By Dick VanHuss
“Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” Elisha was asking for a demonstration of God’s power as he took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water. As we know from history, the water parted and Elisha had the first of his “double portion” of miracles.
Our question today may be where is the Lord God of Paul, John, Peter or the other disciples? If the Holy Spirit who empowered the apostles and early church is the same today why don’t we see the demonstrations of God’s power in our lives?
Romans 8:9 says, But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)
So if we are controlled by the Spirit we have the hope and capability of the Spirit, meaning we have the access to the miraculous power in our lives. Perhaps for many of us it is either the lack of understanding on how to call on the power, or the fear of not seeing the manifestations when we pray.
15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.[h] Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”[i] 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Romans 8:15-17
Ephesians 1 19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.
This same power is available to you as a believer. Will you take a step of faith and begin to trust when the Holy Spirit directs you to do bold things to bring glory to God and direct the lost to the Savior.
Prayer: Lord, Jesus, I commit to you to trust you more, to seek your Holy Spirit’s leading and to allow you to work in my life to see the Lord God of Elijah demonstrate his power to the world. Help me to put away the fear, seek how to operate in your Spirit and to trust you when you direct me.
Questions to think about.
- When was the last time God challenged you to step out in faith to do something you felt was way outside your normal comfort zone?
- Do you believe the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as described in Acts 2 enables you to do more for the Kingdom? Why or why not? Do you have a biblical basis for your answer?
- Romans 8:9 says as believers we are controlled by the Spirit not our old sinful nature. How should that look in our every day living?