The Spirit empowers us to carry out God’s work on this earth. You may imagine yourself serving in God’s Kingdom in different capacities. You enjoy helping because you sense the Lord has called you to a particular role. As you serve, you feel fulfilled because the Lord has blessed you and given you the gifts to carry out His work. Like believers worldwide, the Holy Spirit has empowered you.
The world is full of empowered people, but God’s Kingdom works differently. Being empowered enables us to carry out the Lord’s ministry. The Holy Spirit’s empowerment can be startling and remind us that the Lord is helping us with our tasks. When you witness, the Spirit gives you the right words or Bible verse at the right time. We struggle to pray, and suddenly, the Holy Spirit gives us words that seem to come out of nowhere. I love when God helps me because it enables me to relax and know the Lord is with me.
The Holy Spirit Empowered Peter
Following Jesus’ arrest, Peter denied Jesus three times. Then he hid when Jesus hung on the cross because he was afraid. When the Holy Spirit fell on Pentecost, it changed Peter’s life forever. On the very day of Pentecost, Peter spoke about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit with clarity and calmness.
Acts 2:14 Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15 These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. 16 No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. [1] Peter may have looked the same outside, but God had transformed him through the Holy Spirit inside. He will do the same for you.
The Holy Spirit Changes Us on the Inside
The Lord told Samuel that He looks at what we are like inside. 1 Samuel 16:7 The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. [2] Our true identity is not on the outside but on the inside. That’s why the Lord works to transform us on the inside to change our eternal souls.
Paul gives us great advice in letting the Holy Spirit change you. Ephesians 3:14 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in.[3] As you let the Holy Spirit empower you, your life will never be the same.
To learn how the Spirit empowers us, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/empowered-here
[1-2] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation . Tyndale House Publishers.
[3] Peterson, E. H. (2005). The Message: the Bible in contemporary language (Eph 3:14–17). NavPress.