Holy Spirit PowerJanuary 17, 2011
By Ken Horn
I received a letter from a young man who desperately wanted to see his
sister saved. So he witnessed to her forcefully and often until his sister
became hostile and wanted nothing more to do with him. Despite his righteous
motive, he had just made matters worse.
Shortly after their falling-out, he found himself visiting an Assemblies of
God church his first experience with Pentecostalism. Here, he told me, he
was "baptized in the Holy Ghost." The results? "I started praying instead of
preaching to my sister ... and God saved her. Now she is filled with the
Holy Ghost and goes to the same church as I do."
There is no limit to what the Holy Spirit can do. My dad is another great
example.
Like his brothers, Dad had picked up the smoking habit at a young age.
Letters from my mother to him during their courtship included her requests
that he give up the habit. But it didn't happen. Even after Dad became a
committed Christian, he continued to smoke. He tried to stop many times, but
always reverted. Tobacco had a grip on him that he couldn�t break.
Then, when I was studying for the ministry at Bethany University in Scotts
Valley, Calif., I got a call from my dad.
"Son," he told me, "I was baptized in the Holy Spirit last night."
Two of the things that happened because of this: (1) My dad became a board
member for most of the rest of his life, and (2) he was completely delivered
of his bondage to tobacco. What pious efforts from a good Christian couldn't
do, the fullness that came from God's Holy Spirit accomplished.
The fullness of the Holy Spirit does not make Christian "A" better than
Christian "B." But it does make Christian "A" stronger than he or she was
before ... enabled by the Holy Spirit's power to do things not remotely
possible in human strength. What challenges have you stifled? Perhaps your
answer will be found in seeking the fullness of God's wonderful Holy Spirit.
Ken Horn is editor of the Pentecostal Evangel and blogs at Snapshots
(khorn.agblogger.org).
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