Full Of Faith The Holy Spirit And Power
And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Acts 6:8'The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,' says the LORD of hosts. 'The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,' says the LORD of hosts. 'And in this place I will give peace,' says the LORD of hosts. Haggai 2:8-9
The bible tells us Stephen was an ordinary brethren, of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, who was appointed to serve tables in the daily distribution for widows. He was not part of what is called the five-fold ministries of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor (Shepherd) or Teacher (Ephesians 4:11-15, 1 Peter 5:1-3). He was an ordinary lay person and a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit and power who did great wonders and signs among the people. And the bible doesn’t tell us that Stephen was not a man of prayer but rather of wisdom and words of scripture!
His speech to the council recorded in Acts 7 telling them “"You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. "Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, "who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it" cut them to the heart and that hearers gnashed at him with their teeth because they were so demonically influenced or possessed that they did what was inhuman!
Stephen died as the first Christian Martyr being full of the Holy Spirit, gazing into heaven and seeing the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He said "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" And when his enemies heard this they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep. So if Stephen was used greatly by God so can any Christian layman! The idea that only members of the five-fold ministries can be used by God is nonsense! And Stephen proved it!
And it’s a fact that most Christians are devoid of power because they don’t understand or appreciate the life giving power that resides in them! God’s word is unchanging:
Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:15-23
For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21
For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. Colossians 1:9-12
It is a fact that according to the power that resides and works in us, God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think and give us one hundred percent victory, one hundred percent of the time, in one hundred percent of the situations. After all He is God, not man! It is also a fact that Jesus, now as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is no longer poor or weak anymore as He was when He walked the earth as man. He is now once again unlimited in power, riches, strength and might. But the best news is that God wants to use all of His power, riches, and resources on our behalf and meet our needs: If we only will believe Him and trust Him to do it for us; If we will only humble ourselves and on a bent knee give Him our all and ask for His all. Then we shall know the truth of God’s word which states:
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Romans 8:37
“Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” (2 Corinthians 2:14)
God’s presence, mighty power, wisdom, discernment, love, miracles should be a constant reality in the lives of God’s people to meet whatever need they have or face! They are to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding so that they might walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father. Because of the mind and life of Christ in them they also laborer fervently in prayers for other Christians for their deliverance and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:19) that they may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God (Colossians 4:12).
People try all kinds of new things seeking health and happiness, but to no avail. Only Jesus can satisfy the soul, calm the storms of life and establish our goings. Only God can supply all of our needs spiritually, physically and financially and we can rest in Christ who changes not and enjoy His peace. His word is unchanging:
"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" Luke 11:13
"Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. John 16:7
The Holy Spirit, the Helper, has come to be to us all that Jesus was to His disciples. He has come to guide us into all truth and to give us God’s best in everything. He wants to be a friend and Helper to us just like Jesus was to His disciples. He is the Third Person of the Trinity, the personality in the order of the Godhead. He is in charge of the affairs of the kingdom of God and is the Chief Executor of divine programs on the earth. He is the Motivator, Energizer and Operator of every revealed plan or vision from God. He is the Revealer of the hidden treasures of the kingdom of God. He holds the key to the inheritance of the saints of God. He is the most valuable asset to Christian living. He is the central figure in any breakthrough in life. He is the only One worth leaning on. He has come to reveal wisdom, knowledge, abilities, enablements and mysteries to us to show us our significance, value and power. He has come to reveal our God-nature to us and cause us to live in a new dimension. He has come to comfort us! He’s our invisible Partner, who causes things to work for us that won’t work for others. We are to trust Him with everything big or small and aren’t to do anything without Him! He gives us the mind of Christ! God’s word is unchanging:
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one For "who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:12-16
The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to instruct, minister and reveal truth to us. His wisdom is supernatural and as we yield to His wisdom we become successful and prosperous and victorious. He pours the love of God into our hearts (Romans 5:5) and enables us to live a life of love towards God and others. However He can be grieved when there is envy, bitterness, strife or unforgiveness. He can be grieved when we reject the truth or allow ourselves to be deceived. These things prevent Him from giving us the answers we need for our life. Though His anointing and giftings we can do all kinds of things. God’s word is unchanging:
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 1 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel. Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. 1 Corinthians 14:12-15
God’s divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these we may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:3-4). We must appropriate and walk in the exceedingly great and precious promises of the word of God and not allow the wicked one to come and snatch them away from our hearts or when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word stumble, or allow the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, so that we become unfruitful but rather through patience and endurance hold on to the word and bears fruit and produces the benefits of the word (Matthew 13:18-23). It has been stated that:
True victory comes when we believe that God has already moved and given us everything that we need in our new born-again spirits. The Lord doesn't have to come and place His mighty hand on us for us to get healed. He has already placed the same power on the inside of us that raised Jesus from the dead (Eph. 1:19-20). That's more than enough power to accomplish anything we need. It's already present. Therefore, asking God to give it to us is actually an expression of unbelief. That unbelief stops the power that is already in us from flowing out into our physical bodies.
We don't have to ask God to heal us. We need to believe that, "by his stripes we WERE healed" (1 Pet. 2:24). It's already been done. We don't need to be healed. We need to release the healing we already have.
Every born-again believer in Christ has this life-giving power of God in his spirit. Not every believer renews his mind and can release that power into his physical body. In that case, he has to have someone else who can release God's power, come and lay hands on him. When that happens, the believer by-passes the blockage that is in his own mind, and the power of God flows to his body through someone else's renewed mind. The Lord does this because He loves us, and doesn't want us to suffer just because our plumbing is stopped up. So, He gives us others to help us get past the blockage of our own unrenewed minds.
It's not God's will for us always to receive in this way. It is a temporary method at best. We can't always count on someone else, who can flow in the supernatural power of God, to be around. The superior way is to open up the flow through us by the renewing of our own minds. We will not only receive, but then we can become channels for the Lord to flow His power through to others.
We need to reach a place where we are praying for miracles for others, but walking in the blessings ourselves. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you were so blessed that you never needed another miracle from God!
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