Spirit empowerment

The first guiding principle of the organization I lead, ReachGlobal, is that we are Word based and Spirit empowered. It is very much influenced by John 15 where Jesus talks to the disciples about what it means to abide in Him. I am always sobered by His statement in that discourse that “Without me you can do nothing.” I wonder how often we try to do things without Him, relying on our own resources, ideas and creativity.

There are 7 components to our ReachGlobal Sandbox Guiding Principles as it relates to Spirit empowerment. As you read them, think about your own ministry and how you define what it means to be Spirit empowered. While none of us do this perfectly, what would our ministries look like if we lived these seven commitments out?

1.     Hearing – We must be actively growing in our confidence of hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit and intentionally taking time to wait upon God to hear Him.

2.     Discerning – We must be growing in discerning His leading, direction, and will for our lives in all the different ways He reveals these to us.

3.     Obeying – We must live a lifestyle of obedience to the Scriptures, to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, to His will for our lives, and also having a healthy submission to those in authority over us.

4.     Abiding – We must live out the truths of John 15 in our calling to intimate relationship with our heavenly Abba.  We affirm the fundamental necessity of spiritual intimacy with God before we can have fruitful ministry impact with others. A core expression of this intimate relationship with Abba God is a lifestyle of healthy dependency on our Sovereign Lord.

5.     Praying – We must live out another core expression or ancillary of this abiding relationship, the continual conversation with God which we call prayer.

6.     Expecting – We must maintain an ongoing posture of faith, expecting that our Almighty God, because of who He is, will do the extraordinary, the miraculous, both in and through us and our ministries.

7.     Anointing – We must regularly seek and ask for the supernatural empowerment of the indwelling Holy Spirit in our lives and ministry which the New Testament calls anointing. This empowerment may express itself through a wide range of occurrences, gifts, manifestations or events produced by the Holy Spirit and which are determined only by Him.