Holy Spirit

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“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5, ESV)

This passage of scripture came to me the other night as I visited a family. I was asked to come speak and pray with a lady who was on her death bed. Upon arriving I found a very weak woman in an impossible situation, naturally speaking. It was very heartbreaking to see this lady. I had a dear friend go along with me to pray for this lady, as we were praying I felt the feebleness of my own words, I knew that there was nothing in and of myself that could save this lady. I couldn’t say a good enough prayer to save her or heal her. It was truly going to have to be the power of God that saved this precious lady.

I mean I can do a lot of things in my own strength. I can encourage people, lead people, I could even preach a half decent sermon apart from Holy Spirit. But as I stood above this lady I knew that there was nothing I could muster up to save her. I could craft a really nice sounding prayer and it would not save her.

Paul tries to relate some of the same ideas in the passage above. He says that when he came to the Corinthians he didn’t even attempt to persuade them with eloquent words but rather he trusted only the power of the Spirit.

This experience here left me in a place of desperation for the Spirit’s power. I need to be utterly dependent on the Spirit everyday for his power because it is only through him that we will see people truly set free and healed.

I can’t preach a good enough sermon to save anyone; I truly need the power of the Spirit to change hearts and minds.

Think about these things the next time you are praying. The temptation is to craft a really good spiritual prayer but what matters most is what you are trusting in. Your elaborate prayer does not move God, the volume of your prayer does not move God. Rather what moves Him is faith. Faith in the Spirit's power, not your words.