Are you trying to do God's work on your own strength?

What if the reason so many Christians feel powerless is because they are trying to fulfill a Spirit-empowered mission without the Spirit's power? God never intended for you to live the Christian life on your own strength.

The Holy Spirit is not a secondary or optional part of the Christian life. He is the very power source behind the mission Jesus gave every believer. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God would come upon people from the outside, enabling prophets and leaders to do extraordinary things. But after Jesus died and rose again, providing the perfect sacrifice for sin, the Holy Spirit could now dwell within believers, baptizing them from the inside out. This was a promise of the Old Testament heard about but never personally experienced. We live in that reality today.

Jesus gave the Great Commission in Matthew 28, calling His followers to go into all the world and make disciples. But in Luke 24, He gave a critical instruction first: wait for the power of the Holy Spirit before going anywhere. These two commands are inseparable. The mission and the power belong together. Speaking in tongues, often misunderstood or avoided, is a personal prayer language available to every believer for spiritual edification and empowerment. It is distinct from the corporate gift of tongues and interpretation described in 1 Corinthians 14, which is given to some for building up the church body. Paul himself said he prayed in tongues more than anyone, and he encouraged believers to do the same privately while using prophecy to build others up publicly.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a one-time experience. Throughout the book of Acts, the same believers were filled multiple times. Like a glass that gets emptied as it is poured out, we need to be continually refilled. Common hesitations, such as feeling like it is fake, wondering if it will work, or feeling like the gift has been lost, are all addressed directly in Scripture. God is not a ventriloquist. He does not take over. He fills, and we respond in faith by opening our mouths and speaking. The call is to pray in the Spirit daily, stir up the gift consistently, and refuse to let the enemy minimize what God has freely given.

Today is a great day to stop settling for a version of faith that runs on your own energy and start leaning into the power God has already placed within you.