Power is associated with the gift of the Spirit. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). The Spirit provides the power we need to live the ways of God and to do the work of God.
The Spirit was poured out on Jesus at his baptism. Jesus began his ministry and completed his mission in the power of the Spirit. That same Spirit was poured out on the disciples on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), just as Jesus had promised. The Spirit that empowered Jesus in his ministry now empowers us as we seek to live the ways of God and do the work of God. (The outpouring of the Spirit on us is symbolized in baptism by sprinkling. The sprinkling of water on our heads calls to mind the tongues of fire that anointed each of the disciples on Pentecost as the Spirit was poured out upon them.)
Jesus’s promise of the Spirit and the power the Spirit provides was made specifically in reference to bearing witness to all of the world about Jesus and the kingdom of God he put in place (Acts 1:8). But the power available through the Spirit applies to every aspect of the spiritual life. The Spirit empowers us to do what we cannot do in our own strength — from bearing witness to the love of God expressed in Jesus to doing any of the seemingly impossible teachings of Jesus to moving beyond the power of anxiety and worry to enduring the seemingly unbearable to breaking free of old patterns and addictions to forgiving the one who has wronged us to using our abilities to make a difference in the life of another in Jesus’s name. The Spirit is our partner, the one who energizes every aspect of our spiritual lives.
The power the Spirit provides us is grounded in a spiritual principle: the Spirit’s power is tied directly to our weakness.
The Apostle Paul learned this spiritual principle as he wrestled with his thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7). Paul pleaded with God to remove this unidentified issue which created such a struggle for him. God’s answer to Paul’s prayer was “My grace is sufficient for you, for (my) power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
There are two parts to God’s answer to Paul’s prayer. The first was the assurance that God’s grace would sustain Paul in his struggle. He would not be overcome by it or defeated. He would be victorious through what God provided! The second part of God’s answer states the underlying principle to this word of assurance: God’s power only comes into play when our power fails — in our weakness! God’s power is “made perfect” — the idea is “doing what it was intended to do” — as the Spirit empowers us to do what we cannot do in our own strength.
This spiritual principle rubs us the wrong way. We don’t like to be weak. Being weak implies we are inadequate. It means we are dependent. We want to be self-sufficient and independent — or, at least, we want to believe we are. We are like the young child who tells her mother, “I can do it myself!” But as long as we rely upon our own wisdom and strength, we will never know the power the Spirit provides. We will never fully live the ways of God that Jesus taught or do the work of God we have been called to do as God’s partners in the world.
The
Apostle Paul learned this great principle and built his life upon it. “So, I will boast all the more gladly of
my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. For
whenever I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). Paul
learned to live out of a spirit of glad dependency on God, trusting God to help
him do what he could not do in his own strength. The spirit of glad dependency
allowed the power of Christ — the power of the Spirit — to live in him.
So how do we access this power of the Spirit? We do what Paul did: we pray. We pray our struggle. Rather than giving up in frustration and defeat, we acknowledge to God (confess) what we cannot do. We stay engaged in the struggle, giving God permission to work in it. And we wait for God's response - the grace that is adequate, the guidance and insight the Spirit gives, the power to do what we cannot do in our own strength.
What might we be able to do — in living the ways of God that Jesus taught, in doing the work of God in the world — if we trusted the Spirit to empower us to do what we cannot do in our own strength? What might that look like for you? for me?
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