“And ye shall receive power (authority), after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you.” Acts 1:8
Dear Ones:
Where does the power to live come from? The first thing that we must consider in order to answer this question is the issue of authority. Why is authority so important in relation to power? Authority is that “right,” or “mandate,” given by God, in order to RECEIVE power. The Lord Jesus is always our example of the application of truth, specifically as it applies to issue of authority and power. He said to His disciples with regard to laying down His life: “No man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power, or authority, to lay it down, and I have power, or authority, to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.” (Jn.10:18) The Lord Jesus lived, worked, and died by the power of the Spirit, but that power had its basis in this…God the Father gave Him the right to receive that power from Heaven, to live and minister in the strength and power of the Spirit. In John 1:12, we find that those who would receive Christ, would be given the right and privilege by God, to become the sons of God. On the Day of Pentecost, when the disciples were ready, and gathered together, they received POWER, enabling and strengthening them by the Spirit to BE Christ’s witnesses. So that, God gives authority for lost sinners to become “sons of God,” and He also gives strength, and power from heaven by the Spirit, to be His victorious witnesses.
The apostle Paul was called of God to preach the gospel. (1 Cor. 1:17) With that calling came the “authority” to receive from God all that was needful by the Spirit, in order to live and minister effectively, and victoriously. Along the way, he had to learn, as did Moses, David, and so many others, that God gives His power to those who come HIS WAY. That “way” for the disciple of Christ, to know the same power, is the same today, and is revealed to us in Paul’s epistles. In 1 Corinthians 1:18, Paul declares: “…the preaching of the cross…is the POWER of God.” The word here for power is not that of authority, but of the giving of God’s enabling grace and strength to the soul, for salvation, but also for living. He goes on to say in v. 24, that “Christ…IS the power of God.” The Psalmist wrote: “All my springs are in Thee.” (87:7) The believer who has come to understand his authority in Christ, and the available power IN Christ, is that one who is absolutely dependent ON Christ. Christ IS his or her life. Paul, in declaring that the cross is the power of God unveils to us that our whole expectation must be in Christ, and not in ourselves or the things of this world. The apostle has come to realize that indeed, he IS crucified with Christ, in order to live BY the faith of the Son of God. What is the result? It is the daily reception, and appropriation, of Christ as our power, His Spirit as that one who strengthens and quickens.
Dear Father, You have said that “…You give power to the faint: and to them that have no might You increase strength.” (Is. 40:29) Enable us to so wait on You today that we too will know the renewing of our strength, mounting up with wings like eagles. Strengthen us by Thy Spirit in the inner man, that Christ will dwell in our hearts by faith this day, filling us with His strength and power, His love and goodness. Then we shall go forth rejoicing, and serving Thee. We praise and thank Thee in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad