With the Strength of the Spirit

STUDY: #777- CHURCH IN TH HOUSES From: JULY 23 – 29, 2013

Topic: “With the Strength of the Spirit” Zechariah 4:6 Lack of the Holy Spirit makes a person weaken in everything for such reason, many stop to struggle and no longer obtain what would be necessary to this day. Occasionally you ask yourself: “What is happening to me?” What happens is that you can feel the lack of power. That happens when you are struggling only with your own strength and you have used your human arguments to conquer. That evilness that is defeating you has overcome you and your human strength. What you have to do is empty yourself which does not allow you to succeed and drives you to walk in great defeats and shame. You should decide with all your heart to seek the power of the Holy Spirit who is the only one who can take you to conquer. Our silence towards evil is a sign that something is not right in us. There should always be in a Christian enough courage to reprimand sin. Micah 3:8 says “But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin.” It is when one is filled with the Spirit that there is power and courage in us. This is how there will be much to gain. When there is silence towards sin it is the other way around, we lose. If there is silence it is because one knows that one cannot go against the sin, one cannot speak anything against because there is something deep inside of us that will not allow it. That is lack of power. The lack of power is lack of the Spirit and the lack of the Spirit is lack of sanctity, there is no justice. What the prophet Micah prophesied was ruin for his own, it was of much pain for himself, but God was seeking repentance for a nation with a hardened heart. To speak God seeks those filled with the Spirit. When one is filled with the Spirit one does not boost anyone seeking favors from that person or seeking their money; those filled with the Spirit declares what God has given them without seeking any benefit or advantage. To do this one has to be filled with God and with a great deal of love. So, one has to be filled with strength, and this is only by the Spirit of Jehovah. This is how we can conquer sin and everything that goes against the truth and God’s justice. Zechariah 4:6 “Not by might nor by power.” The fullness of the Spirit is to be able to succeed, not with human strength but rather with the power of God. What do you succeed with? It is Zerubbabel whom God spoke with in this biblical passage. He could have been a weak man due to his fragility by being a slave from Babylon, but God offered to fill him with His power. By accepting to be filled with God’s power he became the leader of the Jewish people who returned from captivity. Sometime after he returned to his native land he’s told something like this: “It is not with an army or with strength, how you will depend completely on the Spirit in order to do the work that has been requested.” If we try to do what has been requested of us with our strength we will not be able to complete it. But, if we do it with the fullness of the Spirit we will be able to work to the end and we will achieve it. Zerubbabel should have not become discouraged to his human weakness because the work should be carried out by the Spirit of the living God, the weakness of man is not an obstacle. It is that God’s power perfects weakness and turns it into strength. The enemies could be endless since there is so many, but the power of the Spirit is the most powerful over everything that has been created by Him. Let us be careful with what we with; we can think that we are contending against a human being and we could be contending with the Holy Spirit who is the one that cares for the heavens and the earth, things will not go well for such person. Careful! Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…” How can we do any good and have power if we are full of contamination? If we are full of bad habits such as smoking, using drugs, speaking badly, walking mischievously, lying, being astute, surrendering to “I”, well we would have a serious problem of spiritual contamination. The disciples of the Lord Jesus will do many beautiful things, but there was a but: they had to receive the power of the Holy Spirit. This power is what we should receive to do God’s deeds as He wants. The power of the Spirit is obligatory and necessary if we want to be victorious. This will be testimony for yourself and for everyone. It is not with your strength nor with your great negotiations that something can happen in someone, rather that it has to be the Spirit of God working in you. You can have many talents, a great instruction and a vast experience, but it will be of no good if you are lacking of spiritual power. Poor if what you think that is what you know! You can lack of education, be less appealing, and without refinement, but if you are endowed by the power of the Holy Spirit the world will turn to see you burn for God. Acts 19:11, 12 “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” In those who are filled with the Spirit their lives are full of healing influences. God made extraordinary miracles through the hand of Paul. Paul had power to do signs and marvels and that is how he certified the message that he preached of. What certifies what you are saying? Miracles? Many were healed when they contacted the clothing that Paul wore. That is how God took Paul to do what he had to do. The Spirit takes each one of us to what we have to do in pure sanctity. I ask myself: What do I have to do? We have to know that it is with the Spirit that we will do what we have to do. What should interest us is to be full of His Spirit. That is how we will see marvels and we will live for Him. Amen.