Holy Spirit: The Power of God’s Presence
Matthew 28:18-20
In the Great Commission, Jesus gave us two important foundations for our success:
1. His authority – v.18
We are to make disciples by the authority of the gospel, the finished work of Christ on the cross. Baptize believers in the authority of the Trinity, since all three Persons were involved in fulfilling God’s salvation plan. By His authority teach believers to obey His commands.
2. His presence – v.20
His presence would provide the power to fulfill the tasks above, just as God assured Moses in Exodus 33:14.
Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He promised that God would baptize them with the Holy Spirit as the guarantee of His presence (Acts 1:4-5). He will be WITH them and IN them (John 14:16-17), and give them power to be His witnesses all over the world (Acts 1:8).
I would like to share 5 things the Holy Spirit’s presence in us empowers us to do.
1. Power to receive dreams and visions from God (Acts 2:17). Without a vision we perish (Prov.29:18), so God baptizes us with His Spirit to release His visions and dreams, and the power to fulfill them.
2. Leadership and Guidance. The Holy Spirit leads and guides us as God’s children (Rom.8:14), with the truth of God’s Word (John 16:13), and the voice of God (Isaiah 30:21), and on the path that leads to a successful end (Psalm 23:1-3).
3. Power to overcome fear. Serving God comes with persecutions, threats, intimidations, and satanic attacks. But God’s presence through the Holy Spirit empowers us to overcome fear (Ps.23:4, Ps.27:1). The Holy Spirit assures us that He in us is greater than anything that comes against us (1John 4:4).
4. The joy of the Lord. Our joy in the Lord gives us the strength to persevere in ministry (Neh.8:10). We can only find that joy in God’s presence (Ps.16:11), not in the things happening around us.
5. A new name. When God’s presence is in us, we have a new name: the Lord is there (Jehovah Shammah – Ezekiel 48:35). When we are saturated by God’s presence, He is there in our lives, our families, and our church to help us, anoint us, protect us, defend us, comfort us, counsel us, encourage us, and provide for us, no matter what we may be going through or what our needs are. He is with us today, and will be with us tomorrow because He’s already there.
The devil and his demons also take notice that God is there with us (Job 1:10) and they tremble at His presence (Matt.8:29). They cannot touch us, break us, nor harm us, because the One who conquered their master (Col.2:15) and destroyed his works (1John 3:8) is with us and in us.
May God pour out His Holy Spirit afresh on us, and saturate us with His presence. May God’s presence release His healing, protection, favor, provision, guidance, joy, and strength to overcome and make maximum impact. We are more than conquerors through the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Blessings!