Need Power? You got it! (Luke 1:5-17)

Luke 1:5-17 ⁵ In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah... His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth... ⁸ Once when he was serving as priest before God ... there appeared to him an angel of the Lord... who said to him, "... your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John... he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶ He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." 

This is the story of John the Baptist.  Before the beginning of time, God had planned good works for John the Baptist to do.  Likewise, God has planned good works for all of us to do too.  But John was very unique.  Summed up, his job was to go immediately ahead of Jesus and prepare the first century world for Jesus' coming.  

What this demonstrates is that we, humans, can play a part in God's mission.  Here the Holy Spirit fills John the Baptist so that he is empowered to do God's work.  The filling of the Holy Spirit is what enables John.

I am getting way ahead of the gospel story, but prior to Pentecost (when the Holy Spirit is given to all of Jesus' followers shortly after Jesus' resurrection), the Holy Spirit seemed to only come upon people with an important job to do for God.  Elijah, mentioned in the text above, was one of the people whom the Holy Spirit empowered in the Old Testament.  But from Pentecost on, all followers of Jesus are filled with the Spirit and, hence, empowered to do God's mission.  So if you are a follower of Jesus, you are filled with the same Holy Spirit as John the Baptist and Elijah.  This empowers you to take part in God's mission too.  By definition, all of Jesus' followers take part in God's mission. 

Let go of trying to do things by your own power and (by embracing Jesus) let the Holy Spirit work through you!  You have everything you need to do even the most impossible work of Jesus!