The Son of Man
In John 5:19-20, Jesus said, “The Son of Man can do nothing of Himself.” What do you suppose He meant by this? He was revealing to us what our lives can and should look like when we are completely empowered by the Father through the Holy Spirit. Think of it this way: Jesus’ life was a human illustration. Jesus wanted us to know that the Spirit of the Lord gives us access to the life that Jesus demonstrated in the four gospels. Jesus’ life was a catalogue of everything that’s available to us here on earth, so the question becomes: How willing are we to be empowered by Him in our everyday lives?
The Woman Who Was Sick For 12 Years
When we look at Luke 8:43-48, we see the woman “with the issue of blood.” There were hundreds of people all around Jesus pushing against and touching Him. She probably didn’t even think He would notice her touch when she crawled on her hands and knees to catch the hem of His garment. As you can read, He knew the moment that power had gone out of Him. So the question becomes,
How conscious of the presence of the Holy Spirit do we have to become so that in a large, noisy crowd we can feel the Spirit’s power released toward a heart reaching out to God?
Jesus knew no lack and neither should we. And like Jesus, we have the Spirit without measure John 3:34. Think of that. There must be something He is trying to show us from this account. What is it like to be able to live with such an awareness of His presence that we are aware, and know when, and for what purpose His power is released from us?
Jesus’ Baptisms
In Matthew 3:16-17, Jesus was baptized in water and the heavens “were open unto him.” The Spirit of God then descended in the form of a dove, rested upon Him, and never left! The Bible clearly reveals that the Holy Spirit remained, and we know from this point forward Jesus walked in the dunamis (dynamite) power that the Father bestowed upon Him. We know that His Father’s Spirit was always with Jesus. Unlike any other human, Jesus was the result of the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary and “the Holy One” was born Luke 1:35. He was “the Son of God” from His birth. Therefore, at the moment of His public baptism, it was not the first time the Spirit was in Him.
Habitation of the Holy Spirit
This reveals that there is a difference between the Holy Spirit permanently living in us because of the new birth 2 Corinthians 5:17, and then the anointing or heavy presence of God resting on us. We have to learn to live in the humility of being completely yielded to the Spirit of the Lord to flow freely in us and through us. When we do that, we will have that consciousness of what He is saying and wanting us to do through us because He is flowing unhindered.
Jesus is Our Model
Why do you think Jesus separated Himself so often from the multitudes and even from His own disciples at times? He was continuously in prayer and always wanted to be totally yielded to His Father. Why? It was so that the Father could manifest His presence through Jesus. Every spirit-filled believer knows that the Spirit of the Lord lives in us by covenant (For example, Hebrews 13:5 says He will “never leave us or forsake us.”) However, a greater awareness comes when His presence is released over us! Isaiah prophesied this of Jesus in Isaiah 61:1, and Jesus then spoke this of Himself in Luke 4:18.
Jesus modeled for us how He was the habitation (not the just a place of visitation) of the Spirit of God. In Jesus dwelled all the fullness of His Father’s power and presence Colossians 2:9. And He does the same in us, as the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us Romans 8:11.
We will explore this in more depth in our next blog, How to Reveal His Presence: Part 2