Power Promised
Acts 1:8

"Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me." So states God. God did not say you ought to be witnesses, he said you "shall be." Those who would seek a sign or proof of being filled with the Holy Spirit would do well to look for witnessing as a proof. Scripture proves there is a direct correlation between the two.

Acts 2:4 says, "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues." What did they speak? "The wonderful works of God" (v. 11), with the result that three thousand souls came to Christ (v. 41).

This same stumbling, fumbling Peter, who just a few days earlier had denied the Lord, now standing before the august religious leaders, "filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel... be it known unto you all . . . that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole" (Acts 4:8 ff.). Only filling with the Spirit can account for such bold and powerful witnessing.

Peter and John were threatened and told to stop preaching. Returning to the company of believers, they related what had happened. A prayer meeting was called, but instead of complaining or asking God to stop the persecution, they prayed for boldness to speak God's Word. "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness" (Acts 4:31). Early Christians knew they were to witness the work of God (Acts 5:29-32) and the Word of God (4:29).

Being filled or controlled by the Holy Spirit is the absolute essential for witnessing. Christ said, "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49). Then they went to the world.

The deciding difference in the success of soul winning is not talents, techniques or tools but the personal control of the Holy Spirit over one's life. It is not the containing of a "power," but this Person's control of us. God is looking for wicks; oil and fire are provided.