“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses.” (Acts 1:8)

When a person receives Jesus Christ, he is born again. He is made into a new creation. He receives a new identity and a new nature. He is no longer a child of the devil but a child of God, born from above. This transformation is a miracle. It is the most radical change that can happen to a human being. Such a man is powerful even before he receives the Holy Spirit, because he belongs to God. He is born of God and possesses the knowledge of the truth. But the promise of Christ is greater still. For those who have received him and believed in his name, he now says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” This is not the new birth, but an endowment of power to make the believer an effective witness for Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit empowers the believer to serve, to speak, to write, to heal, and to confront the world in the name of Jesus. This is an infusion of the Spirit’s presence and power. The man speaks, and the Spirit moves. The man writes, and the Spirit strikes. The man touches, and the Spirit heals. This is the witness that Jesus had in mind. He did not say, “You will receive eloquence,” or “You will receive charisma,” although you may very well receive these things also. But he said, “You will receive power.”

Jesus himself exemplified this. He was the Son of God from the beginning. Born without sin, he possessed the wisdom of heaven from childhood. He astounded teachers in the temple. He walked in righteousness and was filled with understanding. But when it came time to begin his public ministry, he waited. He waited until the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. He waited until he was clothed in power. And it says that he returned from the wilderness in the power of the Spirit. The Word, who was God, entered his ministry only when the Spirit rested upon him. This was the pattern for the Son of God, and this is the pattern he orders for us. First we are born again, then we receive power. First regeneration, then endowment. First the creation of the new man, then the release of divine energy upon him.

Many do not understand this, and so they live as if rebirth is the end of God’s work in them. They remain sons, but passive sons. They remain heirs, but inactive heirs. But God intends for sons to be witnesses, and witnesses require power. The gospel is an announcement, a proclamation of the word. And when that word is delivered by a man who walks with the Spirit, it becomes a message that bursts with power. I have preached in places where the atmosphere changed mid-sentence. The air in the room thickened. The listeners froze in their seats. The atmosphere became dense, even physical. It was as though the words created a pressure in the room. I could feel it as I walked the platform, as if pushing against invisible weight. The audience was seized. Some were enthralled. Others were terrified. This was not because of vocal performance. It was the presence of God bearing down on the message and the messenger.

The same thing happens in writing. People have been healed reading the Bible. People have come to faith by reading a single sentence from the word of God. There is power in the words, because the Spirit inhabits the ideas of God. This is what makes biblical truth explosive. The Spirit is not just a warm breeze behind the gospel, he is the fire within it. He is the person and the force who makes God’s thoughts active. The preacher delivers the truth, and the Spirit delivers the power. The author writes the idea, and the Spirit plants it like a seed that grows into life. The power is in God and in the truth he reveals.

This power can be transferred in any mode that carries the word. Spoken language. Written text. Sign language. There is no restriction. The Spirit is not confined. If a deaf and mute person is told the gospel through signs, and he receives the truth of Jesus Christ, the same Holy Spirit can strike him in that moment. His ears can open. His tongue can loosen. Whether through words or gestures, the Spirit moves through the ideas of God. He confirms the truth with power. If you tell a man, “Jesus is Lord, and he heals,” and as the Spirit honors the truth at that moment, he may heal instantly. Or you may lay hands on him in the name of Jesus Christ, and the power will come.

So we must spread ideas of faith. Our charge is to multiply the truth of God into as many minds as possible, in as many ways as possible. The goal is not just circulation, but saturation. I want to put this idea into you: the Holy Spirit works through the mind that holds God’s thoughts. Power flows when the word of God is confessed and transmitted with faith. When that happens, the power of heaven acts on the earth. The weak become strong. The sick become healed. The bound are set free.

I believe there is power in my hands, not because of my hands, but because of the Spirit who dwells in me. I believe there is power in my voice, not because of my voice, but because of the truth it speaks in faith. I believe there is power in my prayers, because of the authority of Jesus Christ. And I believe there is power in my writings, because they carry thoughts from God, and when those thoughts reach the mind of another by the work of the Spirit, a spiritual explosion occurs. There is power in God’s word and his Spirit. And when they converge through a faithful witness, the result is power from heaven.

You have received Jesus Christ. You are born of God. But now receive the Spirit. Receive the power and become a witness. Speak what God has said. Command what God has promised. Write what God has revealed. And expect the power of the Spirit to meet the ideas of God and do what man cannot do.