Jesus said - "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you:"
Paul in his writing to Timothy said that the time would come when there would be this demonstration of Apostacy. "having a form of godliness but denying it's power" and the apostle Paul commands Timothy to turn away from such. The power of the church must surely be the Holy Spirit working through men who believe that the Word of God is unchanging and, like the Saviour of the world which is portrays, is the same yesterday, today and forever.

At the age of 30 years the Lord Jesus Christ went to the river Jordon and there was anointed by the Holy Spirit and empowered for the work which was before him in that He was to lay down His life as the substitute for sinners on the cruel cross of Calvary. That same power of the Spirit was what took Jesus from the tomb of death and raised Him to life. At Pentecost of that same year in the Upper Room one hundred and twenty of the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ set themselves aside to be empowered from on high as promised by their Saviour Jesus Christ The anointing of the Holy Spirit gave them authority and power to complete the work to which they were called.

In the Old Testament this anointing was for the prophet, the priest and the king and others in ministry. It always gives the sense of an empowerment into the lives of those who are called out and set apart to be the chosen vessals of God which every born again believer should be. Saul when he was anointed king also became a prophet of God and the scriptures say that when the Spirit of God came upon him that he became as another man and his heart was changed. The anointing of God was evident in Elijah's ministry and many others who performed great signs and wonders through this same empowering which is available for the saints of God today.

But where has the Holy Spirit gone. David Watson a prominent English evangelist, pastor and teacher of God's Word said that if the Holy Spirit left the churches very few would notice. In the Lewis Revival, as the house was so crowded one night, they decided to move the meeting to a village hall or scout hall and so the people walked the short distance to the new venue. They opened the meeting and then they realised that the presence of the Holy Spirit had not gone from the house with them and they all trooped back to the house preferng to be in a crowded house in the presence of the Spirit of God than in the comfort of a spacious building without Him.

That sense of the presence of God is a rare thing in our churches today, where we tend to carry on in that form of godliness which Paul warned against but without power or heavenly purpose. The work of the Holy Spirit is likened to the wind in that you do not see the wind but the effects of that same wind are very real and manifest as evidence that the wind has been blowing.

The early disciples walked in that anointing of the Holy Ghost and signs and wonders such a healings etc were common things. In Paul's ministry special miracles were seen which implies that ordinary miracles were the order of the day and at the end of Mark's gospel it is stated that these signs and wonders confirmed the word.



So where has the Holy Spirit gone and has the "church" suppressed the workings of the Spirit and quenched the Spirit in our formal and traditional mode of worship. Has the "church" become that which Paul warned against - a instrument which portrays godliness but the source of the power is suppressed within the strict format of what we call order. Denying the power thereof


Throughout the Highlands and Islands I hear of men and women who profess to be "Baptised in the Holy Ghost" and "speaking in tongues" acknowledging gifting of the Spirit such a healings, words of knowledge, words of wisdom etc and profess that these gifts are relevant, real and true for this day and this hour and essential for ministry within the "church" Yet sadly these same men and women continue to worship and even minister in churches which excludes these teachings and even speaks in opposition to them. This not only serves to quench the Holy Spirit but must surely grieve the Holy Spirit. At the end of the day who are we really serving, men or God. The empowering of the Holy Spirit was given to men to demonstate the power of God with them and not to be hidden for personal use away from those who need to see that God is real and relevant for this moment of time.

Where has the Holy Spirit gone is such a sad question but He is waiting to get into the heart of the church in the same manner as the Lord Jesus Christ aways the invitation to come into your heart. The true Church of Jesus Christ is alive and well and working through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist said 2 things about Jesus. 1 "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world " (This is the salvation of the soul) and 2 "He will baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire" (This is the enabling to live as people who's souls have been saved) These are both for you and for the whole church and the sooner we learn to forsake the traditions of men and to serve a living God the better for each one of us, the church and the world.

That two fold work is also clearly stated in the letter to the Galatians chapter 4 in revealing that Christ came to redeem them who were under the law, that they might receive the adoption of sons. Once adopted and brought into the family it is further stated that the Spirit of His Son came to empower us or enable us to live as part of that family. In other words we do not continue to live according to the flesh or the law but by the power of the Spirit who encourages us to go on living for Christ and not having christianity or Christ as an appendix to our lives.