I was golfing with a friend who is a nurse and he was
telling me about a doctor who is an atheist.
My friend told me that he was with a patient and asked if the doctor
would pray with them. The doctor’s
response, “There is a saying that hands spread open can do a lot more good than
hands closed together.” When I heard
this I thought what experiences does this doctor have that has completely
robbed him of the power of God?
While I was at IYC (International Youth Convention) there
was a main session titled, “In Tune With Power”. For the whole week we were talking about how
we needed to be in tune with 4 different things; purpose, purity, power and
people. When I saw the one about power I
was intrigued because power isn’t something that is talked about a lot. When we read the story of Jesus you can’t
help but see power, but when you look around todays churches, it looks like we
are a bunch of powerless people. Why?
The speaker referenced a pretty familiar passage in Acts
1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and
you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the
end of the earth.” I would guess that
most of you have read this passage before, but what struck me for the first
time. There seems to be a correlation
between the power of the Holy Spirit and being witnesses. In order for us to be the witnesses that God
has called us to be, we must first be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. This is so comforting to me as I reflect on
it, because it not longer means that I have to depend on my own power and
strength, but instead I need to be connected to the ultimate power and strength
through the Holy Spirit.
The obvious question after this is then, how do we do
this? I’m learning that if I surround
myself with people who are striving to live in this same way, living close to
the Spirit becomes a much clearer path. Matthew
18:20 says, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name there I am
with them.” The way that I connect with
the power and strength of the Holy Spirit is by connecting with other people
who are trying to do the same. It’s in
these relationships I experience the power of love, grace, mercy and
forgiveness through other people by the power of the Holy Spirit.
I hope you take some time today to experience the power of
the Holy Spirit; I am convinced that this is what the world needs to see. They need to see the power of love, grace,
mercy and forgiveness, and to be completely honest I need to see that in my own
life too.
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