There was a time in my life in which I felt very guilty about wanting power. Of course, we should want intimacy with God, and of course we should want good character, but POWER?
Many years ago, I began to ask God for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I wanted this experience because it was available. God wanted me to have it so that I could have power.
At that time, I taught at a christian school in which we had Bible study and prayer in the morning. I walked in one day not knowing that my life was about to change forever. The pastor/principal quickly walked up to me and said, "God wants me to pray for you today." Then he added, "Lord, let her know that she is filled." That was it.
SWOOSH! Waves of the presence of God flooded over me. I had never felt anything like it in my life. I thought, What is THIS? Then everyone left the room.
I went to my classroom in a daze. Suddenly, everything was different. Wow, God is REAL! Just like this desk is REAL!, I thought. As much as I tried, I couldn't teach. I opened my Bible and read....and read..... and read. I gave the children work assignments. It was like I couldn't put it down.
When I got home, I walked into the house with a soap opera playing, and instantly I felt sick to my stomach. I just couldn't watch it. The Holy Spirit is HOLY.
That night, after my husband went to bed, I got up and thought, If that was the baptism of the Holy Spirit, then, I can pray in tongues. I opened my mouth and did just that.
For the next week, I spent my days reading the Word and most of my nights praying in tongues. That intense presence of God rested on me the entire time.
What I didn't understand yet was that this experience was for POWER and POWER is to be used. I spent many years believing that wanting power was evil in spite of the fact that power was God's idea.
Jesus said, "Act 1:8 But you shall receive POWER, when the Holy Spirit coming upon you. And you shall be WITNESSES to Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
The word "power" is "dunamis" in the Greek. The meaning of that word is "inherent ability" and "power in action." Greek expert Wuest, interprets the word as "the kind of power that God has." Read it like THAT...."But you shall receive the kind of power that God has when the Holy Spirit comes upon you."
WOW! And, of course! It is the Holy Spirit's power inside of you.
The reason God so wants us to have this power is so that we can be His witnesses. Jesus passed the baton to US when He went to glory. Jesus told His disciples to "wait" for that power because there is no way we can be effective witnesses without it! Power is God's idea! It is His heart!
If you have received that power in the form of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, STIR IT UP! Get out there and do something with it. Heal the sick. Share the good news of Jesus Christ. Refuse to be stagnant. Pray in tongues. Speak the truth of the Word concerning what you have received. Have others lay hands on you. I speak over you that you will NOT allow it to be nothing but a flicker. It will be a raging fire that changes things around you.
If you haven't received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it is for you. Believe for it. Ask for it. Have others lay hands on you. He wants to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and FIRE. On the day of Pentecost, the believers received the Holy Ghost and fire and everything changed.
Isaiah experienced a touch of fire, as well. A cherubim took a coal from the fire and put it on his lips after he realized that he was unclean. He saw his need, but God did not want him to stay in a place of need. That fire from the altar burned out the guilt and left him with one desire. "SEND ME!"
This is the kind of baptism that we need. One that causes us to cry out, "SEND US, LORD!"
God is turning up the fire in this time. Great days are ahead! Fill us with FIRE, Lord!
Sherry Evans