Live in the Power of the Holy Spirit 

As I continued my previously-mentioned project of cleaning up our basement, I recently came upon my old Daisy BB gun from my youth. I recall the last time I tried shooting this rifle, it was woefully lacking in power. Instead of the tiny metal ball zipping across my yard and pinging off a tree, it pitifully traveled a few short feet before softly falling to the ground. It definitely posed no threat to birds, other small wildlife, or even little boys whose moms were afraid that using such a toy might result in the loss of their child’s eye. I asked someone more knowledgeable about such items if it might be possible for it to be repaired and have its power restored. He suggested the remedy might be as simple as oiling the gun, or at least that would be a good place to start.

A similar diagnosis might hold true for followers of Jesus who are lacking power in their lives. It could be a lack of oil. Interestingly, oil is generally regarded as being used in the Bible as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The parallel can be seen in several passages of scripture. Maybe the most notable one is taken from Isaiah but later quoted by Jesus in reference to Himself. It begins, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor…” (Isaiah 61:1). It appears to connect the practice of anointing with oil to the presence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life.

The Bible definitely associates the Holy Spirit with the kind of power that is needed in the life of a believer. In one of his letters, Paul prayed for his fellow Christians “to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:16). The power we need within us to be faithful to Jesus, to do His will, and to overcome temptation finds its source in the Holy Spirit. If we have put our trust in Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit is already living within us. However, we need to yield to His leading and surrender to the work He wants to do in our hearts to the point that we fulfill the command to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). It is no coincidence that when Jesus overcame the temptations of Satan in the wilderness, subsequently He was described as returning “in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14). We need that same power of the Spirit if we are going to be victorious over temptation and sin.

Jesus even more strongly affirmed this connection between the Holy Spirit and power in the instructions He gave His disciples after His resurrection. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). His followers received both the Spirit and the promised power on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. This power not only strengthened them to be more godly men, but it also made them more effective witnesses and provided them with spiritual power through the use of the gifts that the Spirit gave them to use in serving the Lord. Those Spirit-filled believers weren’t weakly surviving while making little impact on the world. They were powerfully taking the fight to the enemy and turning their world upside down for Jesus.

If we are lacking that power in our lives, maybe we need to check our oil. First of all, is the Holy Spirit living in us as a result of our trusting Jesus as our Savior? If so, are we fully surrendered to Him and letting Him fill us? Let’s not be weak-shooting BB guns. Let’s be powerful, influential Spirit-directed instruments of the Lord.