original post:

 "Where is the power of God in the Church in America?" My answer to this perplexing question that vexed my soul was simple........... "I don't know!" But "I don't know" did not suffice!  I began to earnestly seek God for the answer. And one day, God spoke! What He told me can be summed up like this: "I will reveal to you the answer to your question, but you will have to understand that your question requires multiple answers that I will only reveal to you one at a time."

This brings me to the 3rd, answer the Lord gave me in response to this prayer.  And that 3rd. response is........ "Why do you want the power of the Holy Spirit?"  Now while this may seem like a very unimportant question, we have to make a very important point.  God has given us the power of the Holy Spirit for very specific purposes!  The power of the Holy Spirit operating through the Followers of Jesus, is the "piston that drives the engine of God's distinct purposes!" 

The power of the Holy Spirit is ONLY given to those whose agenda's are aligned with the agenda's of the Lord!  Now one might ask:  "Does God truly have an agenda for which He readily pours out His power upon those who are committed to that agenda?"  And the answer is ....... YES!  Let's take a look at God's agenda, for which He will give power to accomplish, as detailed in Scripture.  First, is Acts 1:8 --- "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  NLT.  Second, is Mark 16:15-20 --- "¹⁵ And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. ¹⁶ Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages.^{[a] 18} They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”  ¹⁹ When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. ²⁰ And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs."  NLT.

God's "agenda," upon which He pours out the power of the Holy Spirit upon, is the proclamation of His Gospel and the advancement of His Kingdom into all the earth!  It's very straight-forward and "matter-of-fact" Biblical truth.  God gives INCREDIBLE power, even the power to accomplish the miraculous, to His people who are fully committed and ENGAGED in fulfilling HIS agenda!  He is NOT in the business in "FUNDING" the programs and agenda's of men and women, whose focus is upon themselves or merely "religious" expressions.  Knowing this truth from Scripture then forces us to ask ourselves the question:  "What is OUR agenda in the Church of Jesus Christ in America?"

Now before you get angry with me and accuse me of "picking" on the Church, let's take a moment to be a little reflective and real!  What is in the agenda's of many church's in America that would require the power of the Holy Spirit poured out upon, to accomplish it?  Where I live and minister in the Knoxville Tennessee area, we are overrun with churches all around us!  In fact, within a five mile radius of my church, there are approximately 264 Christian churches! ........... Did you hear what I just said?.............. 264 Churches that name the Name of Jesus within a 5-mile radius of my church!  While that is an incredible statistic, the problem is that I have not heard of ONE of these churches, including my own, that is experienceing an Azuza type revival!  Not even ONE of these churches has advertised a revival of the "God-kind" where lives are changed by the unprecedented POWER that had been poured out upon the church!  And with ALL the churches in Knoxville, we STILL have one of the largest number of homeless I have seen in 28 years of ministry!  We STILL have "METH" drug problem that is borderline "epidemic!"  Why have these issues NOT been dealt with?  Because unfortuantely most, if not all, of what the Church of Jesus Christ is doing in Knoxville, does not require the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish!  Why is this the case?  Because we are too focused on OUR "agenda" and not focused on GOD'S "agenda!" 

The Lord has witheld His power from many of the churches in America, and sadly, most have NEVER noticed it!  Everything they are doing can be done, and quite nicely done, WITHOUT the power of the Holy Spirit!  The state of the American Church reminds me of a Biblical story in the Old Testament.  Its found in the book of Judges 16:18-21--- "Delilah realized he had finally told her the truth, so she sent for the Philistine rulers. “Come back one more time,” she said, “for he has finally told me his secret.” So the Philistine rulers returned with the money in their hands. ¹⁹ Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap, and then she called in a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. In this way she began to bring him down, and his strength left him.  ²⁰ Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!”  When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him.  ²¹ So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison."  NLT.

We have been stirred awake with the cry.......... "Church, the devil has come to capture you!"  And like Samson, we have arisen to 'SHAKE" ourselves as before, unfortunately, we did not realize that the LORD had left us!"  How sad!  How very very sad!  Why would God pour out His power upon a Church that has been lulled to sleep in the lap of the seductress called religion!  And why would He pour out His power upon a group of people that function just fine, in all their religious functions, WITHOUT the power of the Holy Spirit?  So, I ask you again:  "Why do YOU want the power of the Holy Spirit?"  Is it to accomplish God's agenda in this world?  Or, is it to add a little "SPICE" to a dull man-made religious program, with the focus upon self?  Only YOU as an individual Follower of Jesus, can answer that question.  And oh by the way, the story I shared with you about Samson doesn't end there!  Verse 22 of Judges 16 says something VERY amazing and quite appropriate for the Church TODAY!  It says:  "But before long, his hair began to grow back!"  And in the darkness of prison, grinding grain in the shadow of the pagan idol god dagon, Samson prayed a prayer:  "Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time!"  Brother's and Sister's, it's like I can hear that SAME prayer being prayed by many hungry Followers of Jesus in America!  "Oh, Soverign LORD, remember YOUR Church, YOUR Bride, ONE more time, and send down YOUR Holy Spirit POWER upon YOUR thirsty followers!  We are tired of grinding grain in the dungeon of that pagan god religion!  We hunger to be YOUR Bride; YOUR Virgin Bride!  We long for YOUR agenda!  We long to be holy, pure and righteous in YOUR sight! And,......... WE LONG FOR THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, POURED OUT UPON US ONCE AGAIN!

Why do YOU want the power?

God Bless YOU!