Power in Christ Jesus

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Jesus Christ, God's Son, began his ministry exhibiting the power of the holy spirit. He made known to us God as a loving Father and manifested the power of God in knowledge, wisdom, discerning of spirits, faith, miracles, and healings. His last instructions to the apostles were regarding receiving of the holy spirit, the gift, the comforter.

Acts 1
:4 And, being assembled together with them,
    commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
    but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
:5 For John truly baptized with water;
    but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

:8 But ye shall receive power,
        after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:
    and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem,
    and in all Judaea,
    and in Samaria,
    and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Acts 2
:38 Then Peter said unto them,
        Repent, and be baptized every one of you
            in the name of Jesus Christ
            for the remission of sins,
        and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost, as translated by the King James Version, is hagion pneuma, holy spirit (and pneuma hagion). This is the gift of God that resides in a believer when he becomes born again. The gift, holy spirit, that God gives us is also called the comforter and spirit of truth.

John 14
:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
:16 And I will pray the Father,
    and he shall give you another Comforter,
    that he may abide with you for ever;
:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive,
        because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him:
    but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

:26 But the Comforter,
        which is the Holy Ghost, [hagion pneuma]
        whom the Father will send in my name,
    he shall teach you all things,
    and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
:27 Peace I leave with you,
    my peace I give unto you:
        not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
    Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

John 16
:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth;
    It is expedient for you that I go away:
        for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you;
        but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

:12 I have yet many things to say unto you,
    but ye cannot bear them now.
:13 Howbeit when he,
        the Spirit of truth,
    is come, he will guide you into all truth:
    for he shall not speak of himself;
    but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak:
    and he will shew you things to come.
:14 He shall glorify me:
        for he shall receive of mine,
        and shall shew it unto you.
:15 All things that the Father hath are mine:
    therefore said I,
        that he shall take of mine,
        and shall shew it unto you.

Luke 24
:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you:
        but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem,
        until ye be endued with power from on high.

Consider what we have been given! We have within us holy spirit, the gift of God; that is power! Power to heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out evil spirits. The holy spirit is the comforter and the spirit of truth whereby we can know, from God, knowledge, wisdom, and discerning of spirits.

It is essential to know, that while reading the King James Version, that in the original texts there was no distinction in capitalization of hagion pneuma or holy spirit; it was always written in the same case as the rest of the text. (See Translations of the Word). The capitalization provided in the translations we have are interpretations by the translator. In the Word of God hagion pneuma is used to refer to God, the giver, who is Holy Spirit, and the gift from God, holy spirit. Context will determine it's usage. God is Spirit (John 4:24) and He gives what He is to those who believe, holy spirit.

We receive the gift of holy spirit when we do Romans 10:9 & 10. When we make Jesus Christ lord in our lives and believe that God had raised him from the dead we are made whole. (See Spirit, Soul, and Body - Created, Formed and Made)

Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille studied the holy spirit field extensively and defined every use of hagion pneuma in the KJV. You can get his book "Receiving the Holy Spirit Today" on Amazon.com. As workman of God's Word it is important that we know the usage of the word(s) pneuma and pneuma hagion. The English words, Spirit, spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit, and spiritually have various usages: God, God the Giver, spiritual abilities, man's soul life, the gift, as pertaining to the spirit, angels or good spirits, devils or evil spirits, and as a figure of speech (not respectively). The usages are important to understand, I encourage you to get Dr. Wierwille's book. but more importantly to study God's Word so that you may know.

The comforter, the holy spirit, is a gift from God so that we may communicate with Him and walk in power, the power of God. Since we cannot see, hear, smell, taste or touch spirit how do we know we have it? God has given us manifestations of the spirit.

I Corinthians 12
:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
:8 For to one [profit] is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom;
    to another [profit] the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
:9 To another [profit] faith by the same Spirit;
    to another [profit] the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
:10 To another [profit] the working of miracles;
    to another [profit] prophecy;
    to another [profit] discerning of spirits;
    to another [profit] divers kinds of tongues;
    to another [profit] the interpretation of tongues:
:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit,
    dividing to every man severally as he will.

When we are given holy spirit we are give the nine abilities to manifest that holy spirit. The manifestations are naturally divided into three categories by reason of use. The following definitions and what they are profitable for were developed by Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille when studying the Word of God on these subjects.

Worship Manifestations:

The manifestation of speaking in tongues is your operation of the God-given ability whereby you may (at any time in your private prayer life or in a believers meeting, if interpreted) show forth, by speaking in a language unknown to you, the external manifestation in the senses world of the internal presence and power of the gift of holy spirit.

The manifestation of interpretation of tongues is your operation of the God-given ability whereby you may, in a believers' meeting bring forth a message direct from or for God, in the language of the body (majority) of the people present, the sum and substance of that which you have just spoken forth in an unknown tongue.   

The manifestation of prophecy is your operation of the God-given ability whereby you may in a believers' meeting bring forth a message from or for God in the language of the body (majority) of the people present.

Revelation Manifestations:

The manifestation of word of knowledge is your operation of the God given ability whereby you may receive from God, by His revealing it to you, certain truths or facts concerning any situation about which it is humanly impossible for you by your five senses to know anything.

The manifestation of word of wisdom is your operation of the God given ability whereby you may receive from God, by His revealing it to you, what to do about a given situation once you have ascertained the truths or facts concerning the situation.

The manifestation of discerning of spirits is your operation of the God-given ability whereby you may receive from God, by His revealing it to you, the necessary information concerning the presence or non-presence of spirits, and the identity of spirits present, and if evil, whether you may cast them out.

Impartation Manifestations:

The manifestation of believing is your operation of the God-given ability whereby you may believe to bring to pass the impossible at your command, according to what God has revealed to you by word of knowledge, word of wisdom, and discerning of spirits. It also inspires believing in others.

The manifestation of workings of miracles is your operation of the God-given ability whereby you may, in the name of Jesus Christ, by the manifestation of believing, bring to pass miracles according to what God has revealed to you by word of knowledge, word of wisdom, and discerning of spirits.

The manifestation of gifts of healings is your operation of the God-given ability whereby you may in the name of Jesus Christ, by the manifestation of believing, bring to pass healing according to what God has revealed to you by word of knowledge, word of wisdom, and discerning of spirits.

And . . .

The Great Principle:

God's spirit teaches His creation in you which is now your spirit and your spirit teaches your mind then it becomes manifested in the sense realm as you act.

God has given us the ability, the power, to manifest His power among men today . We must recognize that God has given us a precious gift, holy spirit, and we now have the free will privilege to evidence these manifestations at every opportunity. Remember to always give God the glory.

The Greek word for 'power' in Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8 is dunamis. We derive our word 'dynamite' from it. This is latent power, inherent power. The stick of dynamite is harmless until a catalyst, fire, is put to it; then it unleashes all its power. The engine of a car has power, but it is latent power until it is started. We have received power from on high, power from God Almighty, we have the God-given ability. Jesus Christ manifested this power.

Luke 4
:13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation,
    he departed from him for a season.
:14 And Jesus returned in the power [dunamis] of the Spirit into Galilee:
    and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

:35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, [speaking to a devil spirit]
        Hold thy peace, and come out of him.
    And when the devil had thrown him in the midst,
    he came out of him, and hurt him not.
:36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying,
        What a word is this!
        for with authority and power [dunamis] he commandeth the unclean spirits,
        and they come out.

The power that Jesus Christ exhibited was notable, people talked about it, and his fame spread throughout the region without radio and TV. With power Jesus commanded (the catalyst) the unclean spirits to come out and they did, they had to obey, and they still have to obey, for you walk in the authority of Jesus Christ now.

Jesus Christ gave 12 disciples power and authority over devils and to heal:

Luke 9
:1 Then he called his twelve disciples together,
    and gave them power [dunamis] and authority over all devils,
        and to cure diseases.
:2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God,
    and to heal the sick.

That power is present in us because of the gift of holy spirit we have been given.

Because of the power of God we are witnesses for God.

Acts 1
:8 But ye shall receive power [dunamis],
        after that the Holy Ghost [dunamis] is come upon you:
    and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem,
    and in all Judaea,
    and in Samaria,
    and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

I recommend that you go through your bible and mark every occurrence of the Greek word dunamis. While you are reading along you will be able to see greater meaning in the Word of God. (view listing)

We have the God-given ability to do, to act on the power we have been given, to energize it. You speak in tongues, you operate it. No one forces you, God does not force you, you have free will. You interpret and prophecy in a believer's meeting, (where two or more instructed believers are gathered together in Jesus Christ's name). You receive knowledge, wisdom, discerning of spirits. You operate the manifestation of faith, miracles, and healings. Let us stick our heads in God's Word and be convinced of it.