SHOULDN’T WE BE DIFFERENT?!

Living, ministering, and moving in the power of the Holy Spirit

There is a question growing in my heart that I cannot silence: shouldn’t we be different?

I am asking myself before I ask anyone else. If the Holy Spirit truly lives in me, shouldn’t His presence become visible in the way I think, speak, love, forgive, and minister? Shouldn’t there be something about my life that cannot be adequately explained by my personality, experience, or determination?

I feel a grief that goes deeper than dissatisfaction with a church service. I am grateful for faithful preaching, worship, and the people who serve. But I cannot escape the conviction that we were called to more than maintaining religious activity. We were called to carry the presence of the living God into a wounded world.

I do not want to condemn the church. I love the church. That is why this matters. I want us to recover our dependence on the One who gives the church life. I want my own heart awakened before I call anyone else to wake up.

When I open the Book of Acts, I encounter people whose lives were interrupted, redirected, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. They prayed, and God answered. They spoke, and hearts were pierced. They laid hands on the sick. They crossed boundaries. They endured persecution. They forgave their enemies. Jesus became unmistakably central.

And I find myself asking: Lord, what needs to change in me?

THEY WERE TOLD TO WAIT FOR POWER

Before the disciples went into the world, Jesus told them to wait for the Father’s promise. They had heard His teaching, witnessed His miracles, and encountered Him after His resurrection. Yet He still told them they needed power from the Holy Spirit to become His witnesses (Acts 1:4–8).

That arrests me. Knowledge mattered. Their calling mattered. Their experience mattered. But none of those things removed their need for the Spirit’s empowering presence.

I can know what I should preach and still need God to empower me to preach it. I can understand a biblical command and still need His grace to obey it. I can have years of ministry behind me and still need a fresh filling today.

The disciples waited together in prayer. Their waiting was an expression of dependence. They were acknowledging that the mission Jesus gave them required something Jesus alone could provide.

I must learn that dependence again. Before I reach for another strategy, I want to reach for God. Before I assume that experience will carry me, I want to bow my heart and say, “Holy Spirit, I need You.”

PENTECOST CHANGED WHAT PEOPLE COULD SEE

At Pentecost, the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in other tongues as He enabled them. The gathered crowd heard the mighty works of God proclaimed in their own languages. Peter stood and preached Jesus crucified and risen, and about three thousand people received the word and were baptized (Acts 2).

The presence of God produced a public witness. People encountered a message they could understand and a reality they could not dismiss.

This is where my question becomes urgent. If I say that the same Holy Spirit dwells in believers today, what difference am I expecting Him to make? Have I reduced His ministry to a comforting thought when Scripture presents Him as the One who empowers us to bear witness to Christ?

I want to expect His gifts and His power. I want to pray for healing, welcome prophecy that is faithfully tested, and believe that people can be delivered from spiritual bondage. I refuse to let disappointment become the theology that governs my expectations.

But Pentecost also produced a community devoted to apostolic teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer. Believers shared with those in need. Their encounter with God changed their treatment of people.

If I seek manifestations while refusing generosity, humility, or reconciliation, I have misunderstood the fullness I claim to desire. The Spirit who empowers my witness also confronts my selfishness.

FILLED AGAIN, AND READY TO SPEAK

In Acts 4, Peter and John faced threats because they had proclaimed Jesus after the healing of a man who could not walk. When they returned to the believers, the church prayed for boldness and for God to stretch out His hand to heal. The place shook, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke God’s word boldly (Acts 4:23–31).

These were believers who had already experienced Pentecost. They needed fresh empowering for the pressure before them.

I cannot live today entirely on yesterday’s encounter. I thank God for every genuine experience I have had, but gratitude for the past must lead me into dependence in the present.

Ephesians 5:18 calls believers to be filled with the Spirit. I hear that as an invitation to a continuing life of dependence, worship, thanksgiving, and surrender.

So I want to make room for Him every day. I want to open Scripture prayerfully, bring my fears honestly before Him, and ask for courage to obey. I want to pray before difficult conversations and before ministry, expecting His help.

Boldness does not mean becoming harsh. It means becoming free enough from the fear of people to speak the truth in love. I need that freedom. So does the church.

POWER MUST REACH THE HIDDEN LIFE

Acts also confronts me with the holiness of God. The account of Ananias and Sapphira is sobering because their deception was brought into the light. Peter identified their lie as a lie to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1–11).

I cannot invite the Spirit to display His power publicly while demanding that He leave my private compromises untouched. I cannot ask Him to use my mouth and refuse Him access to my motives.

Shouldn’t we be different when nobody is watching? Shouldn’t our financial dealings, our private conversations, and our responses to correction reflect the Lord we proclaim?

The answer begins with repentance. I want to stop defending what God is asking me to surrender. Where I have wounded someone, I want to acknowledge it and seek to make it right. Where I have hidden sin, I want to bring it into the light and receive appropriate help and accountability.

Conviction is a mercy. The Holy Spirit exposes what damages us so that we can walk in freedom. He does not require me to manufacture holiness through willpower. He calls me to cooperate with His transforming work.

I want the fire of God to reach the places where pride has learned to hide behind ministry language.

THE SPIRIT CARES ABOUT OVERLOOKED PEOPLE

When some widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food, the early church addressed the problem. The men appointed to serve were to have a good reputation and be full of the Spirit and wisdom (Acts 6:1–7).

That tells me something essential. Being Spirit-filled matters when we handle practical responsibilities. It matters when we organize care, listen to complaints, distribute resources, and notice people who have been neglected.

I want our churches to look different in those places. People should experience care that reflects Jesus. A lonely widow, an exhausted volunteer, a wounded young person, or a family struggling financially should find more than a seat in our meeting.

If the Holy Spirit is shaping us, we should become more attentive to people, more willing to serve, and more honest about problems. Spiritual language must never become an excuse for ignoring injustice.

This week, I can ask a simple question: who have I failed to notice? Then I can take a practical step. I can call, visit, listen, share, or arrange help. Love becomes visible through action.

FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT IN SUFFERING

Stephen’s life challenges every shallow understanding of spiritual power. He was full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and God worked wonders and signs through him. Yet he was falsely accused and eventually killed (Acts 6–7).

As he faced death, he saw God’s glory and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. He prayed for the people who were killing him.

The Spirit’s fullness did not guarantee his escape. It sustained his witness and enabled him to forgive.

I must allow that truth to search me. Sometimes I want power primarily to remove every painful circumstance. God can deliver, and I will pray for deliverance. But I also need the Spirit to make me faithful when the answer unfolds differently from what I hoped.

Shouldn’t we be different under pressure? When we are misunderstood, can we resist bitterness? When we are opposed, can we remain truthful without becoming cruel? When we suffer, can we keep trusting Christ?

This is supernatural life too. Forgiving a deep wound can require an obedience as costly as any public act of faith. The Holy Spirit empowers us to reflect Jesus there.

I want His power in my prayers, and I want His love in my reactions.

LEARNING TO FOLLOW HIS DIRECTION

In Acts 8, the Spirit directed Philip toward the Ethiopian official’s chariot. Philip responded, engaged the man’s question about Scripture, and proclaimed Jesus. One obedient approach opened the way for a life-changing encounter.

I wonder how many opportunities I miss because I am too hurried to notice someone or too afraid to begin a conversation.

Learning to follow the Spirit starts with availability. I can pray, “Lord, help me notice where You are opening a door today.” Then I can listen, ask thoughtful questions, and respond to the person before me.

I also need discernment. Every thought that enters my mind is not necessarily God’s direction. Scripture tells us to test what is presented as spiritual and to weigh prophetic speech (1 John 4:1; 1 Corinthians 14:29).

I want to examine impressions in the light of Scripture, seek wise counsel when decisions carry serious consequences, and remain willing to be corrected. Humility protects obedience from becoming presumption.

Yet discernment must not become permanent hesitation. Once the next step is clear, I need to take it. I can offer prayer, speak about Jesus, encourage someone, or serve a practical need without waiting to feel impressive.

Faith grows as I respond to God in the opportunities He gives me.

GOD CAN INTERRUPT OUR BOUNDARIES

When Peter entered Cornelius’s home and proclaimed Jesus, the Holy Spirit fell on those listening. The Jewish believers accompanying Peter were astonished that Gentiles had received the gift of the Spirit too (Acts 10:44–48).

God confronted their assumptions about who belonged. Peter had to recognize what God was doing and respond accordingly.

I want to be teachable enough for the Holy Spirit to confront my assumptions. Have I quietly decided which people are likely to respond to God? Have I allowed culture, social standing, education, or someone’s past to determine the size of my expectations?

Saul’s conversion challenges me here too. The persecutor became a witness to the Christ he had opposed (Acts 9). His past did not place him beyond the reach of grace.

I want our churches to become places where broken people can encounter Jesus, repent, receive care, and grow. That requires patience, truthful teaching, and mature discipleship. It also requires confidence that God can transform people whose lives look impossible to us.

The Holy Spirit will not be confined by my prejudices. I want my heart to remain open to the people He is drawing.

GREATER WORKS BEGIN WITH DEPENDENCE ON JESUS

Jesus promised that those who believe in Him would do the works He did and greater works because He was going to the Father (John 14:12). That promise stirs my faith, but I must keep it within His teaching about prayer, love, obedience, and the coming Helper.

Greater works do not make us greater than Jesus. Everything flows from Him. The risen Christ continues His mission through His people by the Spirit, carrying the gospel into nations and lives far beyond the places reached during His earthly ministry.

I expect Him to heal, deliver, convict, restore, and save. I want to ask boldly in His name. I also remember His teaching that apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).

We cannot produce spiritual life through pressure, volume, or determination. We can pray, obey, proclaim the gospel, and minister faithfully; the power belongs to God.

When I pray for someone, I want to serve that person with love. I will not invent a testimony, exaggerate an outcome, or blame someone when healing has not come. I will keep praying, keep caring, and keep trusting Jesus.

Faith gives me courage to ask. Humility keeps me honest about what has happened.

PREPARING FOR A FRESH MOVE OF THE SPIRIT

I carry an expectation that the Holy Spirit will awaken and empower His people afresh. I believe we should prepare our hearts for that work. But I cannot attach God’s authority to my preferred timetable or imagine that every expectation is a guaranteed prediction.

My responsibility is to respond to what He has already made clear. I do not need to wait for a future season to repent, pray, love, witness, or obey.

Preparation begins in the place where I meet Him. I want to set aside time each day to read Scripture, worship, and pray without performing for anyone. I want to ask Him to search my heart and show me the next faithful step.

Then I want to pray with others. In Acts, believers sought God together. We can gather with a genuine hunger for His presence, pray for our communities, ask for boldness, and make room for gifts exercised with biblical order and discernment.

As leaders, we must equip people to serve. We can teach them to explain the gospel clearly, pray for the sick compassionately, test impressions, and follow up with those who respond. We can help believers recognize that the Spirit’s work extends into homes, workplaces, streets, and everyday conversations.

I want to build a church whose members are prepared to obey God beyond the meeting.

That preparation must also shape how we make decisions together. In Antioch, the Holy Spirit directed the church as believers worshipped and fasted, and they sent Barnabas and Saul into the work He had called them to do (Acts 13:1–3). In Jerusalem, leaders listened, considered testimony, examined Scripture, and communicated a decision with the words, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us” (Acts 15:28, KJV).

I want that kind of dependence in our leadership. We should give prayer a real place before deciding, listen carefully to one another, and allow Scripture to govern our conclusions. Sometimes following the Spirit will mean sending someone we would prefer to keep. Sometimes it will mean releasing an expectation we have defended. We must be willing to let obedience change our plans. The church belongs to Jesus, and our leadership must remain accountable to Him.

THE QUESTION DEMANDS A RESPONSE

Acts ends with Paul proclaiming God’s kingdom and teaching about Jesus with boldness while living under house arrest (Acts 28:30–31). His circumstances restricted him, yet the witness continued.

That strengthens me. I do not have to wait for every difficulty to disappear before I become available to God. His Spirit can empower obedience in the circumstances I face today.

Shouldn’t we be different?!

Yes. We should love with greater depth, walk with greater integrity, forgive with greater freedom, and witness with greater courage. We should expect God to work among us and remain faithful when obedience costs us.

I am asking the Lord to begin with me. I want to surrender the habits, fears, and compromises that resist His work. I want to become more attentive to His direction and more willing to act upon it.

Holy Spirit, fill me afresh. Bring hidden things into the light. Give me courage to proclaim Jesus, compassion to serve people, and humility to receive correction. Work through Your church with the gifts and power You choose to give. Teach us to pray, to discern, and to obey.

I do not want to spend my remaining years describing what Spirit-filled people once did while resisting what You are asking of me now.

Here I am, Lord. Make the difference visible in me.

Peter Nash