Wasted Power

Galatians 5:22: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Ephesians 5:9: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

There is something else believers get from the Holy Spirit that is not in either of these lists. Perhaps because it is more important? The events early in the book of Acts occurred about 25 years before Paul penned the book of Galatians and about 31 years before he penned the book of Ephesians. Perhaps we should pay at least as much attention to the power to witness as to the other fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:8: 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 in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

How do we get the Holy Spirit? By receiving Christ.

John 1:12: But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Galatians 4:6: And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Our three enemies, the world, the flesh and the Devil would prefer that believers not know they have the power to witness, so they will waste it. If you have received Jesus into your heart, but you are not witnessing, you are wasting something wonderful. You are wasting the power of the Holy Spirit. Some that you witness to will receive Christ and some will reject Him. But the fact that some will reject Him is not a valid excuse for not witnessing. Some will need to hear the witness of more than one believer before they will come to Christ. How many believers witnessed to you before you came to Christ? You probably don*t even know. Are you angry with any of them? Or are you glad they witnessed to you? Do you now love them? I did not love them then, but since I have received Jesus, I certainly love those who witnessed to me before I received Him. I believe God sent them all into my life. If you have received Jesus, He is sending you into the lives of others. We should be happy to be one of many witnesses to others. We should be happy to be God*s planters, waterers OR the one through whom God gives the increase. It does occasionally happen that someone will receive Christ after hearing only one witness.

1 Colossians 3:6: I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

Matthew 13:3: And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

Who can know whether God will cause the fowls to stay away, or cause someone to gather the stones, or send someone to throw mud at each other and provide more depth of earth, or provide enough water or send someone to pull the thorns so more seeds will grow?

It is no skin off your nose to hear someone say no to Christ. Well, perhaps it is, but their soul is worth the skin. After all, Jesus died for them. He went to a lot more trouble for them than you ever will. The power to regenerate them and seal them is the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not yours.

1 Samuel 8:7: And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

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