The Spirit's Power

๐—ช๐—”๐—ฅ๐—  ๐—จ๐—ฃ

โ€ข What superpower do you want to have? Why?

โ€ข Recall a time when someone fulfilled a promise to you that seemed impossible? What happened?

โ€ข Has there been a time when you felt overwhelmed and someone made you feel that you were not alone? Please tell us about it.ย 


๐—ช๐—ข๐—ฅ๐——

๐˜‘๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ด ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ, โ€œ๐˜—๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ. ๐˜ˆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ ๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ.โ€ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด, ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ, โ€œ๐˜™๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜š๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต.โ€ ๐—๐—ข๐—›๐—ก ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ:๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿญโ€“๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฎ


(Read also ๐—๐—ข๐—›๐—ก ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฐ:๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฒโ€“๐Ÿญ๐Ÿณ, ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฒ.)


God calls us to participate in His mission of reconciling the world to Himself. However, we cannot do this on our own. This is why, before He ascended to heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit as assurance that we would never be alone, even in His physical absence. The Father sent Jesus, and then Jesus asked the Father to give us the Holy Spirit. Let us now look at how the Holy Spirit helps us uphold Godโ€™s mission.


๐Ÿญ. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—›๐—ผ๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ.

โ€œ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅย ๐™„ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก ๐™–๐™จ๐™  ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง, ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก ๐™œ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™ƒ๐™š๐™ก๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง, ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™—๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง, ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜š๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ. ๐˜ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ, ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ.โ€ ๐—๐—ข๐—›๐—ก ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฐ:๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฒโ€“๐Ÿญ๐Ÿณ


The mere presence of someone valuable to us is already meaningful. How much more, then, if their presence were permanent? Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to continuously abide in us and to help us fulfill Godโ€™s mission. The Holy Spirit is our Helper not only as we are sent but also as we continue until the missionโ€™s fulfillment. He is our advocate, comforter, and counselor forever. The Spirit strengthens and empowers us to do what we could never do on our own. Now that we know the Holy Spirit dwells in us, as individuals, and among us, as a church community, how should we respond when we are called to do what seems impossible?


๐Ÿฎ. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—›๐—ผ๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ด๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐˜๐—ต.

โ€œ๐˜‰๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜š๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ, ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™–๐™˜๐™ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™—๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง ๐™ง๐™š๐™ข๐™š๐™ข๐™—๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™„ ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™จ๐™–๐™ž๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช.โ€ ๐—๐—ข๐—›๐—ก ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฐ:๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฒ


(Read also ๐—๐—ข๐—›๐—ก ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฒ:๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฏ.)


There are times when we struggle to find the right words or to speak with boldness. But the Holy Spirit assures us of His presence, power, and wisdom. He reveals and guides us into all truth, helping us grow more deeply in our relationship with God. But His purpose is greater than the personal: He empowers us to say what God wants the world to know about Him and to glorify Him as we do so. What encouragement did Jesus give the disciples in Luke 12:11โ€“12?


๐Ÿฏ. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—›๐—ผ๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—น๐—ฑ.

โ€œ๐˜•๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด, ๐˜ ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ: ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ, ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ง ๐˜ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ. ๐˜‰๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ง ๐˜ ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ, ๐˜ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ. ๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™๐™š ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™จ, ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ซ๐™ž๐™˜๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ก๐™™ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ง๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ค๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™จ๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™™๐™œ๐™ข๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ . . .โ€ย ๐—๐—ข๐—›๐—ก ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฒ:๐Ÿณโ€“๐Ÿด


(Read also ๐—๐—ข๐—›๐—ก ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฒ:๐Ÿตโ€“๐Ÿญ๐Ÿญ.)


The Holy Spirit shows us the necessity of salvation from sin, the coming judgment, and the solutionโ€”righteousness from God. As believers, our responsibility is not to convert people but to preach the gospel. We are not required to be the most eloquent, intelligent, or talented to make Christ known to others. We can be confident that as we faithfully preach, it is the Holy Spirit who convicts people of their sin and makes them realize their need for a Savior. What does 1 Corinthians 2:4โ€“5 say about what should our faith rest on?


The Holy Spirit will be with us forever. We will never be alone in Godโ€™s mission. Because we have the Holy Spirit, we have all that we will ever need.


๐—”๐—ฃ๐—ฃ๐—Ÿ๐—œ๐—–๐—”๐—ง๐—œ๐—ข๐—ก

โ€ข Think about the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. How might this affect the way you respond to overwhelming situations?

โ€ข Reflect on a time when you experienced the empowering of the Holy Spirit. How may you rely more on Him as you pursue Godโ€™s mission?

โ€ข How does the truth that it is the Spirit convicts sinners affect how we go about sharing the gospel? Commit to share your testimony and the gospel to this person and ask the Holy Spirit to help you make God's love known and felt by him or her.


๐—ฃ๐—ฅ๐—”๐—ฌ๐—˜๐—ฅ

โ€ข Thank God for giving us the Holy Spirit as our Helper. Praise Him for His abiding presence that empowers, comforts, and strengthens us.

โ€ข Ask the Holy Spirit for grace to remain faithful in your little corner and for people in every nation to turn to God, fear Him, and follow Him.

โ€ข Pray that you will rely not on yourself but on the Holy Spirit for the truth. Ask Him for wisdom and insight as you make Jesus known to others.ย