The saddest observation is that everything seems to be evident but power. There are elegant edifices, educational excellence, efficiency, and enthusiasm. These are all too obvious. But power is obviously absent in most of our religious expression. “The reality of Spirit’s power is the greatest need of our day” (Jack Taylor).

The Christian life in all its aspects—intellectual and ethical, devotional and relational, upsurging in worship and outgoing in witness—is supernatural. Only the Spirit can initiate and sustain it. So apart from him, not only will there be no lively believers and no lively congregations, there will be no believers, and no congregations at all.^[1]

We have seen in the previous chapters that victorious Christian living is connected to the Empowering Spirit. We cannot ignore, dismiss, or relegate the Holy Spirit to the side-lines. While the Holy Spirit indwells all believers, he also empowers believers to live a victorious Christian life. We have established that there is no such thing as a Christian life without the Spirit.

Interestingly, in the book of Acts, the “Holy Spirit” or “Spirit” is mentioned at least fifty times in the twenty–eight chapters. That has led some scholars to call the book “Acts of the Holy Spirit” instead of the traditional name “Acts of the Apostles.” The work of the Holy Spirit in Acts is dramatic and clear.

What strange dynamic turned the dull, dispirited, disappointed disciples into veritable dynamic overnight? What was it that caught busy old Jerusalem in the midst of a holy feast and shook it with a tornadic power? What was it that caused three thousand people to embrace Christ with an abandoned faith in a few minutes after a simple sermon? And the preacher that preached that sermon . . . what drew him out of his pit of cowardice and gave him the courage and strength of a lion? . . . “The Holy Spirit had come.”^[2]

They experienced the explosive power of the Holy Spirit just as Jesus had promised before his ascension: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). To put it in another way, they were filled with the Holy Spirit which emboldened and empowered them in their witnessing, preaching, and healing as recorded in the book of Acts. It all happened in the upper room on the day of Pentecost.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter and the others were accused of being drunk. They were intoxicated on the reality of the risen, resident, reigning Lord within their lives who was being released by the Spirit through their lives. When a person becomes Spirit-filled, he literally becomes God-intoxicated. Believe that your prayer has been answered even if you do not have any dramatic experience or any outward sign.

Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. (Acts 2:2–4)^[3]

We are told that “after this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). Furthermore, “with great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 4:33). The word for great “is megas. Today we have such a word as megaton—one megaton is equivalent to one million tons of dynamite” (Jack Taylor). Consequently, the world was awestruck (see Acts 2:7, 12; 4:13; 5:12). The key statement is that they were “filled with the Spirit.”

The New Testament leaves little doubt that much was accomplished in the early church due to the “Operation Holy Spirit Protocol.” They met the challenges of the day and the problems that arose with the power of the Holy Spirit. Even today we need the Holy Spirit as we confront challenges in this world and in the church. Without the Holy Spirit, no real fellowship or unity in the church can be possible.

Unless a person realizes that there is such a person as the Holy Spirit, unless he or she lays hold upon the power of the Holy Spirit, unless the Holy Spirit daily lives in him or her, then the experience of conversion will necessarily lead to nowhere but disappointments, disillusionment, and frustration.^[4]

How can we understand spiritual truths in the Bible which is “God-breathed” (2 Tim. 2:16; 2 Pet. 1:20–21) without the illumination (1 Cor. 2:9–14; 3:14), (John 14:26; 1 John 2:27), and aid of the Holy Spirit?

Since, it is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin, convinces us of Christ’s righteousness, seals, sanctifies, grants us assurance of salvation, teaches and leads us into all truth, how can we neglect the role and the work of the Holy Spirit?

Apart from the Holy Spirit’s empowerment, no church can experience true worship or experience quantitative and qualitative growth. Christians can neither pray prevailing prayers nor be victorious in spiritual warfare. How are we going to fight and win in spiritual warfare and build up our faith without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit? Is there anything we can do without the Holy Spirit? The biblical response is NOTHING!

We are admonished to “pray in the Spirit” in two particular passages. One is in Eph. 6:18: “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” The other is in Titus 20: “But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit” (NIV).

The two contexts are different. The former concludes the passage in Ephesians on the armour of God in the believers’ warfare. The latter follows the exhortation to build ourselves up on our most holy faith. Hence, we are exhorted to “pray in the Spirit” in the context of battle and building up. They sum up what victorious Christian living is about—victory over the enemy and building up our faith. To do that, we need to “pray in the Spirit.”

How are we to do what Paul admonishes us to do—“be guided by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16), “directed by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:18; Rom. 8:14), “produce the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22), “follow the Spirit’s leading (Gal. 5:25)—without the enabling of the Holy Spirit, We cannot do so.

We were not meant to live the Christian life on our own and depending on our own human resources. The Holy Spirit is here to help us, but we will need to cooperate with him. “How greatly would our Christian experience be enhanced if we truly understood that all the Holy Spirit does for us and in us and with us is done by the Spirit who is a person.”^[5]

During a Q & A session at a pastor’s conference, Jim Cymbala was asked, “How can my church become more of a house of prayer?” He replied:

In answering, I try to help the listener understand that being a true ‘house of prayer’ is directly related to the degree to which the Holy Spirit is honored. How will we boldly pray in faith if the Holy Spirit is not helping us? Is it not amazing that some of the best Bible teaching churches are at the same time prayerless? Without an understanding of and hunger for the Spirit, prayer will never grow as a dynamic force to secure God’s blessings.^[6]

What will inspire, renew, empower, and mobilise members to pray “much more” and cause the church to grow quantitatively is not more products or programmes, but encounter with the person of the Holy Spirit.

Prayers and revivals are always predicated on God the Holy Spirit who is the primary focus, rather than God the Father or God the Son. While we pray in the name of Jesus, the work is done by and through the Holy Spirit. Without the wind beneath our prayer wings, we will not be able to soar loftily in our prayer life. We can only flap around the ground. At best, we can flap one foot above the ground but that’s all. However, with the wind beneath our prayer wings, we will be able to fly and soar high like an eagle in the sky.