Focus: Proof of Possession (cont.)

Text: Act.8:19

"GIVE ME ALSO THIS POWER..."

Every believer should be on his or her knees, praying for spiritual power - power lodged in the Holy Spirit.

Let's look at Luke 9. Verse 1 says: "Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them POWER and AUTHORITY over all devils, and to cure diseases."

Jesus GAVE them POWER. Now let's read verse 6: "And THEY departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and HEALING EVERY WHERE."

As we can see, the power they received in verse 1 worked in verse 6. They exercised the power and experienced results.

Now come with me to verse 40. It says, "And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and THEY COULD NOT." You see, something has gone wrong here. The power is lost. Power failure has occurred, and they knew it, for later on, they asked the master, "Why COULD NOT WE cast him out" - Mt.17:19. They wondered what went wrong.

It's time to recover what we've lost. Let's do away with all the cheap substitutes. It is Holy Spirit's power or nothing else. A church comfortable with cheap substitutes cannot cast out demons.

The problem is: do we still believe there are demons, and that we have God's mandate to cast them out? And how can we fulfill the divine mandate without the divine mantle - the power of the Holy Spirit?

The 70 returned from evangelism with this testimony, "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name" - Lk.10:17. Hallelujah!

O, Lord, help us manifest in your name infallible proofs of being truly in possession of your power! Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter