The Power of the Holy Spirit for Global Missions
“The key to the missionary problem is the missionaries. They believe in the presence of the Spirit of God, but they lack the encounter. There never should be a missionary ministry that is not full of the presence of the Lord!” 1
It is the Power of the Holy Spirit that Energizes the Church for Mission!
It was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. On Good Friday, April 22, 2011, my wife Agnes and I were in Saint Louis. We had settled in for a relaxing evening when we heard a loud warning siren, followed by a knock on our door and an urgent request for us to immediately descend to the basement of the place we were staying. As we huddled together with the other guests, an F4 tornado with sustained winds of 265 km an hour was shredding everything in its path! When the tornado finally dissipated, we were allowed to ascend from the basement and go outside. The scene was unbelievable. As we drove closer to the epicentre of the tornado, we saw huge trees ripped out of the ground and tossed like toothpicks; cars and large trucks were overturned, and massive billboards were shredded! The power of the wind unleashed is incredible!
I am struck by the fact one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit is wind. Invisible, unexplainable, unlimited, powerful, and undeniable in impact! The Apostle John records,
“You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God” (John 3:8 MSG2).
The Hebrew word – Ruach (roo-aak), which can be translated as wind, breath or Spirit, is generally understood as a hot, fierce, gusty, and commanding wind! It symbolizes the energizing, transforming power of the Holy Spirit! We see this expressed on the Day of Pentecost when the coming of the Holy Spirit is described as “…the sound like the blowing of a violent wind” from heaven (Acts 2:2).
A.B. Simpson believed that the ministry needed in his day was a ministry of spiritual power and that the power which the Holy Spirit brings is first the power to be, and then the power to do. If this was true in Simpson’s era, how much more do we need to see a fresh unleashing of the Spirit’s power in our day? We are living in a time of immense upheaval and uncertainty. The lingering effects of a global pandemic, economic instability, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which threatens to draw us into World War III, are leaving humanity at an ever-increasing level of vulnerability. The danger for the Church is to embrace the stance of protection and survival at the expense of gospel proclamation and revival. Now is not the time (as if it ever were) to default to “fox-hole” Christianity. Instead, I am convinced the stage is set for a massive move of God’s Holy Spirit to bring the nations to Jesus. It is time to cry out for a fresh encounter with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
The starting point of missions is not strategy but saturation. Missions always begins with a profound and continuous filling of the Holy Spirit! You see, mission effectiveness is not about being active but about being activated by the Holy Spirit! In the 1924 annual report of the Alliance, the theme was focused on spiritual renewal. The report stated,
“One may be fundamentally sound in doctrine, and yet the testimony and the preaching are as cold as the water that passes through the cold hands and lips of that statue in the fountain; no real, bubbling life that satisfies the thirst of the perishing multitudes. The only satisfying life is the one having the fullness of Jesus and the fire of the Holy Ghost. This is the greatest need of the child of God and the Church of God today.”3
John Piper put it this way, “There would be no world evangelization, no world missions, if it were not for the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit.”4 World mission is not about what we can produce but instead allowing the Holy Spirit to reproduce Christ in us – unleashing His passion and power! Paul writes, “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:29 ESV5). Our posture is to RECEIVE the filling, the overflowing of the wind, the Spirit!
In John 20, Jesus gives a powerful mandate to His followers, “As the Father has sent me so I am sending you,” immediately followed by “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Jesus made it truly clear that mission was predicated on being “clothed with power from on high.” He declared, “I am going to send you what my father has promised; BUT STAY in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).
In Acts 1:8, a clear connection between a posture of receiving and the power to be a witness is presented. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The power of the Holy Spirit is not a commodity we possess but a Person who possesses us. Simpson affirmed, “I had to learn to take from Him my spiritual life every second, to breathe Himself in as I breathed, and breathe myself out. So, moment by moment for the spirit, and moment by moment for the body, we must receive...”6 A posture of receiving moment by moment the presence and power of the Holy Spirit is vital to be energized for mission!
In Acts 13, the church of Antioch launches God’s plan for global missions, a call to go to the ends of the earth! In this launching, we see the energizing power of the Holy Spirit unleashed. This text reveals three aspects or dimensions of the Holy Spirit’s energizing work for missions.
The Holy Spirit AWAKENS Mission-Focused PASSION
The wind of God is about to blow upon a humble, remarkably diverse, and disconnected group of leaders. We read,
Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod, the tetrarch) and Saul (Acts 13:1).
The only thing these leaders seem to have in common is their hunger for Jesus. It was “while they were worshipping the Lord and fasting” that the power of the Holy Spirit was released (Acts 13:1-2). The church leaders were enveloped in an
atmosphere of Spirit-filled worship, drenched in God’s presence, fully surrendered to His will, and filled with anticipation for what was next! Mission passion is not about a program but an encounter. This is a stunning moment. The Holy Spirit had set apart five men of diverse backgrounds to change the course of human history! The Holy Spirit had created a unity of mind and heart towards missions! Notice the incredible diversity in these leaders.
- Economic diversity – Manaen was raised in Herod’s household (foster brother) and was a wealthy aristocrat.
- Religious diversity – Hellenistic Jew, Barnabas, and Hebraic Jew, Saul (Acts 6:1) and Greeks.
- Cultural diversity – Lucius of Cyrene (North Africa), Barnabas from Cyprus (Greek), Simeon called Niger (Black), and Paul from Palestine.
Holding them together was the power of the Spirit, who broke down the barriers dividing them and created a dynamic unity around Jesus and His mission!
I recall when I was serving as a volunteer chaplain at a Canadian medium-security prison. The inmates were incredibly diverse, coming from different social-economic backgrounds and ethnicities. What was so powerful to witness was as the inmates found Jesus and were filled with the Holy Spirit, the diversity faded and a profound sense of unity and mission emerged. I will never forget being part of a prayer ministry where I stood shoulder to shoulder with a white-collar embezzler and an Irish bank robber who was leading a convicted murderer to Jesus. That is not normal! Exactly! It only happens when the power of the Holy Spirit is released. The Holy Spirit produces missional passion within us.
The Holy Spirit birthed a hunger for more! I wish we could have heard their prayers. We do not know what they were asking for, but two clues may help us discern the focus of their prayer. First, they were fasting. People most often fast when seeking direction with profound intensity and great determination. They were seeking God for what was next, discerning His agenda. The Antioch church was a dynamic church with immense potential, but the Holy Spirit had infused an unsettledness within them, a deep longing for more!
The second clue to what they were praying about was the answer. The Holy Spirit told them to “set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:2). God had birthed a hunger within this leadership team to reach those who did not yet know Jesus. The Holy Spirit will always focus us on Jesus and His mission!
One of our partners in South Asia told the story of a family who was moved by the Holy Spirit to pray for their village. The prayers were so intense that tears and wailing spontaneously erupted. Some neighbours heard the crying and knocked on the door to see what was happening. The believers shared how they were praying for the families in their village, asking God to protect them from COVID-19 and give them hope. The unbelieving neighbours were so moved they asked if they could stay and pray as well. They prayed together for over two and a half hours. At the end of the prayer time, the neighbours asked which idol they were to pay homage to. The family shared they had no idols. Instead, they worshipped the living Christ. They shared the Gospel, and four family members became believers that night. At the last report, 36 people from the village have chosen to follow Jesus, and the community is being transformed.
The Holy Spirit awakens in the hearts of believers a compelling compassion and deep urgency for those who do not yet know Jesus. Andrew Murray writes, “The Spirit is the origin, the progress, and the success of missions…the mission that originates in prayer and waiting on the Spirit can expect His power.”7
The Holy Spirit ACCELERATES Mission-Focused BOLDNESS
We read, “…the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off” (Acts 13:2-3).
When these leaders prayed and fasted and opened themselves up to be used by God in any way He desired, the Spirit responded in a BIG WAY. He infused into the Church a dynamic boldness to reach the nations of the world. The laying on of hands was a profound indication they were united in purpose and standing with each other in daring risk. The outcome of this accelerated boldness to reach the nations was the world turned upside down. Antioch became the jumping-off point for worldwide revival. A dozen new congregations were established throughout Asia. Paul began a ministry of writing that resulted in the composition of half of our New Testament. Antioch was established as one of the central hubs of Christianity in the ancient world.
Come Holy Spirit, fill us afresh with that kind of daring boldness!
One of my last overseas trips was to a country where conflict, civil war, and hardship have limited the advancement of the Gospel. While visiting our international workers in this part of the world, I was introduced to a fearless pastor who dared to follow Jesus and was filled with radical courage. He was born into a crime family, and when he was in his early twenties, his father instructed him to rob a bank with his cousin. The night before the crime, he fell into a deep sleep and was abruptly awakened by a vision of Jesus. He heard Jesus say to him, “I love you, and I have saved you for me; this is my last call; come follow me!” This young man immediately repented and followed Jesus. The next day he told his cousin he could not rob the bank because he had become a follower of Jesus. His cousin told him he was going to have to kill him. His response was, “Go ahead. I will go to Jesus!’”
The Spirit of God infused a passion in his heart to reach his country. He started a network of house churches that exploded into over one hundred in number with over 22,000 followers on the internet.
An encounter with the Holy Spirit always leads to an acceleration of boldness to reach the nations. In Acts 4, we see one of the impacts of the Holy Spirit’s baptism is a boldness to share the Gospel. Luke writes, “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31). I am always suspect of a believer (or a church) who boasts of amazing experiences with the Holy Spirit and yet has no vision for reaching the nations! The Holy Spirit is a mission disruptor! I love the way Kreminski puts it when she writes,
“Have we domesticated the Spirit to the extent that we do not experience his ‘wild’ character in our lives? The Holy Spirit does not bring us discomfort and disorientation for the sake of it. Instead he turns us and our plans inside out so that we might be more aligned with the mission of God in our world.”8
A few years ago, I spoke at a First Nations family camp. It was such an honour to encourage our Indigenous leaders and their families. On the closing night, we had an amazing campfire experience. Our First Nations director, Howard Jolly, was leading worship with his guitar. We were all singing some of the familiar camp songs we grew up with. One was, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going.” The theme of this song is about spiritual revival breaking out into a powerful witness to the world. I was totally into the worship but was completely unaware of a First Nations woman standing in the shadows just a few feet away. She touched me on the shoulder, and when I turned around and looked at her face, I could see deep distress and pain. I stepped into the shadows with her and listened as she shared a story of abuse, rejection, and pain. She ended her story with the heartfelt plea, “I need Jesus!” I had the joy of leading her to faith in Christ. But the irony of the moment has never left me. She was only a few feet away from the church, singing about revival and fresh fire, and we did not see her. The great danger for followers of Jesus is that we can be so enraptured in the experience of the fire, the power, the miraculous, the ecstatic that we do not see those who are in the shadows only a few feet away.
What is the touch you feel right now? The Holy Spirit accelerates a boldness in our hearts to step into the shadows and bring the fire to the lost and broken.
The Holy Spirit Creates ACCESS for Mission-Focused IMPACT
The Holy Spirit awakens mission-focused passion and accelerates mission-focused boldness with the goal of creating access for mission-focused impact. Saul and Barnabas are sent out into the unknown, utterly dependent upon the Holy Spirit’s direction and provision. Luke writes,
“The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus…They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God” (Acts 13:4, 6-7).
The Holy Spirit is the one who stirs our hearts, breaks down strongholds, and prepares the hearts of those who will hear the Gospel! As Barnabas and Saul headed out, being led by the Holy Spirit to Cyprus, they had no idea they would get a hearing before the governor of the island, “he wanted to hear the word of God.”
Greg Finke reminds us, “God is already on the loose out there in our neighborhoods, workplaces, and schools. He is already doing the heavy lifting of working in the lives of those around us. And He invites us to join Him.”9
One of the first places I visited when I became president of The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada10 was Northern Iraq. It was during a time of intense persecution, especially toward the Yazidis living around Mount Sinjar. ISIS was raiding their villages, killing their men, raping their women, and kidnapping their children. It was heart-wrenching to go into the refugee camps and hear the stories of brokenness, pain, and anguish. I felt a deep urgency for our Alliance family to get involved in bringing hope, healing, and access to Jesus to the Yazidi people.
We had no idea how this would happen, but God was already on the move. Over the last several months, during a global pandemic, our Alliance team serving the Yazidis has discovered individuals who have come to faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit is already at work among the Yazidis! It will only be a matter of time before we see a small gathering of believers in Northern Iraq. We have the privilege of not only witnessing one of the first Christian communities in 1800 years to emerge among a people group plagued by persecution and devastation but also participating in this!
Friends, this is amazing! The great challenge of reaching the nations is over-thinking and underperforming. We can get so focused on the logistics that we neglect our call to listen to the Holy Spirit. He is leading; He is opening doors; He is preparing the hearts of those who will hear us. We must follow His promptings and be amazed by His miraculous provisions.
In complete transparency, the past few years of the global pandemic have taken their toll on my mission-focused passion. I have felt lost and immobilized. For the previous eight years in this role, I have been on the frontline, seeing God at work around the world. The last time I spoke, seven people came to Christ. And yet, over the past several months, I have been a Zoom Zombie. The Holy Spirit began to challenge me on my missional drift. I felt a strong word from the Spirit to “Open my eyes…to see the opportunities right in front of me.” The Holy Spirit led me to speak to one of my neighbours. There was an instant connection and openness between us. He shared the pain of his son’s suicide and the recent separation from his wife. He was lonely and very depressed. I shared with him, assuring him he was not alone; Jesus loved him and could heal his hurting heart. It was so obvious God had prepared my neighbour for this conversation. A few days later, I had the joy of leading him to Christ. My mission field was five steps from my door, and I could not see it. The issue is seeing the open doors the Holy Spirit provides and boldly being obedient. Andrew Murray says it this way,
“The Holy Spirit, who is the mighty power of God, who is the presence of Jesus within you, is with you and in you and for you. The work is His: Depend on Him, yield to Him, wait for Him; the work is His and He will accomplish it.”11
I find it fascinating how the anointing for mission comes in the act of engaging in mission. A false prophet named “Bar-Jesus” (son of Jesus) opposes Saul and Barnabas! But notice what happens next,
Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” (Acts 13:9-10).
Paul strikes him with blindness, an indication of his God-given authority as an apostle, and the door is opened for Paul and Barnabas to meet Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of the island (Acts 13:8). This is a powerful picture of the Holy Spirit’s work, and it needs to encourage us. It is not our strength, expertise, or creativity the Holy Spirit needs but our humble dependence on Him. He creates the access, He makes a way, and we need to be attentive to His voice.
In fact, the more honestly we confess our weakness and embrace the power of God’s Spirit dwelling within us, the more confidently we will engage in mission! As Louie Giglio reminds us, “It is not Jesus and me…It is Jesus in Me!”12 Paul reminds us that we have been made ALIVE WITH HIM; we have been RAISED UP WITH HIM and are SEATED WITH HIM in the heavenly realms! (see Ephesians 2:6).
A.B. Simpson declared, “It is not just life from Christ, but the life of Christ— Christ Himself—that the Christian receives.”13 George Pardington, an influential Alliance theologian, affirms, “It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the Christian life is a Christ-life. It is not an imitation, but an incarnation. We do not copy Christ, we reproduce Him; or, rather, He reproduces His own life within us by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost.”14
When I turned sixty, I convinced Agnes to let me go skydiving. My instructor was a guy named Nick from South Africa who was a high-octane thrill seeker. Every jump was like his first! We were connected by a sophisticated harness binding us together as one person. As we reached 10,000 feet in the aircraft, I had this amazing theological insight. I leaned toward Nick and said, “When we jump out of this plane, all your experience, wisdom, strength, and expertise become mine because I am linked to you!” He laughed and said, “And all your liabilities become mine!”
As we moved toward the door, preparing to jump, I was suddenly gripped with fear and hesitation; I felt out of control. Nick could sense my apprehension, so he gave me one last instruction before we jumped, “Rest your head upon my shoulder!” I had known Nick for less than an hour, yet at that moment, I trusted him with my entire life.
Missional passion comes from a place of radical surrender! It is hearing the voice of Jesus saying, “Rest your head on my shoulder.” It is a daunting challenge to reach the nations with the good news of Jesus, but it begins from a place of rest and trust! Andrew Murray states, “The Spirit still comes as he did then. He stills moves and sends out…let us wait for him and be ready to welcome his call.”15
It will not be technique, ingenuity, or expertise moving the Alliance forward. It will be a fresh revelation of Christ’s glory through the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Settle for nothing less. Reject all substitutes. Embrace the wind. Be immersed in His presence, catch the heartbeat of Jesus for the nations, and JUMP! The nations of the world await.
This is an excerpt from the book, On Mission Volume 5. Download your free copy today.
- Murray, The Key to the Missionary Problem, 18.
- The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson.
- Annual Report of the Alliance, 1924.
- Dr John Piper, Sermon Titled, “No Global Mission Without God’s Mighty Spirit,” December 28, 2016.
- The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
- Excerpt from Simpson’s Sermon, Himself.
- Andrew Murray, The Indwelling Spirit: The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Life of the Believer, 147.
- Karina Kreminski, Taking the Spirit Seriously, June 4, 2014.
- Greg Finke, Joining Jesus on His Mission: How to be an Everyday Missionary, 35.
- Now known as The Alliance Canada.
- Andrew Murray, 148.
- Louie Giglio, Passion City Church, sermon titled “I’m not Okay, But Jesus is,” October 13, 2019.
- A.B. Simpson, Walking in the Spirit, 61.
- Rev. George P. Pardington, The Crisis of the Deeper Life, The Christian Alliance Publishing Company, 1925.
- Andrew Murray, 149.