Power to proclaim

Its 3:30AM and I was awaken to read the scriptures. The verse in Acts 4:31 came very strongly to my mind - After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Why was the Holy Spirit given? Jesus said in Acts 1:8 -But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The primary reason why the Holy Spirit was given was for His disciples to be bold to speak as witness of His Name.

In fact in Acts 2, when God pure out His Holy Spirit for the first time, it was to proclaim His world with boldness. It was Peter the coward who had earlier denied Christ, now speaks with boldness, after he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Again in Acts 4, it was the boldness of Peter and the apostles that took the leaders of the tempe by surprise . Acts 4:13 - When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men. Acts 4:8 emphasis the reason why..Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them...

I am sorry to note that today the power of the Holy Spirit is seen only on Sunday morning between 9AM to 12PM in most churches. Strangely it is manifested in shouting and screaming in tongues and many time with prophetic utterances  all within the confines of the assembly of believers. And everyone of them claim to be filed with the power of the Holy Spirit. 

But the movement the leave their safety net, all the singing, shouting, strange utterances ceases automatically. It is now "business as usual" and they will have to wait for the next week, same time for the same "power of the Holy Spirit". Worst still, these people who had just participated in the "Holy Spirit infilling" speak a language that is totally incongruent with the fruit of the Spirit. The non-believer is more cautious  with his words than these so called believers. And their lives exhibit the works of the flesh.

What a deception that has infiltrated the churches today, where the power to be witness for Jesus is no more analogous to the filling of the Holy Spirit. I have no qualms to speaking in tongues and worship God in spirit and in truth, provided it is done decently and in order. But if this is all that means being filled in the Holy Spirit, I have a serious question with what you are filled in. Because according to what I read from the scriptures, the most important thing the Holy Spirit does is to enable us to be His witness and to speak His word with boldness. It will mean that we will be bold to share about Christ to our friends and those we meet in the normal cause of the day. It will mean that our daily walk will be one that is led by the Spirit. An introspection is try in order, otherwise we will just be deceiving ourselves.

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