Building up believers and the New Testament church
The Mystery Revealed - Christ In You
The Power to Be
Believers do not have the power to do anything separate from the Lord. We can't use the Spirit, or use a gift of the Spirit. It is the Spirit that is the originator of all spiritual working. We only move in faith in obedience to the leading of the Spirit. We can say with all authority: God does not give us power to work His works separate from Himself. All gifts are manifestations of the Spirit, according to the will of God and in His time. Jesus said, "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 unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). This is not power for service, but power to be sons of God, witnesses unto Him.
The purpose of God from the beginning was that He made man for Himself (Colossians. 1:16). Paul tells us that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost (I Corinthians 6:19). The question is, when does the Holy Spirit come to indwell the believer? When was the promise given? John the Baptist said, "There comes one greater than I...He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire" (Matthew 3:11). In Galatians 3:14 Paul says, "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
Paul also says, "Received you the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?" (Galatians 3:2) The scriptures reveal clearly that the promise of the Spirit comes by faith. On the Day of Pentecost, the question was asked, "What shall we do?" (Acts 2:37) The answer was, "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. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
Today we are so far removed from the beginning, and man has come up with many different doctrines of salvation. But as we read the Scripture, it is clear that the underlying theme of salvation is the promise of the Spirit that would come to the believer by faith--God coming to indwell man. "...For ye are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (II Corinthians 6:16).