The Holy Spirit: Your Inner Source of Strength

SPEAKER 02 : 0:01

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, August 11th. Every Christian has been given the Holy Spirit in order to become the person God created you to be. Let’s learn how to draw on and experience God’s power within us.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:18

All of us can look back in our lives and see where there are times and places where we failed and wish we could have done better. And then we have to decide how we’re going to respond to those times when we realize that there have been failures. And sometimes we respond by being anxious and very regretful about things that have happened. Sometimes we just feel real guilty. We look back and see maybe we could have corrected this or that. Sometimes people just want to blame someone else. They look around to find someone else to put the blame on. And then there are those people who just like to have a pity party and talk about how terrible they’ve been. And then, of course, there are those folks who stop and say, well, what caused this? Now, what happened in my life? Why did I fail in this particular area? And then there are those people who don’t stop there. And so they ask the question, what can I do to keep this failure from happening again? Or how can I correct this? And those of us who are believers have a great advantage in life because we have someone to help us. This does not mean that the believer is going to always be successful in every single thing we do, but it does mean that our opportunities for success and whatever God calls us to do, certainly we have an advantage. And when we talk about succeeding, we’re not talking about the world’s idea of success, which is more prosperity, more prominence, more position, more power, what else? But what is success in the eyes of God? In the eyes of God, here’s what success is. It is discovering and pursuing the will of God for your life in the power of the Holy Spirit. And that’s what God intends for every single one of us. And oftentimes, there are those who do understand the will of God for their life. They have been saved, and yet they say, in spite of all that, it looks like my life is just one continuous failure after the other. I’m up today and down tomorrow. I don’t understand why I can’t just be successful in living my life, living the Christian life. Well, you and I could probably think of a lot of reasons we fail. But there’s one primary reason, I believe, above all the rest. And that’s what I want to talk about in this message, the power within us. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Ephesians chapter 3. And I want us to read, beginning in the 14th verse, through this 21st verses, which is really Paul’s prayer. And I want you to turn there, if you will, because there are two primary verses that I want to deal with here. And this is one of those passages that Paul said so very, very much in such a very, very short length of space here. It would be impossible to handle all this in one message. But there are two primary verses because we’re talking about the power within us. Ephesians chapter 3, beginning in verse 14. He says, for this reason, I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. And his says, this is what I’m praying for. I’m praying that he that is God would grant you according to the riches of his glory, which is unlimited, that we might be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth and And to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. Then you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. According to the power that works within us. To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Now I want you to look at two of these verses because they relate to what we want to talk about. He begins his prayer by praying that they, the Ephesians and us, in verse 16, that we might be granted according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man. And then verse 20, he talks about that God is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think. How? According to the power, he says, within us. Now, The source of this power is not some innate source or some innate power of which you and I were born. That is, we were not born with the power that the Apostle Paul is talking about here in Ephesians chapter 3. Now, there is within every person who’s born some innate capabilities and strengths as well as weaknesses. But we’re talking about… Not something that is inherent within us because we are born humans, but we are talking about a power that is beyond and above that. It is a supernatural strength. It is a divine strength. It is a supernatural power. It goes beyond what man is born with. It goes beyond what is inherent within our nature. Now, people are born with different personalities. Some people are stronger in their personalities than others. Some people are stronger in their bodies. They’re stronger in their emotional makeup. They can endure hardship and trouble and trial and persecution and criticism more than other people. Somebody else would just fall apart and tumble. Someone else would just keep moving along. Some people have a very difficult time making decisions in their life. And some people physically are just not as strong as others. So we’re not talking about those inherent strengths. We’re talking about that which is given. That which we possess that is above and beyond all that. And it is the power of the Holy Spirit. Somebody says, well, does everyone have this power? And the truth is, absolutely not. It is not the possession of everyone. It is a possession that is given and it is given to an exclusive group of people. You say, well, is God partial? Well, you might accuse him of being partial if you want to. But what I want us to see here is this. This is not a power that we work up. It isn’t a power that comes on you because you’ve been a Christian a long time. It isn’t a power that is the accumulation of years and years and years of being obedient to God. It is not any of that. Nor is it a power that you get by some spiritual experience or some particular gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the gift of God to every single believer. So when you and I come to this passage and we understand what Paul is saying here, he’s talking about the Holy Spirit that God has given us. If you go back to Luke chapter 11 for a moment, and you recall in the 11th chapter of Luke is Luke’s account of what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 7 when he’s talking about prayer. He says, “…asking it shall be given you, seeking you shall find, knocking it shall be opened to you.” And then he comes to conclude that by saying, you know, if your son asked for a piece of bread, would you give him a stone? Certainly not. If he asked for a piece of fish, would you give him a serpent? Certainly not. Then he compares us with the Father. And so this is how he concludes. He says in verse 13, if you then being evil, that is we who have sinned against God, if you know how to give good gifts to your children, and we do, how much more should your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him so that the Holy Spirit is a gift? So with the Holy Spirit comes the power of the Spirit. The Spirit of God is a gift. It isn’t something that we get. That is, you don’t have to pray, now, God, I want to get the Holy Spirit. When Jesus spoke in these days, this was before the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, which baptized the whole body of Christ into the Spirit. And so that now, when you and I trust the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. That is a gift of God, as we said, to a very exclusive group. And who are they? They are those who are the children of God. You say, well, is God being partial? No, he’s not being partial. God’s being wise. Because I want you to look at what he said. Paul is speaking here of the fact that of this power. He’s talking about this power that works within us. And what is this power that works within us? This power that works within us is supernatural power, divine power. So ask yourself this question. Would God give supernatural divine power enablement, an enablement to make wise decisions in difficult times, supernatural energy for the physical body? And that is to be able to quicken the emotions that we are able to love when things are very difficult. And we are able to have peace when everything around us is falling apart. And we can be kind when people are persecuting us. That is, why would God give supernatural power to those who are not His children? Well, He doesn’t. And here’s the reason He doesn’t. For example, a person who is unsaved has a body and, of course, a soul, a mind, will, and emotion. They also have a spirit that is dead to the things of God. And that’s why when Paul talks in Ephesians chapter 2 about we were in times past dead and trespasses and sins, what was dead? We certainly had a physical body, a mind, will, and emotion. What’s dead? Our spirit is dead. So that when a person receives Jesus Christ as their Savior, the Holy Spirit comes into their spirit… Makes it alive. That’s what the new birth is all about. The new birth is about the dead spirit, dead to the things of God, becomes alive by the presence of the Holy Spirit. And then from that moment on, the Spirit of God begins to do what? Exercise His guiding, guarding, governing power in the life of that believer. How? From the innermost man of the Spirit to the soul, mind, will, and emotion to the outer body. And so that you and I relate to God by our spirit. We don’t relate to God physically because he’s a spirit and we’re a spirit. So we don’t relate to God physically. We can’t touch him. He’s not rubbing us on the shoulder. And so we relate to him in our spirit. Now our relationship to him when through the spirit. is going to affect everything else in our life. When the Spirit of God is in control and guiding and governing your life, in your soulishness, that is, in your mind, your will and your emotion, these are all under His control. And so what does He do? He’s releasing His power to what? To make it possible for us to think wisely, to illumine our minds, to quicken our emotions, to energize our body. and to enable our will so that these things that you and I, the way we function in life, physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, the way we function in life, the Spirit of God living on the inside of us, His responsibility is what? His responsibility is to exercise that power in and through us so that you and I can be the persons God wants us to be. And so every single believer possesses the Holy Spirit. Now, there are lots of people who think that you get the Spirit under certain circumstances, but no. Because the Bible says that when you and I received Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, sealed you and me unto the day of redemption. Now, how did He seal us? Not on our hands, on your feet, or any other part of your body. Nothing stamped over your heart. And so, we’re talking about the seal of the Spirit is the very presence of the Holy Spirit Himself. That’s what makes you a believer. Now, the tragedy is this. The tragedy is that most people who go to church will go to church for years and years and years, and some of them will never be saved because nobody teaches them. Secondly, many people will go to church, and at some point in their life, they’ll receive Jesus as their Savior. Nobody instructs them about the Holy Spirit. Nobody says to them, you can’t live the Christian life apart from the Holy Spirit. Nobody says to them, you have the power of God on the inside of you. No one says to them, now that you’ve trusted Jesus as your Savior, the Spirit of God will give you guidance and direction and empower you and strengthen you and help you all through your life in the decisions you make. So they go through life struggling, and that’s what brings us to what I want to talk about here in this whole message, and that is we fail over and over and over again. Wonder why we fail. We say, God, now I do believe you. I do trust you. Lord, I know you’re there. I know you answer prayer, but God, why do I keep failing? Why do I keep giving in to the same old thing over and over again? Why do I keep making the wrong decision? Why can’t I get my emotions under control? Because we are not exercising… And not calling upon, not relying upon, not drawing from this, listen, this inexhaustible well of supernatural power that is within us, available at every moment to meet every single need of our life. That’s the ultimate primary reason. It isn’t because we can’t. Because the power within us will make it possible. It is because either we don’t know any better or oftentimes we just choose not to do that. And so when you think about the whole idea, you and I possess this awesome power within us. Now the question is, why didn’t he just save us and let us do our own thing? Well, there’s a very specific reason he didn’t. You know why? Because he knew we’d never make it. How many times have we failed as believers just living the Christian life? All of us have failed. And the tragedy is we’ll fail again and again and again. Not because we have to, but because we’re just natural and normal. Now watch this. The reason God sent the Holy Spirit is because all of us still have within us who are believers a lot of naturalness. Now, what I mean by that is this. Before you were saved, it was your nature to be disobedient to God. Because you see, here’s what happened. In the garden when Adam and Eve sinned against God, what happened? Before, they were absolutely perfectly united with the Father. And being united with Him, the supernatural power that was in the Father was in Adam. Does this mean they were equal? No, I didn’t say that. But I’m saying that Adam had the supernatural uninhibited power within him. What happened when he sinned? When he sinned, there was a disconnection between man and God. When that disconnection happened… What happened? The power line was severed. Sin severed the power line so that now Adam and all who’ve been born after him live. Listen, we are born in what we call the flesh, which is our naturalness, our five senses. We do what we want to do, what we feel like doing, what gratifies what we call the flesh, what gratifies and satisfies the natural part of man, which is man without God. And so we look around us and see people living in all kinds of sin. What are they doing? If there are people who are unsaved, they’re just doing what comes naturally. In the fallen nature, disconnected from God, power lines severed, what does man have? The only thing he has is his five senses. The only thing he has is he wants to gratify himself and satisfy himself and protect himself and meet his needs. And this is why pride and arrogance and greed and covetousness and selfishness and these things dominate our society. Man’s just doing what comes natural. Now, once you become a child of God, that naturalness is set aside. At any moment you and I choose, we can begin to act like we used to act. Why? You say, well, didn’t you get a brand new nature when you were saved? Yes. Does that mean that everything else got eradicated? I wish you’d had. I wish you and I could live absolutely and never sin, don’t you? But listen, there’s enough something left over and as you can call it anything you want to, but it is the naturalness, Of our pre-saved life before salvation that is still here. And we have the capacity to act just like the world acts. Because that naturalness is still there. But now we have the power of the Holy Spirit. And the reason He sent Him is because God knew that you and I living in this sinful world with naturalness still there. It’s what the Bible calls the flesh. Still there. that we could never live the Christian life, we could never become what God wants us to be, nor could we ever achieve and accomplish what God wants us to achieve and accomplish. And so, when we think in terms of accomplishment and achievement, as we say, you know, we’re talking about success in the eyes of the world, it’s prominence, prestige, and power, and promotion. In the eyes of God, it is discovering and pursuing the will of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t mean that you’ll always gain this success or that success in the eyes of the world. But success in the eyes of God, what really counts is that we discover the will of the Father and we walk in the will of the Father by the presence of the power of the Holy Spirit in our life. And so when we talk about the purpose, the purpose is twofold. To enable us to become the persons that God wants us to be. Enable us to do the things that God wants us to do. And so we look at our life and some people get along pretty well, it seems, without God, but they’re not really getting along. They don’t know what they’re missing. You see, if you’ve never had a good taste of something that’s really delicious, you don’t know what you’re missing until you have it. And so people who think they’re getting along rather well, they really aren’t. Because deep down inside, the peace isn’t there, the joy is not there. And they’re always striving and looking and searching and seeking and trying to fill it up with something else, when the only thing that can fill up your heart and satisfy you is the person of Jesus Christ. So the reason, the purpose for this awesome power that exists within us is because we are inadequate. And you see, one of the things that happens to people who are believers, they get hurt back young in their childhood or in school or they get in a situation, they get emotionally damaged. And so they grow up feeling like they are nothing, worth nothing, can’t accomplish, can’t achieve, not gifted, not talented. And you’ll hear people say, well, you know, I guess I was under the steps when God gave out the gifts or something like that. Well, God didn’t put anybody under the steps to give out anything because you see, all of us are worthy in the eyes of God as far as being persons. He loves everybody. Now, the question is, the issue is, you know, how do we operate on the basis of that? And so if we feel like we can and it won’t work, then what do we do? We listen to this. We will always act out according to the way we see ourselves. That’s just life. You’re not going to change that. That is a principle. The way you and I see ourselves is the way we’re going to act out life, the way we’re going to live out our life. If you think you are nothing and you can’t and you don’t count, then you’re going to keep backing off of relationships in life and backing off of opportunities. If you know by the power of the Holy Spirit, I don’t mean prideful and egotistical now, but you know in the power of the Holy Spirit that God, even amidst your weaknesses and your frailties, that He will equip you and enable you to become and to do the things that God wants you to, then you’re going to move forward in life. And there are a lot of godly people, there are a lot of precious people who are missing the best of life because they’ve never learned to tap into this awesome resource of the power of the Spirit of God who indwells them and resides within them.

SPEAKER 02 : 19:26

Thank you for listening to The Power Within Us. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our 24-7 online station. And if you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.