Jesus told His disciples in Acts 1:8 (Amplified), "But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth."
Acts 2:89 (Amplified) says, "For the promise (of the Holy Spirit) is to and for you and for your children, and to and for all that are far away, (even) to and for as many as the Lord our God invites and bids to come to Himself."
The anointing at Pentecost changed the disciples in Acts 4:13 (Amplified) which says, "Now when they saw the boldness and unfettered eloquence of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and untrained in the schools (common men with no educational advantages). They marveled, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus."
Acts 5:32 (Amplified) says, "And we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Spirit is also, Whom God had bestowed on those who obey Him."
John 16:13-15 (Amplified) tells us, "But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-Giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the truth (the whole, full truth) For He will not speak His Own message (on His Own Authority); but He will tell whatever He hears (from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him); and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come (that will happen in the future)." Verse 15 goes on, "Everything that the Father has is mine. That is what I meant when I said that He (the Holy Spirit) will take the things that are Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you."
These scriptures tell of the promise of the Holy Spirit and then the fulfillment of that promise. Peter said in Acts 2:39 (Amplified) that the Holy Spirit is for himself, the people in the crowd, us and for as many as God invites to come to Him. It stands to be clear, that our Heavenly Father intended for "All who will believe" to receive the Holy Spirit.
Many Christians only go as far in their faith to become born again by the Holy Spirit. Others have believed that the Super-natural abilities were only for the early Church. Others still, believe to the point of speaking in tongues, while others believe that the Gifts of the Spirit in 1Corinthians 12, were only for the early Church and have since passed away.
Many aspects of the dispensation of the Holy Spirit have almost divided the Church, instead of uniting it. The Holy Spirit hasn't changed any aspect of His ministry since He was sent forth from the Father at Pentecost.
Everything that He was to the Church then, the Holy Spirit is today. The only things that have changed are the way we, the Church, have believed and have taught and been taught. The Holy Spirit is God Himself, living in and dwelling in everyone who will accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Having someone state that, "What the early Church had, isn't for today," is the same as saying that God cannot do today, what He did then.
Jesus said that we would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon us. Has He not come? Why then, would we ever believe that the power was ever removed from the Church? The "great deceiver," satan, has no power over the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, yet he lies to us, telling us that he does have power over us. It isn't any different than when he came to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He only needs to make us doubt what God has said and the deception takes care of the rest of it.
The Spirit of the Living God has taken up residence in every born again child of God. The Holy Spirit in you, is the same Holy Spirit Who brought about creation in the beginning. God hasn't diminished in power, wisdom, love or might. "He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever," according to Hebrews 13:8 (Amplified).
If you need to know Who and What the Holy Spirit is to today's Church, then simply ask the Father to fill (baptize ) you in the Holy Spirit. This will equip you to walk in what the Father has for us to accomplish in this day and age. Do not allow the devil to talk you out of the blessing, like he did Adam.
The world not only needs to hear about God through the Church, but also needs to "see" God through the Church. In this dispensation of the Church age, we are about to reach the end of it as we know it. Jesus is coming back soon and we do not have another two-thousand years to wait. And, because these are the Last Days, satan has pulled out all the stops and we need the Super-natural power of the Holy Spirit in order to gather the last times harvest.
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