16 November 2025
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE BELIEVER (part 4)
(Biblical Teachings on The Christian Life.: BTCL 8)
Prior to the Day of Pentecost, Christ gave this promise: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be My witnesses…” (Acts 1:8). On that Day, the Holy Spirit descended on the 120 disciples in the Upper Room “like a mighty wind” and with “tongues like fire, and sat on each one of them” (2:2-3). The Holy Spirit gave them gifts of various languages to preach the Gospel in power to the crowds and 3,000 souls were saved and baptized on that Day. What we learn from this is that the main purpose for the Gift of the Holy Spirit is to empower us to witness for Christ through spiritual gifts.
We cannot say that we are filled with the Holy Spirit and His power and not be a witness for Christ. Our Lord said that the power of the Holy Spirit is to make us His witnesses (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit removes fear from our life and gives His power, love and wisdom (2 Tim.1:7), so that we can win souls for Christ. Hence every Christian filled with the Holy Spirit must be a soulwinner and an evangelist. That is why Paul commanded Timothy to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim.4:5), and that means he is to win souls for Christ. That is our priority as followers of Christ. When Christ called His first disciples, He said to them, “Come, follow Me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt.4:19). Follow Christ and you will be a soulwinner.
The spiritual gifts given to us are to make us effective witnesses to unbelievers and to edify the Church. Let us see how these gifts help us in our evangelism and witness. Example: Through the word of knowledge, the Holy Spirit reveals things about the person being witnessed to, so that the Christian can show him how much God loves him. Then, through the word of wisdom, the Christian is able to say or do the right thing to lead the person to Christ. Also, through the “power gifts” of healing and miracles, people are healed of sicknesses and delivered of demonic bondage. The nonbelievers will come to Christ after such healings take place in their lives. Through the operation of these gifts, we become effective and powerful witnesses for Christ, and adding souls to the Church.
Every Christian has the potential of being a powerful witness and an effective evangelist because of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts. What we need to do is “walk in the Spirit” and “keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal.5:16, 25). This means we are constantly being “led by the Spirit of God” and showing that we are truly“the sons of God” (Rom.8:14). Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit, empowered and led by Him all the time. He was also anointed by the Spirit to preach the Gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons (Luke 4:1-2,14,18-19). We can do the same because the same Holy Spirit lives in us. In fact, the Bible says, “Whoever lives in Him must walk like Jesus walked” (1 John 2:6). He has set us an example that we should do as He did. Throughout His earthly life, Jesus preached the Gospel, healed the sick and cast out demons. His disciples did the same; so must we, because of the Holy Spirit in us.
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