24/05/2026
REFLECTION 21 — May 24, 2026
By Cosmas Ilechukwu
The General Overseer,CRM
THE PENTECOST – EMPOWERED FOR WITNESS
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” — Acts 1:8, NKJV
In God’s economy, power is never an end in itself. It is given to enable His servants to do what would otherwise be impossible. The Holy Spirit executes the will of the Father to honour the Son, and every work of God requires His power. When God chose Mary to bear the Messiah, she questioned how it could happen since she was not yet married. The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
Notice the two-step pattern of divine empowerment:
The Holy Spirit comes upon the person.
He overshadows him with His power for service.
There is a clear distinction between the Person of the Holy Spirit and His power. He is not merely a force but a Person who first establishes relationship with people, then empowers them for mission. No service is acceptable to God except the ones done though His power.
Even Jesus needed the anointing of the Holy Spirit before embarking on His public ministry of preaching, healing, and casting out demons. Peter testified to Cornelius’s household that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). If the Son of God needed the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, how much more do we?
To stress the necessity for the Spirit’s empowerment for ministry, Jesus commanded His disciples: “Tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). That promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost, launching Christianity as the greatest movement for good the world has ever seen. The missionary zeal that turned the world upside down was born there. What God did then, He can do again.
The Promise of the Spirit is for every generation. There are still millions today who do not yet know Christ. Our need for the Spirit’s empowerment remains relevant and urgent. Peter’s Pentecost sermon shows the pattern for every generation: “Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38-39). In every age, those who repent and submit to the lordship of Christ can ask and receive a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
There was such a fresh outpouring in the Apostolic Faith church on Azusa Street Los Angels USA 1906-1909 under the ministry of William Seymour which is now generally regarded as the launch point of the global Pentecostalism. There was a similar outpouring in 1967 on some Catholic students at the Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit, which gave birth to the Charismatic Renewal Movement in the Catholic Church. There was also a fresh outpouring, widely known as the Toronto Blessing, at Toronto Airport Vinyard Church in 1994. There was a mighty out pouring in Brownsville Assembles of God Pensacola, Florida between 1995-2000. Wherever people gather and cry out to God for a fresh outpouring of His Spirit, He always shows up
We are not exempt.
As we celebrate Pentecost today, I pray that God will do it again and renew His wonders in our midst as by a new Pentecost, in Jesus’ name.
Happy Pentecost Day.
