Reading: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” Acts 1:8

Christian effectiveness is not in the omni-competence of humanity but in the authority of the Holy Spirit. One of the greatest threats to the Church today is the organization of religion and the manipulation of spirituality. This is when the aggregate of human competence (Church programs, seminars, conferences, Christian counseling, etc.) is considered the answer to recovering weakness and the source of spiritual success. While organization is important and programs have their place, our tendency is to depend on these rather than pray for the power of the Holy Spirit. The only power, the only efficient cause of success in the Church will be the same as the early Church experienced—the power of the Holy Spirit. We call this revival—the Holy Spirit reasserts his authority over the Church and demonstrates His authority.

 

“[After Pentecost] the same Peter who had been so nervous and so apprehensive, now stands up with boldness ready to confront the whole world and all the devils in hell, and proclaims this Jesus whom he had so recently denied…what is this? The authority of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit manifesting His authority in an extraordinary manner.”—Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones