At his Ascension Jesus promised the disciples that “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses… to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). When the day of Pentecost arrived a mighty rushing wind and tongues of fire rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. How did this Holy Spirit change their lives? How can this Holy Spirit change our lives today?

In the summer of 1965 I served an internship at a church in Gillingham, Kent. I was a seminarian at Cranmer Hall, Durham and was accepted as a candidate for ordination in the Diocese of Rochester after a meeting with Russell White, the Bishop of Tonbridge in the back pew of St. Martins in the Fields Church in Trafalgar Square, London. St. Mark’s, Gillingham had been affected by the charismatic movement, which had swept through the Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches in the USA in the 1960’s. Dennis Bennett, a leader in this renewed emphasis on the Holy Spirit, and author of the influential book, Nine O’Clock in the Morning, visited St. Marks in 1963 and John Collins, its pastor, was welcoming of his teaching. I was fortunate to have a front seat at the beginning of this new renewal movement which stirred up the intellectual rationalism and emotionally restrained church life of those days. Pentecostal churches were growing throughout the world and their emphasis on the Holy Spirit spilled over into the mainline churches. Churches that preached the Fatherhood of God and the centrality of Jesus started to experience the work of the Holy Spirit, the sometimes forgotten or neglected third Person of the Holy Trinity.

What do you know of the work of the Holy Spirit in your life? What is the nature of this power Jesus promised to all who follow him? What power is imparted to us by the Holy Spirit?

It is not political power. The Holy Spirit is given to the powerless. It is not economic power. The Holy Spirit is given to the poor. It is not celebrity power. The Holy Spirit is given to the unknown. It is not media power. The Holy Spirit is given to the voiceless. What then is the power of the Holy Spirit?

I want to suggest to you that the Holy Spirit gives us the power of truth and love.

Jesus promised that when the Holy Spirit of truth came “he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). How does he do that? Through the Holy Spirit-inspired written word of the Holy Scriptures. The first thing the disciples did upon receiving the power of the Holy Spirit was to tell all their hearers the mighty works of God. Jesus instructed them this way after his resurrection. “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and said to them, ‘Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:45-49).

The power that clothed the disciples was the power of the truth of God, the truth of the Gospel. They spoke from God “as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). The truth about Jesus has the power to save, to enable us to believe that he is “the way, the truth and the life”, the truth that will set us free from all that prevents us from enjoying the life that God intends for us. It is the truth about ourselves and our need to repent and be forgiven. The Holy Spirit is the Helper who will teach us all things and bring to our remembrance all that he said to the apostles and all they recorded in the New Testament.

It is the truth that reveals to us the problem and power of evil. It is the truth that unveils the working of the devil. “He has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). The power of the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to discern between the truth and lies. “We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (1 Cor.2:12-13).

The truth is powerful in unmasking deception and lies. In a world in which there are so many voices clamoring to be heard and equally claiming to be the truth we desperately need the power of the Spirit to discern between truth and error. We cannot abdicate our responsibility to know the truth if we want to be free. Jesus said to Pontius Pilate, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. “Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38) He was so spiritually blind he could not see the truth standing in front of him. We are called to bear witness to the truth of Jesus, to listen to his voice in the Scriptures, and to believe in him.

Jesus gave us the power of the Holy Spirit to love one another. “A new commandment I give you that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). But this commandment is impossible for us to fulfill because we are so self-centered and ego-driven. We see others as rivals, competing with us for significance. From the beginning, when Cain murdered his brother Abel, there has been rivalry between all of us for God’s favor and blessing.

How can we love one another as Jesus loves us? Because God has to give us the power to love. “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). Love for one another is the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Cor 12 St. Paul discusses the varieties of the gifts of the Spirit that are present in the body of Christ. He tells us to desire the higher gifts, and especially the more excellent way of love. Faith, hope and love abide but the greatest of these is love. He expounds the nature of God’s love in the believer in 1 Cor 13. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Cor 13:4-8).

The power of love is relational. It is not a mystical experience that the believer enjoys alone. It requires relating to others. It is a reflection of the Holy Trinity where the Father loves the Son through the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples on that first Pentecost the first result was the creation of the fellowship of the Church. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers….All who believed were together and had all things in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met. They worshipped together and ate together. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42-47).

The power of the Holy Spirit to love one another resulted in the growth of a community of faith, hope and love. There was no “each one for himself” rivalry but mutual care and compassion. A loving spiritual family was created that witnessed to the transforming power of the Gospel of Christ.

There is much talk of spirituality today that is inherently selfish. There is a search for individual happiness and bliss to counter the challenges and anxieties of modern life. We want to take care of ourselves, our health, our significance, our value, our sense of importance, at the expense of our relationships. The world is divided into so many identity and interest groups that make claims upon us. Instead of seeing others as a threat to our wellbeing we are called by Jesus to follow him in loving our neighbors as ourselves. It is not possible to do this by passing laws or engaging in arguments. It is only possible to love by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who gives us the power to love one another.

Have you received the Holy Spirit? Ask and you will receive. Jesus said, “How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Lk 11:13).