The Great Empowerment
So what is your life’s battle? What’s your big quest? What dragons must you slay?
Is your battle to stand against sin? Is it to oppose the devil? Is it to endure temptations until you get to heaven? Is it to simply survive? It might come as a surprise, but the answers are no, no, no, and no.
Your battle is to become the man God designed you to be and to share His strength with others. Your quest is to be in love with God, to be full of His Holy Spirit’s power for life, and to be on task. Why? That makes Jesus look good. You were created for one reason and one reason alone—to bring glory to God by making Him look good. The more your life brings glory to God the more you become the best version of you possible.
Every right choice you make in public and private forges you into a man whose character reflects the character of Christ.
This is not a life of defense, or just holding on until Jesus comes. Oh no! You should live in an offensive posture, moving forward. The call is to be a real man who brings glory to God. You don’t cower in fear or hunker down. Instead, stand up and live life to the max. Advance! Go on adventure with God and battle to become the man God designed you to be. As you do, you share your strength with others.
Every obstacle you encounter is a battle to become the man God designed you to be—a man of great adventure and faith, of strength and courage in battle, and of purpose and determination in life. When you face a challenge, the essential question is this, “Who’s going to get the credit in this battle? God or Satan?” Your goal is to reflect Christ’s character. Every right choice you make in public and private forges you into a man whose character reflects the character of Christ. That makes you an overcomer! And God offers His very own power for young men who want to be winners.
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is God’s power source in your life, and you will need all of His strength to become the man that He designed you to be. When you accepted Jesus as your King and submitted yourself entirely to Him, His Spirit took up residence in your life. That is how close He is to you. His Spirit lives in you and gives you power and help in a number of important ways:
He befriends you. Jesus, when He went back to heaven, promised to send the Holy Spirit to come alongside you and be your Friend. The Holy Spirit takes Jesus’ place as God’s tangible presence in your everyday life. He is your Advisor on decisions, someone you can talk to, and someone you can trust (John 14:16–18, 25–27).
He convicts you. The Holy Spirit always tries to convince you to do what is right. Your goal is to listen carefully and obey fully. He will never beat you down but will try to lift you up and point you back to Christ (John 16:8–11).
He will lead you through the fog of battle to victory, if you listen. The Holy Spirit speaks at the same volume—He seldom shouts, and He seldom whispers. If you consistently ignore His voice, you will find it harder and harder to hear Him. But as you do what He asks, you will develop an ear to hear His voice more clearly.
He guides you. He helps you learn God’s plans for your life and keeps you in God’s will. You can know it is the Holy Spirit who is guiding you because He always leads you in a way that is consistent with God’s Word (John 16:13).
About the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, “He will glorify me” (John 16:14). The Holy Spirit makes Jesus look good in your life by giving you good advice, by encouraging you to make right choices, and by calling you to follow Him. When you obey the voice of the Holy Spirit, God will shape you into the man He designed you to be.
The Baptism in the Holy Spirit
God’s Spirit is present in the life of everyone who has surrendered his will to the Father by asking Jesus to be his Friend and the Leader of his life. But there is an added gift of power that Jesus gives to those who are baptized in the Holy Spirit. It is not something you earn, but a gift you are instructed to ask for and seek. Jesus is the giver of the gift. The baptism in the Holy Spirit helps you become the man God designed you to be. He gives you His strength to win battles and to be God’s ally in this world.
As a Christian, you have a responsibility to seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Jesus is eager to give you His gift of power. You will know you have received the baptism in the Holy Spirit when you pray and worship God in a language you have never studied or learned. It is the first outward sign that you have received this gift. There are examples of this in Acts chapters 2, 10, and 19. It’s like a receipt that demonstrates that you have received His special power. It doesn’t end there because that is just the first evidence. As you walk in that power, you will find you are becoming more alive in Christ, that you have more joy, that you are more eager to tell others about what God is doing in your life, and that you are more courageous and bold in the adventures you take with God.
There is no specific formula to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Since Jesus is the Baptizer, your goal should be to seek Him regularly, to deepen your love for Him, and to ask Him to baptize you in the Holy Spirit. The key is seeking the Giver, Jesus, and asking Him for the gift. James 4:8 says, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
Here’s how to get closer to Jesus:
The power of the Holy Spirit will help you become the man of character God designed you to be!
In Your Own Words:
1. When has the Holy Spirit been your Friend, convicted you, and guided your life? How did His personal presence make you better?
2. Refer to Acts 2:4, 10:44–46, and 19:5–6 and describe the common experience people had when they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
3. Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit? If you have, think about how you can more effectively use His power. If not, begin to seek His empowerment now.
In My Experience:
I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit at camp when I was eight or nine years old. I went to the altar and prayed for a while until I received. I was so excited! I felt like I could charge through a wall.
But I had been asking Jesus to baptize me for a couple of years. The truth is I had sought so long I became discouraged at one point. In fact, I thought If it is this hard to get a gift, it must not be real. My dad sensed my frustration and sympathized with the feelings I was experiencing. He gave me some very good advice. It was simply to seek the Giver of the gift, and not the gift itself.
He explained that God had plenty of power for my life, but that power comes from Him. His Holy Spirit wants to have relationship with me just like I want with my own family and friends. If I went after my friends for money or gifts without any interest in them, I’d probably get little or nothing. So it is with God. As we seek Him, He pours His power out.
This helped me a lot. I hope this advice helps you, too. That night at kids camp in Missouri, I just talked with Jesus. I reminded Him again how much I loved Him, and how I wanted to give Him my whole life. My heart started to overflow with praise for Him, and after a while my words turned to a language I had never learned before.
For weeks after that, I spent time in prayer in my dad’s camper. I’d lie on the bed over the truck cab and just praise the Lord. And soon I’d start to flow in my new prayer language again. As a result, I started to develop a greater passion for Christ. And more than anything, it has drawn me into a deeper relationship with God and given me a greater concern for those who don’t know Jesus. A new boldness and a great level of persistence have come to characterize my life. I can’t imagine settling for a life that didn’t include this amazing presence and power in my life. And I hope you don’t either.