Dr. Andrew Liuson, Chairman, IGSL Board of Trustees
Romans 12:9-18
June 19, 2018
We know that Jesus did so many miracles. The Bible says He has done so many other things aside from what was written in the Bible (John 21:25). And He said something very amazing. He said, “whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do” (John 14:12). So how is it possible that we can do greater works?
Now, remember He said “whoever”, which means anyone but not everyone. And He said “he”, which means some, again, not everyone. Are there certain things we should do in order to qualify for this? What’s the secret? In John 5:19 Jesus said: “… the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” So that is the secret —closeness to God the Father to be able to see what God is doing, so that we can join God in His work!
How do we do that? As our loving heavenly Father, God wants to give us good gifts (Luke 11:13). He gave us the most important gift of eternal life. And the second most important gift is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The result is, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8).
The secret of having a great life, therefore, is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. To make it simple and transferable, I’m using a very simple acronym, ABC. Asking, Breathing, and Connecting.
First is to Ask. Ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit because it is the will of God (Ephesians 5:17,18). But who is the Holy Spirit? The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is a person. He’s God, and He’s equal with God the Father and Jesus. He’s everywhere, He knows all things, He has infinite power, He creates, He is alive, He grieves when we sin, He guides, and He uses us. For us believers, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But we need to be filled and be full of the Holy Spirit, the purpose of which is so that we could become witnesses of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). We need to ask God for us to be filled!
Second is to Breathe. We are human beings and we breathe. How do we breathe? We inhale and exhale. Dr. Bill Bright taught “spiritual breathing.” Exhaling means we confess our sins. Inhaling means we ask the Holy Spirit to fill us again. So every time we confess our sins, we should immediately ask the Holy Spirit to fill us. We need to practice this as often as we remember.
Third is to Connect. This is a picture of our relationship with God. When we are closely connected to God, we can more easily sense what He wants and we will understand immediately what He wants us to do.
Take to heart what Henrietta Mears, the godly woman who discipled dozens of great Christian leaders, including Dr. Billy Graham and Dr. Bill Bright, said: “I believe that it is impossible for any Christian to be effective either in his life or in his service unless he is filled with the Holy Spirit who is God’s only provision of power.”
May Dr. Bill Bright’s prayer also be ours. “I try to begin each day on my knees as a formal act of acknowledging his lordship. I seek to begin the day walking in the fullness of His power.”