It is the same Spirit

"The Same power that conquered the grave lives in me, lives in me! Jesus, your love that rescued the earth lives in me, lives in me." - Hillsong, You Are Here (Same Power)

Isn't it amazing how far we have come! We look back on the early church and look at the difference. It is night and day. We have great big churches and we have packed out worship events. We have a Billion dollar industry that has everything "Christian" that you can imagine. 

I hope you are reading that as I wrote it, with sarcasm. 

What is amazing is that in all of it we seem to have lost something. We seemed to have lost the passion and mystery that Peter and the early church had.  I recently heard Francis Chan speak and he really got me thinking. He asked a few simple questions in light of a passage in Exodus. The one where Israel sees and hears God with thunder and fire. Long story short they are afraid of God and say, "Moses, you go... we can't lest we die!"

Francis asked, "Do we believe that happened? Do we believe that God is the same still, that He hasn't changed?  Do we live like they did in the early church walking boldly in the Spirit and doing miracles all the time?"

What is different? Is it that God is less powerful and that the Spirit is less powerful now? NO. ...I used to think (well not seriously or spoken but understood) that the Holy Spirit was the same but just divided between all the believers... so that would leave me with about 1/1,000,000,000 of the whole. God doesn't work like that. I have 100% of the Holy Spirit in me... then why am I still like this?

I don't often understand that it is the same spirit that dwelt in the ark of the covenant, and in the holy of holies, and that swept through the place on the day of pentecost, that lives in me. The same spirit. The same power. Wow. 

What would happen if we started to understand? What would happen if we were able to live and speak with boldness like the apostles? To top it off, those apostles that proclaim Christ in boldness. What did they ask for prayer for, more Boldness. Maybe that is it? Maybe we need to understand and live in boldness... and let the world watch. I think there would be more followers of Christ and less religious "christians." I think that we would see people come to Christ in droves. Because of the power that they see in us because of Christ and the work on the cross. 

Father, help me to receive your spirit and your leading. Help me to live boldly and speak boldly. Help me to be transparent so that Jesus can be seen in my life. Help me to live with abandonment for You because I realize your greatness. Lord, I want to be yielded to You and proclaim the name of Christ. 

I love you and proclaim you the lord of my life. 

- Luke

Francis' Blog: francischansblog.blogspot.com/