“I can do all things through Christ
Who strengthens me.”
PHILIPPIANS 4:13
Knowing all about a power station can still leave you in the cold and dark. You can touch the very walls of a nuclear power plant but still be freezing. The key to accessing the available heat is to tap into the power source. There is inexhaustible power of the Holy Spirit on the inside of you to overcome temptation and stay holy, to walk in wisdom and excel in your career, to overcome sicknesses and diseases–if only you will learn to tap into it (2 Peter 1:3).
THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVES WITHIN US, GIVING US THE POWER TO resist the devil and overcome evil. We must only ask Him to help us. Think of it like this: You have electricity in your home. The house is wired and connected to the power station. If you arrive at home on a dark night, there may be no light or heat in your house. You know what to do. You press the switch, and power comes through. You have light and warmth. Living in the power of the Spirit is like turning the switch on. Everything else is ready. It’s only waiting for us.
The power of the Holy Spirit is the real deal–the real Divine power, not a counterfeit or duplicate. God’s voice is not muffled in the Scriptures. It speaks with authority and authenticity: “Come to Me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The offer is clear and concise; if you receive Christ, you will live a Divine life.
IN OUR HOMES, POWER DOES NOT COME TO US DIRECT FROM the generators. It is filtered through sub-stations and transformers to reduce the voltage. The power of God, however, does not come to us filtered. When Jesus appears, He is not a pale shadow of what He was—a mere breath. We don’t have a phantom Christ; He is the living Jesus not an echo of a faraway hope. The Holy Spirit is bound to honor the Gospel, and through Him, Jesus can step into our midst. You can’t bring the Gospel without power any more than having fire without heat. I am not theorizing, but I am talking about my walk with Him. It’s real and it works.
The power of God is not an impersonal power that can fade away or drain off. The power of God IS God. Holy Spirit power IS the Holy Spirit. God does not evaporate, fade away, leak or become weaker. Time does not affect God–not even 1,000 years. If you stay connected with God, you will walk in power.
THE POWER OF GOD IS EVER-STRONG AND ALWAYS AVAILABLE. Paul could tell the Romans a year or two ahead of time that he would come “in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ” and that he would “impart to you some spiritual gift” (benefit) to the church (not to an individual) when he came (Romans 15:29; 1:11). He knew the abiding and continuous flow of God’s Spirit. The only time Christians need a re-charge is when they have stopped obeying and their contacts with God have become corroded (like with a car battery). Then, they need to clean up their act and start moving again. The power of God comes as you go not as you sit.
Once anointed, always anointed. Spring, summer, fall or winter, in the wilderness or the rainforest, alone or with others, the anointing is always there. You can challenge your greatest enemy, overcome the greatest obstacle and fulfill your God-given destiny; all you have to do is believe.
DAVID STRIKES ME AS THE ONE MAN IN THE OLD TESTAMENT who knew what it meant to be anointed. He was gripped by the knowledge that God was with him. For example, he went out to challenge Goliath entirely in the assurance of his anointing. He did not ask Samuel to anoint him again, this time with perhaps a “Goliath Anointing.” He did not ask the intercessors to pray for him. He did not even pray for himself. He had been anointed and so he remained anointed—the passing of time had changed nothing. He ran toward the Philistine and cried, “You come to me with a shield, with a spear and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts” (1 Samuel 17:45). And what happened? The teenage David felled the giant.