As Jesus understood the plan of God for His life, He also understood that without the guidance and the strength of the Father He would not be able to carry it out. Jesus understood His need for constant intervention from the Father, and His life from the very beginning proved His dependence on the Father. The constant witness we see from Jesus’s life is a life of empowerment through dependence on the mighty power of God the Father.
In John 14:16-17, Jesus prayed for the Father to send the Holy Spirit to dwell with and empower His disciples. I will the Father, and He will give you another helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth – you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” Jesus gave His disciples this promise in John 15:26 regarding the Spirit: “He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things I said to you.” Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as their ‘Helper’ and the ‘Spirit of truth’ and He added “He will testify of Me” in John 15:26.
After His resurrection, Jesus promised the disciples that they would be “endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49), and just before He ascended to heaven He told them “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). For empowering their lives to fulfill God’s will, the disciples were to wait for the same enabling Spirit that has descended upon Jesus.
This dependence on the Spirit of God must be a pattern for our lives as well. In John 15:5 Jesus said “Apart from Me you can do nothing” and the same thing is true for us today. When God reveals His plans for your life there should be deep agonizing prayer flowing from your life because of your understanding that without Him, you absolutely cannot accomplish the assignment He has for you.
God desires that we be witnesses for Him in this world, and we have to be empowered for it. Get alone with God and pray to receive power from on high in order to gain strength, to gain understanding and direction to live out God’s will for your life!