Simple Truth

Power, Signs, and Gifts: Part 3  (Click here to read parts 1 & 2)
The Power From God

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1.8

Jesus has called every one of us to be ambassadors for Him and His kingdom (2 Cor 5.20; Act 1.8). The people of the world cannot see Jesus right now, so we all have the responsibility to show Him to the world through our lives until He returns (1 Cor 13.10). But He did not leave us to do this on our own. He sent us a Helper, the Holy Spirit (Jhn 14.16). As our Helper, He empowers us to minister as Jesus did (Act 1.8). Some people find this to be a hard concept to grasp—ministering as Jesus did—but it truly is our responsibility. In the beautiful Upper-Room Discourse recorded in John chapters 13-17, Jesus says:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14.13-15

The Holy Spirit is our direct connection to God and the power available to us as ambassadors for His kingdom. But while this power is available to all of us, we can only exercise it in proportion to our faith (Mat 17.20). Jesus said that if we had enough faith, we could not only do the things He did, but we could say to a mountain, “Move!” and it would move!

So how do we get this kind of faith? Jesus answered this in Matthew 17.21 when He said, “this kind [of faith] does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” We get this kind of mountain-moving faith by reaching out to God in humility with prayer and fasting. If we do that, “nothing will be impossible for you” (Mat 17.20) in your service to Jesus as an ambassador of His kingdom.