The Holy Spirit empowers us!
Jesus spoke in Luke chapter 11:
13 “If imperfect parents know how to lovingly take care of their children and give them what they need, how much more will the Perfect Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit’s fullness when his children ask Him.”
In response to our original, personal invitation by The Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit of power comes into us and indwells us. At this time, He unites our spirit with His and gives us a brand-new spirit and heart. This is called “the new birth” or being “born again” or “justification.” This is the time when Christ implants His eternal Life––His Love, His Wisdom, and His power––in our spirit and heart, and we become the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
FATHER spoke and Ezekiel recorded in chapter 36:
26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (able to be obedient and responsive).”
Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in 1st Corinthians chapter 3:
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is Holy, which temple you are.
And in 1st Corinthians chapter 6:
19 Have you forgotten that your body is now the sacred temple of the Spirit of Holiness, Who lives in you? You don’t belong to yourself any longer, for the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, lives inside your sanctuary.
20 You were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood, so by all means, then, use your body to bring glory to God!
The baptism of the Spirit is God breaking through the soulish and physical realm. It’s the beginning of our soul being subjected to our “spirit man” (our spirit). It’s God’s power to become a genuine witness of Christ, not just in our words, but also in our lives.
Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in 2nd Timothy chapter 3:
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth.
Without this initial empowering, however, we will be just like believers who have a “form of godliness,” but who “deny the power within”. In other words, they know the Scriptures in their heads, but they don’t allow the power of God to come forth and transform their lives.
And further, Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter 5:
18 And don’t get drunk with wine, which is rebellion; instead be filled continually with the Holy Spirit.
After we have been indwelt and empowered by God’s resurrection power, we must daily be refilled with His Spirit of power from the inside out It is now our responsibility (our choice) to stay cleansed and sanctified, so we can be refilled and empowered. This does not happen automatically. It is God’s will, but it is our choice whether or not we do it.
It is imperative that we not stop at the first step of salvation—our justification—but that we go on to the next phase, which is our sanctification. “If we live in the Spirit [if we are born-again], [we must learn to] also walk in the Spirit”. It’s the Spirit of Christ’s resurrection power that not only renews our minds and transforms our lives, but also enables us to walk by His Spirit.
The Spirit brings us to Christ and gives us His Life, then He empowers us to reflect Him in all we do. Our job, then, is to stay cleansed and filled so we can be empowered. The excellency of the power must be of God and not ourselves. FATHER promises us that in the end, He will raise us up by this same power as He did Christ.