How Desperate Are You for His Power?

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be My witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NLT)

Have you ever wondered why some Jesus followers have no fear and allow the Lord’s mighty power to flow through them seemingly unhindered, while most of us cower behind our excuses wondering why God rarely, if ever, uses us? God’s power is God’s power, so why the difference?

If you’ve ever watched those long, skinny dragsters race, you may wonder how they can go so fast. I’m sure there are many components, but one factor is their fuel. Their engines can’t burn regular gasoline like gas powered autos that drive on our highways, or even race gas. They require a special kind of fuel called nitromethane, which is how they got their name – Top Fuel Dragsters.

There’s a sense in which Jesus followers are “Top Fuel Humans” because we’re powered by the Holy Spirit of the all-powerful God. I love what Dr. David Jeremiah wrote: “You serve a God who can speak a syllable and bring stars into being. He can touch a leper and make his skin like a baby’s. With a word, He can calm a sea or summon a legion of angels. He can send fire from the sky, food from heaven, water from a rock, and frogs into Egypt. He can part the seas, stop the sun in the sky, make ax heads float, make a virgin conceive, and raise dead men to life. He can put coins in the mouths of fish and cast demons into the bodies of swine.”

It’s ironic that the same powerful Holy Spirit resides in each believer, but not every person who is filled with God’s power lives like it. My sense is there are lots of reasons that’s true, but the one that comes first to my mind is desperation. Many believers just aren’t desperate enough to allow the Spirit to be active in their lives.

Often, we’re not desperate for God’s power until we reach the end of ourselves. The phone rings and the news of our recent test isn’t good; there’s the screeching of tires and breaking of glass; a loved one dies unexpectedly; or your spouse says they’re leaving. There are as many things that happen as there are people, but the bottom line is, life is fragile.

David Platt wrote: “[God] puts people in positions where they are desperate for his power, and then he shows his provision in ways that display his greatness.” On some levels it’s sad that we have to wait until we’re in a desperate situation before we get serious about our faith. It makes me wonder just how important the Lord is in our daily lives.

George Whitefield wrote: “Christ is worth all, or he is worth nothing.” If the Lord Jesus rarely if ever comes to your mind in the course of a normal day, may it be He’s worth nothing to you? Could it be your “commitment” to Christ is a mile wide and an inch deep? Perhaps you haven’t noticed that the daily news isn’t getting better?

Whatever the reason, if God’s power isn’t being evidenced in our life every day, we need to get on our knees and get desperate for Him to manifest His power in and through us to His honor and fame. We don’t need his power to live mediocre lives, we need His power to help those in our spheres of influence understand that time is running out, and they have a greater need for Jesus than they can even imagine.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊