Cry for Power

Enoch B. Mnisi, DD2022 · Day 44 min read

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Acts 10:38 (NKJV)

One of the identifying characteristics of the Holy Spirit's presence in the life of the believer is power. It should be a manifest consequence in the life of every believer who has received the gift of the Spirit, because Jesus said it would be. To lack power after receiving the Spirit, and to make excuses for it, brings nothing short of disrepute on what Jesus said; yet many Christians live powerless lives even after receiving the Holy Spirit. Why are we so powerless?

This power is called dunamis, from which we get our English words dynamo and dynamite. It refers to the self-generating, miracle-working power of God, the dynamic ability to cause the supernatural. Dunamis is God's creative ability at work, and when dunamis is active, miracles are manifested. We see this in the lives of Moses, Elijah and Jesus, who demonstrated the potential of dunamis at work in a believer's life. So much so, that the Scriptures tell us that if all the miraculous works of Jesus were written down in books, all the libraries in the world could not contain them. Such is the working of dunamis, and this is what should be evident in every believer in Jesus Christ.

Why, then, does this power seem inoperative in the lives of millions of Christians? It has come to the point where Christians are shocked or surprised when miracles of healing and provision take place, as though they should not. What has happened to contending for the faith the early church walked in? It should not even be so, for the latter church should be striving for greater experiences in God than the former. Throughout church history there have been men and women, few as they were, who dared to venture into God to seek out His promise of power to witness to this dark and evil world. But that does not seem to be the case in our generation.

Before I answer the question, let me tell you something: the world and creation respond to nothing but power. Men, money, souls, bodies and the elements all respond to the language of power. God created everything on earth, and this world, to be ruled; hence creation's great respect for power, and Jesus knew this. A man's respect in this world is directly related to his power.

The answer to the question I asked earlier is found in the life of Jesus. People lack power because they lack consecration to God. The Scripture says that He was "declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness." This means that we can never walk in the fullness of God's power, with demonstration, without a walk of holiness before the Lord. This is the master key to the Spirit's power. Remember that the Spirit is holy, so His power is holy too, and the profane and unconsecrated cannot truly access it, even though it is resident in them.

To return to Jesus: Luke 4 reveals clearly how Jesus came into power, and it was through His consecration to God. First, we see a distinction between the filling of the Spirit and the filling of power; they are two separate events. As our opening scripture says, God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power. Though both were carried out by the same Person, they are two separate events, and there is a reason for it. After Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit, He is led by Him into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. During that time He fasts, and uses the Scriptures to resist the devil. Then He returns in the power of the Spirit. Here we see principles of the power of God that reveal why many do not have power working in their lives. They lack:

The leadership of the Spirit.
Conviction and consecration in temptation, and so yield easily to satanic temptations.
Regular seasons of fasting and prayer, abstaining from food and other natural things to give attention to the Lord and to spiritual things.
The Word in their spirit and soul. Let the Word dwell in you richly.

There is an entire teaching to be given on these four points, but I believe the reader can see why many lack power. The lack of these same things also resulted in the fall of man in the garden. The ability to resist Satan and his temptations comes from a strong appropriation of these four points. God's power is available to anyone willing to pay the price for it, and not only will it change your life; it will be a blessing to countless people in your world. So, are you ready to cry for power?