The Power to Walk It Out
Many people decide against becoming a Christian for one simple reason—they don’t believe they can live it. “I will fail!” they claim with certainty. “I’ll never be able to live by all those rules!” This attitude stems from the misguided belief that living a Christian life depends on our own strength and willpower. But that’s not true. If it were up to us to do it alone, there wouldn’t be any good Christians anywhere in the world! But it’s not up to us. God, Himself, has given to us the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.
Christianity is not the call to a burdensome set of rules and regulations; it is a supernatural life lived out through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Before returning to Heaven, Jesus promised his followers they would soon be filled with the amazing power of the Holy Spirit.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.””
(Acts 1:8, NLT)
The word power comes from the Greek word we translate into dynamite or dynamic. It means “to be able, to have the ability to do a thing.” This is why Jesus called the Holy Spirit “the Helper.”
““I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;”
(John 14:16, NASB95)
The Helper can be counted on to strengthen us in the hour of temptation. He encourages us when we’re down, to lift us up when we don’t feel we can take another step. Jesus knew that we could never live the way God had called us to live without the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.
You know what a spotter is if you’ve worked out with weights. A spotter is someone who stands behind you in case the weight you’re lifting becomes too much for you. When you can’t lift it another inch, the spotter places his two hands around the bar and helps you push the weight all the way up. Without him, you would not be able to do it.
We might say that the Holy Spirit is our heavenly spotter. Through his indwelling presence, he lifts the weight of pressures, temptations, and challenges that might normally be too much for us to handle on our own. He makes it possible for us to do what we could never do left to ourselves. Paul the Apostle confidently proclaimed,
“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
(Philippians 4:13, NASB95)
In the Old Testament, God promised to empower His people to live the kind of lives He had called them to.
“I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands.”
(Ezekiel 36:27, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language)
God knew that we could never, as fallen men and women, live the kind of lives we should. So, He sent His Spirit, our Helper.
In another place, the Apostle Paul graphically describes how the Holy Spirit helped carry him through deep, taxing trials:
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. These bodies of ours are constantly facing death just as Jesus did; so it is clear to all that it is only the living Christ within who keeps us safe.”
(2 Corinthians 4:8–10, The Living Bible, Paraphrased)
In fact, Paul ultimately concluded that nothing the world, the flesh, or the devil could throw at him would win the day. There was no challenge he could not overcome:
“But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.”
(2 Corinthians 2:14, NLT)
The power of the Holy Spirit helps us in many different ways. For instance, He strengthens us in the hour of temptation. The Bible promises,
“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”
(1 Corinthians 10:13, NLT)
The “way of escape” is often nothing more than the very presence of God’s power enabling you to say no!
The Holy Spirit also empowers us to persevere in times of trial and to forge ahead when everything in us wants to give up. At one particularly low point in his life, the Apostle Paul felt weak and beaten down. He was so under the gun he despaired of life. In just the nick of time, Jesus spoke something to his heart that untold numbers of Christians throughout time have been encouraged by:
“Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.”
(2 Corinthians 12:9, NLT)
The strength Jesus spoke of comes to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. According to Jesus, the weaker we are, the stronger He is in us!
The Holy Spirit’s help is also seen in how He empowers us to be content. Again, Paul the Apostle (whom I like to call “the king of a positive attitude”) often found himself in very difficult circumstances. He writes of being shipwrecked, beaten, forsaken, betrayed, hungry, thirsty, and homeless. Yet despite all this, he wrote in one of his letters,
“Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.”
(Philippians 4:11, NLT)
We might be tempted to assume that Paul simply learned how to roll with the punches by his own ingenuity. But this is not what he claimed, for he added,
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
(Philippians 4:13, NKJV)
How did Paul receive the strength to be content even in difficult circumstances? By the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit who strengthened him!
These are just a few examples of how the Holy Spirit empowers us to live the kind of life Jesus calls us to. Thank God for the priceless gift of the Holy Spirit!
In the next chapter, we will learn that while God has given us this amazing Helper, there is an important responsibility on our end. Let’s take a look next at the part we play!