Welcome to the Quality Christian Living Podcast.
I am your host David Friend. This is podcast
number 324 entitled Holy Spirit Power. We're
in a series dealing with the Holy Spirit. Today
we're going to talk about how I believe that
many Christians are not aware of the power of
the Holy Spirit. We may not be able to... comprehend
how the Holy Spirit brings us power to overcome
evil and darkness and addictions and fear. And
we're going to look at the promise that Jesus
gave of the Holy Spirit was more than to just
help us feel a little better. We'll see how the
Holy Spirit brings omnipotent power. But before
we get started, let's just pray. Heavenly Father,
I thank you again for who you are. I thank you
for this podcast. I thank you for those who are
listening in today and I invite the Holy Spirit
to come in and take control. I yield to you.
I submit to you. I surrender all that I've done
to prepare. I pray your anointing would come
down a very special way and touch those who are
listening in today. As we get into the topic
of Holy Spirit power, I pray that you would help
us to read the scriptures and to understand them
and that they would be come to life in each and
every one of the scriptures. Father, thank you
once again for being here and thank you for bringing
those who are listening in today, Lord, that
you would fulfill whatever need they have, whatever
they're desiring to receive, that you would bless
it, that you would multiply it, and Father, that
you would do what only you can do and would give
you praise for it. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Well, I believe that the best way to start this
podcast is to read the words that Jesus spoke
to his disciples. We find it in the book of Acts
chapter 1 and verse 8, but you will receive power.
I'm gonna repeat that. But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you
will be my witnesses telling people about me
everywhere. See, right off, right at the very
beginning, Jesus wanted them to understand the
Holy Spirit was coming to bring power into their
life. And a lot of people, I don't think, understand
that that that power is available to us when
we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior
and we accept Him into our life and we... totally
turn ourselves around and ask for forgiveness
of our sins, say, Father, I'm sorry for the sins
I've committed. I pray that you'd forgive me
and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I receive
Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. When we're
sincere, as soon as that happens, the power of
the Holy Spirit comes and dwells inside of us
and takes over. And Jesus spoke about that. And
he says, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
you're going to receive power. So you've received
that power. So everyone listening in today, before
we go any farther into this, you need to accept
the fact that you have the power of the Holy
Spirit living inside of you, dwelling inside
of you, ready to help, available to help, willing
and able to do what you would like to see take
place in your life as you're led by Him and under
your guidance and direction you're wanting to
fulfill the will of God in your life and live
the purpose that God has for you. So this is
more than just a podcast to talk about power,
it's to talk about the way that we can live and
to understand that the Holy Spirit power is alive
and well and that we'll be witnesses. That means
we're gonna our faith with other people. That
power comes upon us and it says primarily so
that we will be witnesses telling people about
Jesus Christ everywhere that we go. That's one
of the reasons that power is there primarily.
But there's a lot more to this and we're gonna
get into that in this podcast and other podcasts
to come. Now, when Jesus was talking about, this
is when Jesus used the word power in a very definite,
direct way and the Holy Spirit. They put them
together. Jesus was emphasizing their need to
have power. We know that we need to have power
because the devil goes around like a roaring
lion seeking whom he may devour But Jesus said
Jesus said he's come and he's given come to give
us life and give it to us more abundantly The
only way that we can live the abundant life is
through the power and the anointing of the Holy
Spirit That's alive and well and each and every
one of us Jesus knew the unlimited power that
the Holy Spirit would bring to his followers
would be life -changing Radically life -changing
and would give them power to overcome the challenge
that they face in each and every day. Now, we
then, after we read this scripture in Acts chapter
1 and verse 8, we should run over to Acts chapter
2 and verses 1 through 4. Now, I'm not going
to read word by word this scripture and read
you all four verses, but I want to kind of paraphrase
it. I'm very careful when I say the word paraphrase
because it's not my opinion. It's what I believe
the Holy Spirit wants me to share with you about
what this is telling you. Basically, these scriptures
are telling us that the Holy Spirit came down
on the day of Pentecost. where the disciples
were praying, now He came to them. Isn't that
wonderful? They were praying, they were seeking
God, they want the power of God to come upon
them, and the Holy Spirit came to them as they
were praying, as they were worshiping and praying
and seeking the face of God. It says that the
Holy Spirit basically came down as a mighty wind.
Boy, you know, picture that, try and imagine
that. The power of the Holy Spirit came into
that room and like a mighty wind to take control
and take authority. It says, and flames settled
on everyone, They were all filled with the Holy
Spirit and began to speak in other languages.
So this is telling us that this event was just
radical. It was incredible. This, in my opinion,
is the, not just my opinion, but many theologians
believe that this is when the Church was established,
when the power of the Holy Spirit came down and
He anointed everyone. He filled them with His
presence and His power and they began to speak
in other languages and other tongues. At that
time, He was probably distributing gifts to people.
of faith and and gifts of healing and miracles
and those things were coming down because the
Holy Spirit was there to do what Jesus called
him to do and this event didn't go away and end
there and the power of the Holy Spirit is alive
and well today on this planet. He's alive and
well in each and every one of us and our churches
need to feel the power and the presence of the
Holy Spirit come upon them and experience that
and know what it's like to pray in the Spirit
and operate in the gifts of the Spirit and have
the fruit of the Spirit in their life and that's
why I'm into this whole series on the Holy Spirit
because I believe there's so much that we need
to learn, that we need to teach, and the Holy
Spirit needs to come alive and be active in our
life, in every single believer's life. Now this
event established the power of the Holy Spirit.
That, the upper room, that prayer time, when
the power of the tongues interpretations and
stuff came forward and all that was being manifested
in that room, it really established the fact
that the Holy Spirit had incredible power. Throughout
the book of Acts, that we read about how the
Holy Spirit filled the disciples with power.
Now once again, it didn't stop right there. I
know some people teach that, that that was it,
that was over then. But see, that was the day
of Pentecost. That was the day the Holy Spirit
came down. And I believe that's the day that
the church was established. And shortly after
that, Peter became the preacher, the pastor,
and he preached a sermon like nothing he's ever
done before because the Holy Spirit led him when
he spoke. And I'm not gonna get into that sermon
that he did right now. Maybe in an additional
podcast we might. But for right now, I want to
stay focused on just what took place in the upper
room and talk about the power of the Holy Spirit.
See, today the Holy Spirit is the same, totally
and completely. He's ready and willing to show
us his power. Now this podcast must talk about
the Holy Spirit through the biblical examples
that I'm going to be using. I'm going to give
you a bunch of scriptures in a moment and talk
about how we can see the power of the Holy Spirit
and how we can have that manifest in our own
lives. As we go through this series of podcasts,
on the Holy Spirit, we will cover the manifestations
of the Holy Spirit through the gifts and the
fruit of the Spirit. So stay with me and we'll
explain all these in detail as we go through
this wonderful series the Lord has put upon us
to talk about, to learn more about the workings
of the Holy Spirit in the lives of others and
in our life. I realize now that some of you want
to get to the power gifts right away and we will
do that, but it's important that we understand
and get a good working knowledge of how the Holy
Spirit operates. This podcast will lay a foundation
of the Holy Spirit's power, what it is, and how
we can receive his power. Alright, so get ready
as we continue on. The power of the Holy Spirit
that dwells in Christians helps us to defeat
the attacks of Satan. The Holy Spirit is a part
of the Divine Godhead. Here is my definition
of the Divine Godhead. It means God is one God
that exists in three distinct persons, God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,
also known as the Trinity. Now we have one God
in three persons and to some this is pretty basic
stuff but to others this may bring clarity and
help you to understand what the Trinity is and
when we hear someone talk about the Triune God.
Now I believe that the power of the Holy Spirit
is also shown in the Bible as being omnipotent,
having unlimited power, omnipresent which means
everywhere all the time and omniscient all -knowing.
Now that's really important for us to understand
because sometimes people live their life as a
Christian and they don't realize the power that
dwells inside of them. They are taught sometimes
that well let's not go there and the Holy Spirit
came but you know maybe he's in us but on the
other hand maybe he's not one doesn't want to
do anything in us and doesn't want to give us
any power and you hear these different teachings
around I know I did for years until I went to
a church that explained the power of the Holy
Spirit and talked about how the Holy Spirit operates
in so many ways and that there are gifts of the
Spirit and there is the fruit of the Spirit and
many things that can happen in our life that's
available to us if we only seek God and draw
closer to him. So when we think of the Holy Spirit,
we must never refer to him as it. I've heard
people say it, it, it. The Holy Spirit is a man.
It's the person of God. It's part of the triune
God. And so therefore we've got to understand
and relate to his omnipotent power and his omnipresent
power and his omniscient power. And when we do
that, we realize what an incredible amount of
power and authority that we have in the name
of Jesus as the Holy Spirit operates in us. Now,
let me give you an example of the Holy Spirit
being omnipotent and having that omnipotent power.
I believe it's found in 1 Corinthians chapter
12, where it talks about the Holy Spirit decides
who he gives the gifts of tongues and interpretation
and the gifts of miracles and prophecy and healing
and wisdom and knowledge and all that and in
great faith matter of fact that great faith is
going to be I believe as the Holy Spirit leads
going to be my next podcast coming up talking
about the Holy Spirit giving great faith but
for now I want to we should understand that this
is omnipotent power this is power that with great
authority all authority and the Holy Spirit decides
who he gives these gifts to that's a great example
of his power and his working inside of each and
every one of us an example of his omniscient
knowledge, I believe is found when Jesus said
in John chapter 14 and verse 26, he says, but
when the father sends the advocate as my representative,
that is the Holy Spirit, he will teach you everything
and will remind you of everything I have told
you. Now, look at that. Jesus is telling you
now, wait a minute, who I'm sending you has great
power and that he is your advocate. He's there
to help you and to be with you and he's a representative
that's going to come into you and he's going
to teach you everything that's what you need
to know and will remind you of what you've already
learned. Now isn't that nice to know that our
memory doesn't have to just be based upon our
memory abilities, but we can have the Holy Spirit
bring forth things that we've learned before
and bring forth scriptures that we need for that
moment. I think that's the most wonderful, one
of the most wonderful things we have with the
working the Holy Spirit in us is when we are
talking to someone or sharing something with
someone and the Holy Spirit reminds us of a scripture
and you quote that scripture. You may not know
what I call the address, the location of it,
what the chapter and verse or book is, but you
do know the scripture and you can say that scripture
because the Holy Spirit will then bring it to
you. He can give you the exact address of that
scripture, whatever he wants to do, but all of
a sudden you're speaking and then you know you'll
go from just your speaking into Spirit -led speaking
and he's giving you the right scripture for that
person at the right time. or he gives you a prayer
where you pray the right words at the right time.
That is the omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit.
That's his omniscient power that he's got and
he has the ability to do that if we yield to
him, if we surrender our will and our thoughts
and our mind and our desires. That's why I never
do a podcast without first inviting the Holy
Spirit in to take control. I surrender what I've
done, the thoughts that I've put in. I may have
hours and hours of preparation to put a podcast
together But that will be of no value unless
the Holy Spirit comes in and he anoints it. He
brings the anointing. The things that I'm speaking
to you right now, I didn't write anything down,
I didn't have any of this prepared, but the Holy
Spirit now is directing me and helping me to
get clarity to some people, especially when you're
trying to share your faith or trying to witness.
You should ask the Holy Spirit, we should all
do this, ask the Holy Spirit, help me to witness,
help me to have the right words to say and to
remember the right scriptures to bring at the
correct time a scripture that that will apply
to that person's life. And when we do that and
we're operating on the Holy Spirit, we're going
to see great results. And I know that's what
you're looking for. You want power to see great
results in your walk with God. And that can come
about if we surrender to the Holy Spirit and
understand and realize the power that's living
inside of us. Here's another scripture that's
just so incredible to talk about the Holy Spirit
found in the book of Romans, chapter eight and
verse 26. The Holy Spirit helps us in our weaknesses.
Now, a lot of people have a tendency to fight
battles on their own. I've done it. I've had
times I've fought battles on my own. I've done
it my way and all those things. And when that
happens, we're going to be so limited in our
abilities, because our abilities are limited,
but the Holy Spirit's abilities are without limits.
There are no limits on what He can do and will
do and is able to do. So He helps us in our weaknesses.
When we are weak, then He is strong. He is powerful.
He wants to come forth in great power and help
us and guide us and direct us and help us to
make the right decisions in our life. Alright,
he knows our weaknesses therefore he will then
apply his wisdom and his knowledge to us. An
example of omnipresent Holy Spirit being everywhere
at all at all times is that the Holy Spirit can
draw the unsaved to salvation all over the world
at the same time. Now there's billions and billions
and billions of people. I've heard it's between
seven and a half to eight billion people now
that inhabit this earth. So let's think about
this. Man talks about his great computers that
he's developed and his ability to do this and
his ability to have great memory banks and all
this kind of stuff. Think about this. The Holy
Spirit has the capacity to witness to all eight
billion people on earth at the exact same time.
He can share his thoughts. He can express himself
to people in a way that is a still quiet voice.
He can fill people with the Holy Spirit, with
the evidence of speaking in another language.
He can give interpretations. He can lead people
to Jesus to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and
Savior. He can give the gifts of miracles and
the gifts of great faith and the gifts of the
fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience,
goodness, kindness, gentleness, and self -control.
He can do all this at the same time throughout
this entire world to all eight billion people
if they're just open to receive from him. He's
working on people who don't know Jesus, who've
rejected Jesus, who are following other cults
and other religions, and he can work through
other people to share Christ with these people.
That is the power of the Holy Spirit. That is
the absolute omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent
power of the Holy Spirit operating. And think
about it, all of that is inside of us right now.
Now, if that doesn't make you take a step back
and stop and think, wow, the power of the Holy
Spirit, that incredible power, is available to
me in my life. And that's what I want to be sure
that people catch in this podcast. Now, you know,
some things, there's an old saying, I use it
a lot, and that is that some things are taught
and some things are caught. Well, I'm teaching,
I guess you could say, but unless it is caught,
unless it's received, in football, a pastor's
thrown but it's got to be caught in order to
complete the play well it's the same thing with
what I'm talking about today. This has to be
caught. You have to believe it. You have to receive
it and move forward with it. And when we do that
we can operate in the power of the Holy Spirit
and we can have all these things take place in
our life that we never thought were possible
because they weren't possible in our own abilities
and our own wisdom and our own guidance and direction,
our own thought life, but they are possible in
our life because of the unlimited power that
the Holy Spirit has available for each and every
one of us. Spirit can draw the unsaved to people
all across the world all at the same time if
they're just open to him. King David wrote something
very powerful about the Holy Spirit in Psalm
chapter 139 and verse 7. In the New Living Translation
it says this, I can never escape from your spirit.
I can never get away from your presence. David
knew the Holy Spirit was everywhere. Now a lot
of people say, well you know it's not the same
spirit in the Old Testament as in the New Testament.
Oh yes it is. During creation the Spirit of God
hovered around the atmosphere and worked with
God and they created what we see today. Jesus
was there at the beginning when the earth was
created. All of this was made available through
the power of God and now God loves us so much
that he wants to send the power of the Holy Spirit
to work in each and every one of us. So those
of you who are Christians, you know, Jesus Christ
is your Lord and Savior, then you know that power
is inside of you. This podcast series, this entire
series on the Holy Spirit is designated to help
Christians operate and live underneath the power
and the anointing of the Holy Spirit and to teach
those who are not aware of what the Holy Spirit
can do and will do and is ready to do, that it's
available to them if they'll just simply reach
out, claim the promises in the scriptures, and
learn to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit.
You know, recently I did some recording of some
little statements that were asked me, questions
that were asked me about this series. And so
I hope you look for that on Instagram, on there
pretty much every day. And I'm answering some
of these questions that people have and the very
common questions that we have, quite frankly,
when we are going through life each and every
day. And so I hope that you might listen to those
and tune into those on Instagram. And if you
do that, you'll find maybe some additional teaching
that might be helped to you and others who maybe
are not followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
when we think of Holy Spirit's power, we can
receive comfort and we can receive anything that
we need in our life. In Romans chapter 15 and
verse 13, a New Living Translation says this,
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill
you completely with joy and peace because you
trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident
hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Now
a lot of people read that scripture and they
see the promises and all that wonderful things
that we trust in God and we can overflow and
have confidence and all these kind of stuff and
that God is our source of hope but sometimes
we stop before the end of that scripture that
says through the power of the Holy Spirit. So
all of that can operate in our life if we'll
surrender to the power of the Holy Spirit. Just
let me give you just one more example of the
Holy Spirit's power. We read about it in Ephesians
chapter 6 and verse 11. It says put on all of
God's armor so that you will be able to stand
firm against the strategies of the devil. Now
let me read to you a little bit more about what
this means. This is found in the book of Ephesians
chapter 6 and this first verse I gave you kind
of sets us up for this to put on all of God's
armor so that you'll be able to stand firm against
all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting
against flesh and blood enemies, but against
evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world
against mighty powers in this dark world and
against evil spirits. in the heavenly places.
Verse 13, therefore put on every piece of God's
armor so you will be able to resist the enemy
in the time of evil. Then after the battle you
will still be standing firm. Stand your ground,
putting on the belt of truth and the body armor
of God's righteousness. Verse 15, for shoes,
Put on the peace that comes from the Good News
so that you will be fully prepared. Verse 16.
In addition to all of these, hold up the shield
of faith to stop the fiery darts of the devil.
Put on salvation. as your helmet and take the
sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.
Verse 18, pray in the Spirit at all times and
on every occasion stay alert and be persistent
in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
Now I wanted to close with that scripture because
it gives us something that is crucial for us
to apply to our lives when it comes to serving
God and walking in the power and the anointing
of the Holy Spirit. If we want power in our life
we can get it from the greatest power that man
has ever or will ever see and that's the power
of God through the Holy Spirit operating in each
and every one of us. So I hope that that'll be
a blessing to you and I pray that we'll truly
understand that the only way that we can put
on and keep on the armor of God is through the
power of the Holy Spirit. He brings that power
to our lives. Let me pray for you as we close
out this podcast. Heavenly Father, I know there
are many you're listening in today who are really
quite accomplished in their understanding of
the Holy Spirit. They've studied it, they could
teach on it and there are those those that maybe
are uncertain as to what the Holy Spirit's all
about, and some that know absolutely nothing
about what the Holy Spirit wants to do in their
life. So Lord, regardless of who that is, whatever
condition they are in their understanding of
the Holy Spirit, I pray blessing would be upon
them, that you would expand each and every one
of our knowledge and our understanding, that
the Holy Spirit would operate in a very powerful
way in each person listening in today. I thank
you for this opportunity, and I'll be careful
to give you praise for what's going to take place
from it. And I ask the Holy Spirit, to move in
a very, very special way, to draw people who
don't know Jesus, that he would bring them into
the kingdom, that they would surrender and submit
to him and receive Jesus Christ as their Lord
and Savior. And I pray for those who want to
operate in the gifts of the Spirit, Lord, that
they would seek you and not the gift, Father.
Seek your guidance and direction, and then the
power of God will come down upon them. Yes, it's
okay, Lord, if they want to have gifts of miracle,
if they want to have a certain gift, they can
ask for that, but Lord, it's the Holy Spirit.
The word tells us he's the only one that has
the authority to put the gifts of the Spirit
available to people to operate in their lives.
So for those who are desiring the gifts, I pray,
Lord, you would fill them to overflowing, that
you'd pour out the gifts of wisdom and of knowledge
and understanding, Father, that you would bless
them, Father, to perform miracles and healings,
Father, that they would have peace and the guidance
from you in each and everything they do. Thank
you God for this podcast. Thank you for those
who are listening in. I pray a blessing upon
them and I just give you praise for it. I pray
you would anoint all the new podcasts that we're
going to do on the series on the Holy Spirit
and I ask for your blessing on the next... podcast
entitled Holy Spirit Gift of Great Faith. I'll
thank you for it in advance and give you praise
for I ask these things in Jesus name I pray.
Amen. Well, I hope this has been a blessing to
you. I've certainly enjoyed doing this and continue
to enjoy this series that we're in. If you'd
like to know more about Quality Christian Living,
that's the name of our podcast that we operate
under, you can go to my webpage at davidcfriendauthor
.com. And when you get there, on the front page
you'll see a link to all my podcasts. So this
was podcast number three. 324 we've been doing
this for right almost four years now and so the
God has blessed it with that we are being downloaded
in countries all over the world I'm just amazed
when I see the results of how many countries
this has reached out to the latest I heard was
somewhere around 140 141 or 42 countries who
have actually been downloading these podcasts
so I just thank God for that and I just pray
that you'll continue to be with us as we go through
this series on the Holy Spirit. If you also want
to know more about the Equality Christian Living
podcast, if you're on my webpage, when you hit
the link, it'll take you to all the podcasts.
And if you'll scroll down on my webpage, you'll
go to a list of books that I've written. There's
quite a few there. I think there's six that are
listed currently on Amazon. There are books on
faith, a new one, Faith for Miracles. There's
a book on faith called Receive Everything from
what we call Nothing. There's a book on finances
on how to get out of debt and stay out of debt.
There's a book dealing with the understanding
of what generosity is all about and some books
for veterans for their help. So a number there
and there's a number that I'm working on now
to continue to move forward. You see, Quality
Christian Living is a podcast designed to offer
a plethora of topics to help you understand what
it is to live a quality Christian life, not just
to get by, but to prosper, to flourish, to be
more than overcomers and more than conquerors
as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope
that that has been and will continue to be a
blessing to you. as you listen to Quality Christian
Living. If you would like to subscribe to my
podcast, you can do that by going to cpnshows
.com or wherever you listen to your podcast.
So before we close, I'd like to just maybe give
you a couple of teasers, a couple of thoughts
about what we're going to talk about in the next
podcast coming up called Holy Spirit Gift of
Great Faith. And so we're going to talk about
how do we receive the gift of faith and which
scriptures will help us to be the most effective
in having greater faith. And does the Holy Spirit
decide who receives a gift of faith or of great
faith? Does the Holy Spirit have anything to
do about whether a person has little faith or
great faith, or does that have a lot to do with
us? We're going to get into that. I think the
Lord's given me something very special to share
with you. And we will come to better understand,
I believe, the difference between feelings and
faith. A lot of people talk about how they feel.
I'd like to talk about what I have faith for.
And we'll get into that, but just a quick little
item. When we talk about things and how we feel
about things, feelings will desert you. Feelings
will rise and fall, but our faith will never
desert us. We have faith. We all are born with
a measure of faith, and that faith can continue
to grow and increase. And we're going to talk
about that, how we can have great faith. And
so I know that a lot of people out there want
to have stronger faith and greater faith. Well,
then let your friends and neighbors and your
family members know about this podcast that's
coming up. And I pray that God will richly bless
you. them as they listen in from week to week.
In upcoming podcasts we'll be talking about encouragement
and advice dealing with the Holy Spirit in practical
applications of the Holy Spirit in our life and
how to understand the Holy Spirit and how we
can have personal experiences and testimonies
about the Holy Spirit operating and being in
our life. So with all that I hope that you'll
tune in to listen to them. Let me close with
a blessing for you. I just pray that the Lord
will bless you and keep you. May his face shine
upon you may he be gracious to you and give you
peace may you prosper and be in good health even
as your soul prospers so until next time may
God richly bless you may you receive the power
and the infilling of the Holy Spirit in your
life may you be filled with the gifts of the
Spirit and operate in the fruit of the Spirit
Father pray that each person listening in Lord
would draw closer to you myself included Lord
that we would seek you more and more each day
that we would learn to walk in the spirit to
live in the spirit and to operate in the gifts
of the Spirit as they come forth. Thank you,
Lord, for this now. And once again, I give you
praise for who you are, what you've done in this
podcast, and for I believe there were people
that listened to this podcast, Lord, that gave
their life to you. And I pray now that they would.
Find a good church, open the word of God, and
grow in their walk with you. Now bless each one,
I pray, and I'll be careful to give you all the
glory for it, in Jesus' name. Thank you once
again for listening to the Quality Christian
Living Podcast. I am your host, David Friend.
May God richly bless all that you put your hand
to.