Spirit of Power
"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD." (Isaiah 11:1,2 NIV)
When I first saw the house my husband thought we should buy and turn into our permanent earthly home until we took up residence in our eternal heavenly home, I took one look at the ramshackle 100-year-old farmhouse that looked like it needed at least 100 years' worth of work, scoffed derisively, and kept on driving.
My husband, though, maintained that buying it was a wise decision. When he listed its selling points, he said things like, "It's got an updated electrical panel with 120-amp service."
I wanted a gourmet kitchen and a spa bathroom, and he gave me an updated electrical panel.
The thing was, though, that having a reliable, sufficient power source was foundational for anything else we might do to the house. And so, too, with our spiritual houses: whatever else we might try to do, if we don't get ourselves connected first and regularly to the Spirit of Power, we're going to fizzle out.
As with all the gifts of the Spirit, coming up with the power is not our responsibility; it's His. Our job is not to create the power; our job is to connect to it. We connect to the Spirit of Power when we pray. We connect when we memorize Scripture. We connect when we listen to worship music. We connect when we drag ourselves out of bed on Sunday morning and get ourselves to church, even when—especially when—we don't want to. We connect when we invest in relationship with friends of faith. We connect when we follow God's lead and take the enormous risk of loving.
My family and I have lived in the house I didn't want to buy for 18 years now. It might not be the house I would have chosen based on that first drive-by, but it is a place where my husband, children, and I can regularly connect to the Spirit of Power. And that's better than a gourmet kitchen or a spa bathroom any day.
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I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to tell me what you really think. Years ago, I explained to my then-two-year-old that my appointment with a counselor was "sort of like going to a doctor who will help me be a better mommy." Without blinking, she replied, "You'd better go every day." All of which is just to say I've spent some time in the school of brutal honesty!