Drunk On Power Or Filled By the Spirit 1?

A number of times the Lord has placed the following in my spirit: the church is drunk on power (instead of being drunk in the Spirit). At times I allow such a word to settle, to see if this by any chance was conjured up by my imagination. Yet, this word does not want to leave me. And so I have contemplated this word, and realize there are many implications. Again, a word of correction and rebuke is never for the purpose to criticise or judging, but it is for us to repent, to reflect, and to correct our path. After all, God wants us to walk in His blessing, in His joy, life, light, and love. We can only do so when we walk in His will to His glory.

The very first time that the Lord spoke on this was when I watched a well-known preacher rebuking the Covid-19 virus. After all, we have seen such rebuking happening countless times since last year, yet the virus is still with us. So this pastor on television was commanding the virus to die, to leave, and never to return. It immediately unsettled my spirit and so the Lord spoke and said the church was drunk on power, thus was not acting in the Spirit of God. After all, we are not gods. But at times we act like we are gods. We think we can command at will, forgetting we are not creators. We even command God when He must show up, how He must move, and what He must do! Yes, think about that for a while.

You see, there is the prevailing doctrine in the church that has been circulating for decades that teaches we are small gods because God lives in us. And if we think we are gods, then we think we have the power of such a god. This doctrine has become quite popular and is an outflow also of numerous philosophical movements that promote the idea that man is a super being (thus it is nothing more than a New Age thought). This is terrible erroneous teaching. Without God, we remain but mortal and of the dust. We have no power beyond our natural abilities. This is underlined in “2 Corinthians 4: 6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” When it comes to manifesting the Kingdom of God on earth, this is done through the work of the Holy Spirit, not man. Even Jesus didn’t start His earthly ministry without first being baptized in the Spirit of God.

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A Critical Time To Seek the Lord

It says the following of being humble: “Psalm 51:17: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart— these, O God, You will not despise,” and “Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones,” and also “Isaiah 66:2 For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” says the Lord. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.” We are thus called to be humble, which means abiding by God and knowing our place in the bigger scheme of things. We are not gods. We are not superheroes. We are but servants of a mighty God who is Sovereign, and He acts upon His Sovereignty according to His plans and purposes.

It does say the following in “2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” And what is this power? It is not some kind of internal force detached from God. It is not a power that we can wield out of free will. Acts 1:8 speaks clearly of the power from above, thus the Spirit of God that comes to dwell within us. And what is the purpose of such power? Is it to command left, right and center and to declare beyond the will of God like we are gods? No. Romans 15:13 says “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The Spirit of the Lord empowers us to walk in victory through our faith and joy in Christ. He empowers us to be witnesses of the Gospel, to remain hopeful in tough times, and to remain true to the will of God. He empowers us to be Christ-centred, Christ-focussed, and Christ-orientated.

It also says of this “power” by the Holy Spirit in “2 Peter 1:3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.” So yes, we are empowered to lead a life of holiness, of knowledge of God, and to walk a path of purity! We are, therefore, not called to be drunk on worldly power of greed and the need to control and to command, but to remain abiding in God. 2 Timothy 1:8 declares “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,” and also “2 Thessalonians 1:11: Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power.” We are thus empowered by the Spirit of God to stand strong for the Gospel, to fulfill our task, to run the course, and to endure to the end in faith and the goodness of God. Such power has nothing to do about exalting man in his selfish quests, but to empower man to exalt God in the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

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To Be a Reborn Disciple 4

Oh yes, we need to be drunk, thus filled and saturated with the Spirit of God, thus the true and real power from on high! 1 Thessalonians 1:5 says “For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.” Paul says in “1 Corinthians 2:4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,” and also “1 Corinthians 2: 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” Only in the Spirit of God can we truly walk in the ways of God, by His power, by His glory, by His grace and mercy. Only in the Spirit of God are we truly empowered to preach and teach the Gospel in all its fullness, beauty, and majesty!

Of the need to be infilled and led by the Spirit of God, we read in “Colossians 1: 9, For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and [c]conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” We are empowered thus to be fruitful, to grow in spiritual maturity in the fullness of Christ, and to be delivered from darkness.

Unto God belongs all power and dominion, never man. 1 Peter 3:22 says of Christ “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him,” and also “Hebrews 1:3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” and finally ”Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,” We are called to abide in Christ and move by His power and authority through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Such power, as with God’s wisdom, serves not selfish purposes, but the purpose of glorifying God.

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Study Materials

Riaan Engelbrecht

Session 2

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