Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer reflects a sincere desire for both character and power, and that is exactly what God wants to form in His people. You are asking for the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control, together with a humble and bold, holy and obedient life that preaches Christ with love. You are also asking that God would confirm His Word with signs and wonders as in Acts 4:29-30 and Acts 14:3, and show His authority over darkness as Jesus did by the Spirit of God in Luke 11:20. Those two desires belong together and should never be separated.
Scripture teaches that when a person truly receives Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within. Your body becomes His temple. That indwelling is true of every believer. Yet Scripture also speaks of a filling and empowering of the Spirit for witness and service. Jesus Himself was full of the Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit, and He is our example. Our great need today is to be continually filled and led and anointed by the Spirit, especially in proclaiming the Word, so that preaching carries a life changing power that no human ability can produce.
God works in diverse ways, and we see that in the early church. In Samaria, Philip preached Christ and God worked through him with miracles and deliverance, and many believed and were baptized. Yet those new believers had not yet experienced the empowering presence of the Spirit that came later when Peter and John laid hands on them. Philip clearly did not have that particular gift to impart. In the house of Cornelius, the Spirit fell upon the hearers while Peter was still preaching, before any laying on of hands. In Ephesus, Paul laid hands on disciples and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. There was always a visible and audible reality when the Spirit empowered people, which is why Simon the sorcerer wanted to buy that ability, but the gift cannot be bought or earned. There are different gifts, different ministries, and different workings, but it is the same Spirit who distributes to each one just as He determines, for the common good and to build up the body of Christ as taught in 1 Corinthians 12.
This helps us understand how to seek what you are asking for. The Holy Spirit is received by faith, not by works of the law or by trying to make ourselves worthy. He is God's gift. We do not earn His filling by a special level of consecration, and those who work miracles do not do so because they have attained a higher holiness. At the same time, God does call us to get our lives and our message correct, as 1 Timothy 4:16 says, to watch our life and doctrine closely. Character and truth matter. The Spirit does not draw attention to Himself, He points to Jesus and teaches us all things concerning Him. Any true work of the Spirit will exalt Christ who suffered, died for our sins, rose again and ascended as Lord and Messiah, and will confirm that gospel message.
We also need wisdom about how God confirms His Word. Mark 16:20 says they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed the Word by the signs that accompanied it. Hebrews 2:3-4 says God bore witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His will. The initiative remains with God. He is not limited to the days of the apostles, and it was a sad turn when some concluded that miracles and empowerings were only to start the church and then were no longer needed. We should ask for a greater measure of the Spirit's work today. Yet God does not work on a human schedule or in a hyped atmosphere as if miracles could be advertised for a certain night. He works according to His will, in His way and timing, and often in quiet and holy ways that leave no doubt that He has acted.
You also asked about tearing down false teaching and evil. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10 that though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are spiritual and have power through God to pull down strongholds and every argument raised against the knowledge of God. That happens as we speak the truth in love, with boldness and accuracy, depending on the Spirit to give wisdom and to distinguish what is true from what is false.
You closed with a beautiful balance, saying you do not seek greater works for their own sake and are content to be like your Master as in Matthew 10:24-25, yet you pray not my will but Yours be done as in Luke 22:42. That is the more excellent way Scripture speaks of. Love is greater than all gifts. Gifts without love are empty, and a life of fellowship with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit, as in 2 Corinthians 13:14 and 1 John 1:3-4, is the foundation for everything else. God may answer a desire for dramatic miracles by leading you into that deeper fellowship and steady love, and that is enough. We can be open to whatever He wills, whether quiet transformation or visible power, and rejoice in what He gives.
So I join you in prayer. Father, thank You for the gift of Your Holy Spirit dwelling in every believer through faith in Jesus Christ. Fill my brother and sister again and anoint their lives and words, that they may walk in the fruit of the Spirit and speak the gospel of Jesus with humble boldness and loving accuracy. Work with them as they preach Christ, and in Your wisdom and according to Your will, confirm Your Word with Your power to heal, deliver and save, so that Jesus alone is seen and praised. Give discernment to recognize false teaching and grace to answer it with truth. Keep them from sin and fear and temptation and pride and from the evil one, and keep them in Your protection, forgiveness, healing, redemption and tender mercy as You have promised in Your Word. Make their lives and message true, and let their fellowship with You in the Holy Spirit be deep and joyful. We ask this in the name of Jesus, trusting Your goodness and Your will, amen.
Scripture teaches that when a person truly receives Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within. Your body becomes His temple. That indwelling is true of every believer. Yet Scripture also speaks of a filling and empowering of the Spirit for witness and service. Jesus Himself was full of the Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit, and He is our example. Our great need today is to be continually filled and led and anointed by the Spirit, especially in proclaiming the Word, so that preaching carries a life changing power that no human ability can produce.
God works in diverse ways, and we see that in the early church. In Samaria, Philip preached Christ and God worked through him with miracles and deliverance, and many believed and were baptized. Yet those new believers had not yet experienced the empowering presence of the Spirit that came later when Peter and John laid hands on them. Philip clearly did not have that particular gift to impart. In the house of Cornelius, the Spirit fell upon the hearers while Peter was still preaching, before any laying on of hands. In Ephesus, Paul laid hands on disciples and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. There was always a visible and audible reality when the Spirit empowered people, which is why Simon the sorcerer wanted to buy that ability, but the gift cannot be bought or earned. There are different gifts, different ministries, and different workings, but it is the same Spirit who distributes to each one just as He determines, for the common good and to build up the body of Christ as taught in 1 Corinthians 12.
This helps us understand how to seek what you are asking for. The Holy Spirit is received by faith, not by works of the law or by trying to make ourselves worthy. He is God's gift. We do not earn His filling by a special level of consecration, and those who work miracles do not do so because they have attained a higher holiness. At the same time, God does call us to get our lives and our message correct, as 1 Timothy 4:16 says, to watch our life and doctrine closely. Character and truth matter. The Spirit does not draw attention to Himself, He points to Jesus and teaches us all things concerning Him. Any true work of the Spirit will exalt Christ who suffered, died for our sins, rose again and ascended as Lord and Messiah, and will confirm that gospel message.
We also need wisdom about how God confirms His Word. Mark 16:20 says they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed the Word by the signs that accompanied it. Hebrews 2:3-4 says God bore witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His will. The initiative remains with God. He is not limited to the days of the apostles, and it was a sad turn when some concluded that miracles and empowerings were only to start the church and then were no longer needed. We should ask for a greater measure of the Spirit's work today. Yet God does not work on a human schedule or in a hyped atmosphere as if miracles could be advertised for a certain night. He works according to His will, in His way and timing, and often in quiet and holy ways that leave no doubt that He has acted.
You also asked about tearing down false teaching and evil. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10 that though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are spiritual and have power through God to pull down strongholds and every argument raised against the knowledge of God. That happens as we speak the truth in love, with boldness and accuracy, depending on the Spirit to give wisdom and to distinguish what is true from what is false.
You closed with a beautiful balance, saying you do not seek greater works for their own sake and are content to be like your Master as in Matthew 10:24-25, yet you pray not my will but Yours be done as in Luke 22:42. That is the more excellent way Scripture speaks of. Love is greater than all gifts. Gifts without love are empty, and a life of fellowship with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit, as in 2 Corinthians 13:14 and 1 John 1:3-4, is the foundation for everything else. God may answer a desire for dramatic miracles by leading you into that deeper fellowship and steady love, and that is enough. We can be open to whatever He wills, whether quiet transformation or visible power, and rejoice in what He gives.
So I join you in prayer. Father, thank You for the gift of Your Holy Spirit dwelling in every believer through faith in Jesus Christ. Fill my brother and sister again and anoint their lives and words, that they may walk in the fruit of the Spirit and speak the gospel of Jesus with humble boldness and loving accuracy. Work with them as they preach Christ, and in Your wisdom and according to Your will, confirm Your Word with Your power to heal, deliver and save, so that Jesus alone is seen and praised. Give discernment to recognize false teaching and grace to answer it with truth. Keep them from sin and fear and temptation and pride and from the evil one, and keep them in Your protection, forgiveness, healing, redemption and tender mercy as You have promised in Your Word. Make their lives and message true, and let their fellowship with You in the Holy Spirit be deep and joyful. We ask this in the name of Jesus, trusting Your goodness and Your will, amen.
