I am so thankful that Jesus died at the cross. If He didn’t die at the cross, we wouldn’t be able to experience the presence and fullness of the Holy Spirit. I can’t imagine living in the time when Jesus walked the earth and only being able to feel His presence if you were there with Him. I love feeling His presence through the Holy Spirit He sent forth on His behalf.
When Jesus died, He left us a Helper. “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counselor, that He may be with you forever: the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, for it does not see Him, neither does it know Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you, and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).
The Holy Spirit within us and through us is a power source. Are we tapping into that source of power? We have resurrection life and power living inside us! When Jesus died, He transferred His authority to us. “Look, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19). It is similar to when a person on earth gives you a power of attorney to make authoritative executive decisions on their behalf. Jesus died and gave us His power of attorney. He gave us the right to take authority on His behalf.
I believe too many Christians are not living in the full victory of the cross because they don’t have an intimate personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. We focus on Jesus or God but often forget the relationship we need with the third person of the Trinity. Read my article, “Have you made the Holy Spirit your Friend?” for why we need a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit moving in us and through us that allows conviction, correction, and teaching. He gives us instruction when we seek Him and tells us how to order our days, the plans our Father has for us, and what we need to repent of and how we need to manifest change in our lives. The Holy Spirit is similar to a life coach. He helps us do life! So often we seek a mentor or a pastor for revelation and information, but we skip over the Holy Spirit who is the greatest Teacher of all.
In Timothy, it says, we have been given a spirit of love and power. “For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7). We need to exude that love and power. People are searching for something greater than themselves. They are looking for something that will fill and satisfy, and it is God’s love and power that truly satisfies. Therefore, we need to be releasing His love and power so we can show a hurting world the God we serve and invite them to know Him too.
We release that power by knowing and experiencing the overwhelming presence and power of the Holy Spirit, and that comes with a deep, intimate relationship with Him. If you need to grow in your walk with the Holy Spirit and build that relationship, Charisma magazine has a great resource available to you in their “Life in the Spirit” series booklets. These booklets will lead you through encountering the Holy Spirit, being in the presence of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit baptism. Grow in your walk with the Holy Spirit so you can tap into His power source and in return release it to others. {eoa}
Listen as Doug Stringer explains the high cost of love, the cost that led Jesus to the cross.
Kathy DeGraw is a prophetic spiritual warfare strategist releasing the love and power of God, to ignite and activate people, release prophetic destinies and deliver people from the bondage of the enemy. She is the founder of Kathy DeGraw Ministries and Be Love Outreach. She is the author of several books, including Speak Out, Discerning and Destroying the Works of Satan, Identity Invasion, Who is Speaking? and Warfare Declarations. You can connect with Kathy on Facebook, facebook.com/kathydegraw or visit degrawministries.org.