The Power of the Holy Spirit

mlongley · Apr 19, 2007

I have recently heard some things about the Power of the Holy Spirit, and I was wondering if anyone has any advice. I always thought that Christians have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, and that if they keep sin out of their heart, and stay sensitive to his leading, he will direct them to do God's will. Then when God shows them his perfect will, he will give them the power they need to fulfill his will. I was reading a thread on a Baptist forum recently, and it had a post referring to asking God for the Power of the Holy Spirit. When I read this, it reminded me of some messages that I had heard by preachers in Bible College. Many preachers said that the young preacher boys should go get alone with God somewhere and beg him for the power of the Holy Spirit. This was a foreign idea to me, I know that that the Bible says that we can be filled with the Holy Spirit, but I don't see any examples of Christians asking for the Power of the Holy Spirit. Can anyone shed some light on this subject?

AAA · Apr 19, 2007

mlongley said:

I have recently heard some things about the Power of the Holy Spirit, and I was wondering if anyone has any advice. I always thought that Christians have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, and that if they keep sin out of their heart, and stay sensitive to his leading, he will direct them to do God's will. Then when God shows them his perfect will, he will give them the power they need to fulfill his will. I was reading a thread on a Baptist forum recently, and it had a post referring to asking God for the Power of the Holy Spirit. When I read this, it reminded me of some messages that I had heard by preachers in Bible College. Many preachers said that the young preacher boys should go get alone with God somewhere and beg him for the power of the Holy Spirit. This was a foreign idea to me, I know that that the Bible says that we can be filled with the Holy Spirit, but I don't see any examples of Christians asking for the Power of the Holy Spirit. Can anyone shed some light on this subject?
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The reply below comes from this thread, and it deals with the same basic question of walking in the POWER (or anointing) of the HOLY SPIRIT......

http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=38757

AAA said:

I have asked the same basic question here...

http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=37620

This will mean to walk in the power (ACTS 1:8) of the HOLY GHOST or some call it: Walking in the anionting of GOD.

A lost person becomes a child of GOD and He has the righteousness of JESUS CHRIST upon him. As he being a new child of GOD walks in repentence and is willing to obey GOD to a greater extent this will produce what will call living a christian life. As he begins to felloewship with GOD and forsake sin God's presense will begin to manifest itself in a tangleble way throuth the believer. When ever this happens, this is when other people will begin to see the light of Christ shinning through you, and this is when a person is walking in the anointing of the SPIRIT.

The more the righteousness of JESUS Christ is shinning through you means that you will have a greater annointing (tangleble presense of GOD's Spirirt.) of GOD working through you. Sin in the life of the believer will decrease the anointing of GOD, because GOD can NOT fellowship with sin.

There are many ways that GOD can manifest Himself through the anointing.

For example:

A. Peter walk and his showdow fell on the people and they were healed...Peter did not do the healing, but GOD.

B. Peter had enough of the anointing of GOD on him that people fell dead at his feet because the presence of the HOLY SPIRIT will not let thier willful sin go on...ACTS 5.

C. In ACTS 2 Peter was preaching and people were cut to the heart and become convicted of thier sin and they asked the apostles; "Brothers, what shall we do" and Peter replied to them in ACTS 2:38-39.....

In modern times.
There was a man named SMITH WIGGLESWORTH and he prayed to GOD a whole lot, and he walked into a Doctors office and just begin to pray for the salvation of the people around him. And the Holy Spirit begin to manifest HIMSELF though the anointing of GOD and people were cut to the heart (acts 2) and begin to fall down on thier kness crying out: "what must we do to be saved". The jailer asked the same thing of Paul in the book of ACTS.

There was a preacher that read a sermon "Sinners in the hands of an angry GOD" and basic the same thing happened.

It was Not the people that convicted and healed the people, but it was GOD that worked through the anointing of the Holy Ghost.

The anointing of GOD is in the life of the believer to be used of GOD as a witness of HIS soverignty and the greatness of HIS salvation by GRACE through JESUS Christ and His shed blood!

Do you understand what I am saying?

I hope that this helps....
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christianyouth · Apr 20, 2007

Just adding to what AAA said, I would listen to A.W. Tozer's messages on the Holy Spirit. You can find these at www.sermonaudio.com , sort by speaker, then go to AW Tozer, and underneath the listing of each sermon should be the listing of whatever series it is from, Listen to the 5 sermons from the Holy Spirit series.

Praying for the power of God is good because it shows humility, acknowledging that one cannot preach/evangelize/ or even live the proper Christian life without God's direct help. The Psalmist illustrates this a lot in his prayers for sanctification found in Psalm 119, such as when he says things like "Incline my heart unto your testimonies!" and "turn away mine eyes from beholding vanities!"

I think the reason most Baptists seem to reject this doctrine of being filled with the Spirit, or of the annointing of the Spirit, is for a couple reasons, both good. These are as follows :

1) The scarcity of it in Church history

The majority of Christian writings I have seen from antiquity do not mention the 'filling' of the Spirit. This has just been my findings. I've read some Puritan writings, and even one dealing with sancitifcation(John Owen), and the actual 'filling' of the Spirit is not mentioned.

2) The Charismatic fanaticism that pervades our modern Christianity.

I think some Baptist's see the Charismatics way on the left, so instead of coming to the middle on this issue, they run way to the otherside on the right.

This is coming from a youth, so beware.

tinytim · Apr 20, 2007

I think one reason people pray for the power of the Holy Spirit is they are ignorant to the fact that they already have this power.

They just need to let the Holy Spirit rule in every aspect of their life and they will see the power.

But God is not going to give this to you if you are not willing to surrender your whole life to the Spirit's guidance...

Some want the power without the responsibility.

It don't work that way.

mlongley · Apr 20, 2007

This is a very interesting thread. I guess many people do have different opinions about this topic.

DQuixote · Apr 21, 2007

I think one reason people pray for the power of the Holy Spirit is they are ignorant to the fact that they already have this power. They just need to let the Holy Spirit rule in every aspect of their life and they will see the power.

But God is not going to give this to you if you are not willing to surrender your whole life to the Spirit's guidance...Some want the power without the responsibility.
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.......an' all God's chillen shouted "Amen and Amen!"

gb93433 · Apr 22, 2007

Thew Bible says to be filled with the Holy Spirit. A water tank cannot be filled with water when it also has something else in it. A person cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit while something else is in their life too.

mlongley · Apr 23, 2007

gb93433 said:

Thew Bible says to be filled with the Holy Spirit. A water tank cannot be filled with water when it also has something else in it. A person cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit while something else is in their life too.
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Pastor Fugate preached a really good sermon on this subject at church tonight. As soon as it is available, I will post a link to my site with the sermon download.

blackbird · Apr 23, 2007

mlongley said:

I have recently heard some things about the Power of the Holy Spirit, and I was wondering if anyone has any advice. I always thought that Christians have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, and that if they keep sin out of their heart, and stay sensitive to his leading, he will direct them to do God's will. Then when God shows them his perfect will, he will give them the power they need to fulfill his will. I was reading a thread on a Baptist forum recently, and it had a post referring to asking God for the Power of the Holy Spirit. When I read this, it reminded me of some messages that I had heard by preachers in Bible College. Many preachers said that the young preacher boys should go get alone with God somewhere and beg him for the power of the Holy Spirit. This was a foreign idea to me, I know that that the Bible says that we can be filled with the Holy Spirit, but I don't see any examples of Christians asking for the Power of the Holy Spirit. Can anyone shed some light on this subject?
Click to expand...

Two things come to my mind immediately from the book of Acts

1. Simon the Scorcer

2. Seven Sons of Sceva

Beggin' for the power!!! Wouldn't know what to do with it when they got it!! Wantin' to be just like Peter and just like Paul!!!

godsdaughter · Apr 23, 2007

And a glorius feeling it is!

You said it TinyTim and I agree. Since our Women's Encounter I have been filled and seen amazing life changes!

:godisgood:

mlongley · Apr 30, 2007

Thanks for all the helpful info.. I really appreciate it!

av1611jim · May 1, 2007

I would suggest you go to your local bookstore and ask them to order a small book titled "The Power of the Spirit" by William Law. This little book has revolutionized my life. It is a very tough read and is so meaty you need not just a steak knife to chew your way through it, you may need an ax! It was written in the 1700's sometime by William Law and has been republished ever since then. Powerful book. Especially for we squeamish Baptists!

In His service;
James

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