Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer reveals a heart that earnestly desires what only the Holy Spirit can do, and that is the right place to begin. It is not our programs, our planning, or our own intensity that can convict a single soul or open a mind to understand the Scriptures. It is the Spirit who convicts, the Spirit who teaches all things, and the Father who reveals the Son. You are asking for what Jesus promised and what the early church knew intimately: a life and a ministry submerged in the Holy Spirit.
The record we have of the early church is not a history of strategies for church growth. It is the story of believers who were directed, empowered, and sent by the Spirit. When a problem needed solving, they could say it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to them. The Spirit spoke to set apart workers. The Spirit caught Philip away. That direct governing power is the reason for their success, and it has never been withdrawn. The tragedy comes when we, having begun in the Spirit, try to perfect the work in the flesh. We exhaust ourselves with hype and man-made effort, forgetting that we are to be vessels through whom He flows. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is that overflowing from your life, the endowment of power for witness that makes you a spokesman and a servant like Stephen, full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit.
Your desire for family members to be drawn, for visitors to receive the word with faith, and for leaders to walk in daily devotion and power is all met in one place: total reliance on the work of the Holy Spirit. You do not need to tarry for a new era; the gift has been given. But you do need to be open, to receive by faith, and to follow His leading rather than substituting our own plans. Pray for your people, lay hands on them, and expect the Spirit to be imparted. Ask the Father fervently for the Spirit’s work in a greater measure, not because God is reluctant, but because He is honored by our desperate and believing prayer. The promise is that you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not with a trickle, but submerged in His power for the sake of a lost world. That is the wellspring of revival, of sound teaching, of bold preaching, and of the drawing of families into true fellowship until Jesus comes.
The record we have of the early church is not a history of strategies for church growth. It is the story of believers who were directed, empowered, and sent by the Spirit. When a problem needed solving, they could say it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to them. The Spirit spoke to set apart workers. The Spirit caught Philip away. That direct governing power is the reason for their success, and it has never been withdrawn. The tragedy comes when we, having begun in the Spirit, try to perfect the work in the flesh. We exhaust ourselves with hype and man-made effort, forgetting that we are to be vessels through whom He flows. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is that overflowing from your life, the endowment of power for witness that makes you a spokesman and a servant like Stephen, full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit.
Your desire for family members to be drawn, for visitors to receive the word with faith, and for leaders to walk in daily devotion and power is all met in one place: total reliance on the work of the Holy Spirit. You do not need to tarry for a new era; the gift has been given. But you do need to be open, to receive by faith, and to follow His leading rather than substituting our own plans. Pray for your people, lay hands on them, and expect the Spirit to be imparted. Ask the Father fervently for the Spirit’s work in a greater measure, not because God is reluctant, but because He is honored by our desperate and believing prayer. The promise is that you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not with a trickle, but submerged in His power for the sake of a lost world. That is the wellspring of revival, of sound teaching, of bold preaching, and of the drawing of families into true fellowship until Jesus comes.
