“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” -Acts 1:8
The mission that Jesus gave His disciples from the very beginning was to go and to be His witnesses. That call still rests on anyone who chooses to follow Jesus. This is not simply an invitation to speak words about Jesus; it’s an invitation to live a life so infused with God’s presence that others are drawn to Him. (Matthew 5:16) So we must ask ourselves not only, “Do I believe in Jesus?” but also, “Am I an effective witness for Him?” Does my life display a dependence on the Spirit that points people to Jesus?
The key to authentic witness is not Biblical knowledge or the ability to speak well: it’s power. And it’s not power in and of ourselves. The “power” is the Holy Spirit—God’s presence within us that gives us a supernatural boldness, wisdom, and faith.
We saw this power transform the disciples. Peter, without the baptism of the Holy Spirit, denied Jesus three times, even after he proclaimed to Jesus that he would die for Him. But then in Acts 2, after being filled with the Spirit, he stood up and proclaimed the Gospel so clearly and boldly that thousands became followers of Jesus that very day. And the early church flourished, experiencing deep unity, sacrificial love, and miraculous signs and wonders through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in their lives.
Are we witnesses to everyone around us of the Gospel: the good news of who Jesus is to a world that desperately needs His saving grace? If not, where are we falling short?—What holds us back? I think there are many possible hindrances: fear, busyness, skewed ideas of what it means to be a witness. When we go through rituals and fail to draw our power from the Spirit, our witness is weak at best. If we try to witness without love, our witness is a clanging symbol: loud, but not helpful.
The Holy Spirit always leads us back to our need for God’s intervention and help and gives us strength as we acknowledge our weakness without Him. He unifies us with our brothers and sisters in Christ. In contrast, division, apathy, self-righteousness, and shame thrive where the Spirit’s power is absent.
This is why we have to make a conscious decision to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit. And I think it begins with humility. Just as Peter had to come to terms with his humanity and weakness that caused him to deny Jesus, we have to realize that we cannot be the witnesses Jesus is calling us to be in our own strength. This realization moves us to dependence on Him: where we take time to pray, repent, and ask God to stir up His Spirit in our lives.
If we want to see our world changed and be the witnesses God is calling us to be, we have to seek Jesus and the power that He promised us in His Holy Spirit. And we have to be ok with being surprised. The call and life God had for the disciples looked nothing like they had imagined, but it brought a power, boldness and love that changed the world.
Jesus, stir up Your Holy Spirit within each of us: we need Your Spirit, who empowers us to share Your Good News and unites us as one body (1 Corinthians 12). And fill us with Your love, which is “the most excellent way,” and makes us more than noise (1 Corinthians 13). We want to be vessels of the things that remain when all else has crumbled, the virtues that only come from You: faith, hope, and love. In Your Mighty Name, we pray—Amen
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