Rev. Kwame Dankyi Ansong. PhD.
From time immemorial, God has been calling ordinary men and women into His vineyard as stewards.
Since those He calls are ordinary people, He personally equips or empowers them for effectiveness.
In Acts, chapter 1, verse 8, Jesus told the disciples, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me…”.
As such, principally, the Spirit of God is given for the equipment of believers for fruitful ministry, both in the Old and New Testaments.
When God called Moses to return to Egypt and bring out the children of Israel, Moses saw himself as being ill equipped.
Probably, he saw himself as a condemned criminal, waiting to be arrested by the Egyptian authorities.
But God saw things otherwise.
God, then equipped him as He demonstrated His power through Moses’ staff. That was why God told him to make sure he carried the staff to Egypt,(Ex. 4: 17).
At the time, YHWH, asked the Israelites to construct a Tent of Meeting, where He would meet with the people, He told Moses that, He had chosen Bezaleel, whom He had empowered and given the ability to design curious things.
Bezaleel was so equipped that he could teach others to help him with the work at hand,(Ex. 31: 2-9; 36: 1-7).
When the angel visited Gideon in his hiding place, the Angel asked him to go and fight with the little strength he had then.(Judges 6:11-16).
David was a young man, when he was saddled with key responsibilities.
He was first anointed as king, but went back to look after the family livestock.
In the fields, all the weapon he had was his sling, but he perfected its usage.
When he met Goliath on the battlefield, he looked up to the God who had been with him in the fields.
The closer he got to Goliath, the bigger he saw his Defender and the smaller Goliath appeared.
With his anointing, the tool in his hands became more powerful than any weapon anyone could imagine.
Jonah was God’s prophet, equipped for ministry. But he was blinded by his cultural background and felt that God’s mercy was for only the Hebrews.
He therefore tried to dodge God’s assignment. But God had to open his eyes to see that His empowerment is for specific purposes, not including ‘run away guys’.
When he allowed God to have His way, he performed one of the greatest evangelical outreaches of all time.
Nineveh, a city with a population of around 120,000, was saved from destruction through his preaching,(Jonah 4: 4-11).
From all these examples, we see that empowerment is not, and should not be seen as a New Testament phenomenon.
God has throughout history, used people who have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to do exploits for His glory.
May I humbly suggest that, although the lines may not be very clear, God’s empowerment is distinct from the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Although Jesus talks about believers who would speak in tongues,(Mark16: 17-18), in Acts1:8, the emphasis is on believers being equipped for mission.
The early missionaries who brought Christianity to our shores were ordinary bricklayers, agriculturists, lay preachers and the like, who were on fire for God.
In the face of sickness and death, they continued to come into our land until the Gospel had footprints.
As children, some of us saw our ‘uneducated mothers’, going on evangelism tours, through which churches were established in our area.
In David’s prayer for forgiveness, he prayed that God would renew the right spirit in him, and not take away His Holy Spirit from him,(Ps. 51: 10-13).
Jesus’ assurance to His followers was that in His Father’s home above, there are many mansions.
His expectation is that, those mansions should be occupied by all means.
I believe, that just as the population of the world goes up, God call continues to extend the boundaries of the City of Light, with the hope that His children here, will go into the highways, to draw in more people into the kingdom.
That is why He continues to empower us to work for Him.
The prophets, Amos and Micah, were empowered servants, who were involved in Market Place Evangelism,(Amos 5: 10-12; Micah 6: 10-12).
Both of them were able to speak against the malpractices which were going on, both in the market places and the courts.
After the Day of Pentecost, the early Church saw it that the very life of the believers depended upon Church expansion.
The Christians then preached the message of the Gospel both in season and out of season.
Evangelism in those days was not an annual ritual. It was the normal lifestyle of the Church.
The Bible tells us that, year in year out, Samuel was moving across the length and breadth of the land of Israel,(1 Sam. 7: 15-17).
Evangelism is God’s heartbeat and should be for all Christians. As Christians, therefore, we need to have a passion for souls.
Have you been empowered? For what purpose do you think you were empowered?
God the Father, is seeking some good fruits from each and everyone of us.
May we not disappoint the Father in this matter. He is counting on each and everyone of us, to proclaim the Goodnews of, and about His Son.
Stand out and be counted among the faithful servants.
Stay blessed.
