The Power That Works In Us(the Press For More) by Apostle Joshua Selman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The believer's journey in this kingdom is likened to the journey of the nation of Israel from Egypt. There were two phases to that journey.

• Phase 1 — Deliverance: The focus was on being free from Pharaoh and the oppression of the Egyptians — the initial Exodus, and then the drowning of Pharaoh and his horsemen, giving total freedom from their influence.
• Phase 2 — Entering the Promised Land: This is the greater and often neglected phase of the journey.

This entire journey explains how a believer grows until coming into the fullness of their inheritance. By default, every person stands as a slave in Egypt — a slave to Satan, sin, hell, curses, and darkness. A word of deliverance comes, likened to salvation, and there is a translocation — a literal leaving of that place in the spirit.

But because you have left Egypt does not mean Pharaoh will leave you. Pharaoh saddled his horses and pursued them. The nation of Israel came to the Red Sea — the Red Sea in front of them, the Egyptians behind. The waters parted, they passed through on dry ground, and the water drowned the Egyptian army. But that was not the end of the journey.

What swords could not do, what a trained army could not stop — their own carelessness of perception did to them.

When Pharaoh had gone and Egypt had gone, they still were not free by themselves. Moses went up the mountain to receive commandment for them, and in his absence the people built a golden calf and began to dance around it — converting the treasure that was supposed to be for the building of the Tabernacle and for their own prosperity into service to Satan. There was no record that someone came from outside the camp to influence their decision. Pharaoh was not there. Egypt was no longer there. And yet a programming within them still gave Satan an edge.

Most believers think that when Satan, demons, curses, and oppressions are dealt with, they are immediately free. The story of Israel should correct that.

Of that entire generation — people who saw the hand of God, whose clothes did not tear, whose shoes grew with them — only Joshua and Caleb entered the promised land.

Salvation Is Not the Finish Line

A believer can be genuinely saved, genuinely filled with the Holy Ghost, righteous, holy, and sincerely loving the Lord — and yet never come into the fullness of their inheritance in Christ.

It was for this reason God gave unto some apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers — for the maturing and equipping of the saints, that through maturity the saints would attain to the stature of the fullness of Christ, and no longer be tossed to and fro by the sleight of men.

Every time you come to church, you are not just coming for deliverance from demons. There is a Promised Land — the Bible calls it the inheritance of the saints in light.

There are many believers who, every time they appear before the Lord, think that all God wants to do is cast out the next demon, take away the next yoke or curse. There is a place for that. But God's greater goal is not merely to free you from curses and yokes. Those are to give you the liberty to now begin to conform, grow, and become the full portrait of the believer and witness in Christ.

If you do not know this, your expectations are already corrupted. There are many Christian circles where believers are not told they have the responsibility of walking with the Holy Spirit to secure their own growth and maturity. The burden placed almost entirely on a man of God — and believers remain stunted, weak, and spiritually infantile.

Don't maintain followers. Build champions out of ordinary believers.

There is a pathway responsible for the transition of ordinary people from unbelievers to believers, to transformed believers, to empowered believers, to witnesses. Every member of every church should receive the training of a man of God. Everyone is a minister. The goal is that every person in a growing ministry becomes so furnished that people begin to call them a minister — whether a businessperson, an artist, a professional — because of how full they are of the word of God.

Five Stages of the Believer's Growth

1. Unbelievers — not yet born again; provision for them must exist in every service
2. Babes in Christ — saved but immature; unable to handle the things of righteousness; unfruitful in spiritual things
3. Transformed Believers — contending steadily for change; most people occupy this category
4. Empowered Believers — commendable transformation achieved; what is now needed is empowerment to give defense to the things already known
5. Witnesses — empowered and vision is clear; allocated a specific space in God's program

Being empowered without a clear vision and serving a purpose outside of what is written in your script will still reduce and deplete your efficiency.

The Assignment in This House

Ephesians 3:20–21 — The Power That Works in Us

Ephesians 3:20–21

Paul concludes chapter 3 not with a simple doxology but with a profound theological statement embedded inside one. He digresses in verse 20 to flaunt the glory of the God he is giving praise to — so that before the church gives God glory, they understand the kind of God they are glorifying.

1. The Central Theme: Glorifying Christ in the Church

The central message of these two verses is about giving God glory. This is consistent with the flow of all of Scripture.

Psalm 148:1–14 — A roll call of all creation — angels, sun, moon, stars, the firmament, sea creatures, weather, mountains, trees, animals, kings, princes, young men, maidens, old men, children — every element of creation is mandated to give God glory. Romans 11:36 — "For of him and through him and to him are all things: to whom be glory forever."

Yet while all creation has a mandate to glorify the Lord, Ephesians 3:21 reveals something more specific:

"Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end."

There is a dimension of praise and glory that only the church can bring. Plants cannot bring it. The trees, the oceans, the sun, the moon, elemental forces — none of them can, because none were created in His image and likeness. God demands a dimension of glory from the redeemed, from the Ecclesia — the body of saved and sanctified believers.

2. The Extent of God's Ability

Ephesians 3:20

Paul is talking about ability. In ancient times, the greatness of any deity was measured by their ability — the singular yardstick. Paul now describes this God:

• He is able — not merely willing, but possessing power
• Exceeding abundantly — surpassing, lavish, without ceiling
• Above all that we ask or think — beyond our boldest imagination

There is no request that comes before the throne that causes God to worry.

When there is a lack of manifestation, God's ability should never be diagnosed as the problem. The exceeding greatness of his power means in considering why the riches of the God-life do not flow through you, rule out incompetence on God's part — entirely, and forever.

If your tap at home does not flow with water, it is not a dam problem. There is abundance of water. Whether it can flow to your house and profit you is a different discussion. The limitation is never at the source.

3. "According to the Power That Worketh in Us"

This is the pivot of the entire passage.

The possibilities — beyond what we ask, beyond what we think — are limited by a rule: they are according to the power that works in us, not the power available to work.

There is limitless power available in Christ. But what the nations will see is the power that works in us. This means the manifestation is limited by the allowance that our consecration, our yieldedness, and our personal press gives the Spirit to manifest that power.

The Holy Spirit: Custodian, Conveyor, and Administrator of Power

The Holy Spirit is both the custodian and the conveyor of God's power. Everything power is within his office. The administration of spiritual power resides within the Office of the Holy Spirit.

• Acts 10:38 — Jesus himself, as the Word incarnate, had to be anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power before he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.
• Acts 1:8 — "You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you."
• Acts 19:2 — Paul meets certain disciples and asks: "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?" — implying that if there is a power problem, there is something about the ministry of the Holy Spirit that needs to be learned.

John 7:38–39 — Jesus said: "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." This he spoke of the Spirit. The river he describes is not static — it flows. Out of the innermost being of the believer, from the spirit where Christ is Lord, a parallel of what John saw in Revelation begins to operate: a river flows from the throne, bringing life, healing, and restoration.

Ezekiel 47:1–9 — As the river grew from ankle-deep to knee-deep to loins-deep to an overflowing river impossible to cross, everything the river touched was brought to life. A great multitude of fish — harvest — because the waters were healed. This is the implication of the ministry of the Holy Spirit: when the Holy Spirit is allowed to find full expression in an individual, everything that river touches comes alive.

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How the Holy Spirit Transforms a Vessel

There are two levels through which the Holy Spirit makes a vessel a worthy conduit of power:

1. Sanctification and Renewal — This is an inner work. When the Holy Spirit comes, his first assignment is not empowerment. It is sanctification and renewal.

   • There is instantaneous sanctification that happens to the spirit man at salvation.
   • There is progressive sanctification that happens through engaging the ministry of the word and the Holy Spirit.
   • This is not giving new information — it is destroying the old man and the entire software that causes that old nature to be fruitful.

2. Enlightenment — A believer can be sanctified and renewed and not yet enlightened.

   • Ephesians 1:15–19 — Paul prays "that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened, that you may know the hope of his calling and the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints."
   • Only after this inner work does Paul introduce power: "and the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe."

You will never be able to transmit the power of the Holy Spirit beyond the level of alignment and allowance that your person as a vessel gives him.

The channel for the Holy Spirit to flow his power and life to the nations can be blocked with jealousy, competition, worldliness, carnality — everything like debris heaped upon a drainage. The reason many come to people and declare in the name of Jesus and nothing happens is disalignment in the vessel, not incapacity in God.

Romans 8:2 — The Holy Spirit is called the spirit of life. There is an operation that powers him in the life of the believer — the law of the spirit of life — and it can bring freedom and liberty to men.

The Inner Work Is the Priority

The difference between those who are greatly used and those who are not is not platform, audience, or voice. It is the level of yieldedness that has allowed the Holy Spirit to do an inner work.

• This inner work takes time. It is likened to clearing a blocked drainage. As debris is gradually removed, flow increases. You will know the drainage has been cleared by the abundance of the miraculous that flows through your hands — an ease in spiritual operation.
• The way to expand this capacity is not to pray for empowerment prematurely. It is to allow the work of purifying, sanctification, renewal, and enlightenment to be done thoroughly within the vessel.
• Nobody who works in authentic power at any level has failed to cultivate a rich fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit has been forced in many lives and many churches to make do with the level of yieldedness. The power coming through is not the full available power — it is the power the vessel's alignment permits.

Imagine standing before a tap that comes drop by drop. The problem is not the dam. The problem is that the spiritual valve has not been opened. When a tap is properly opened, a bucket fills in under a minute, and the next person can come immediately. For many believers and servants of God, people are waiting in long queues because the conduit is not yielded enough.

A Call to Press for More

The body of Christ has not yet seen certain apostolic dimensions of the power of God. Our description of power has largely been limited to impartations and financial provisions. But the Bible records things that were not parables — genuine manifestations of the power of the living God.

• Moses stood before the Red Sea — over 2.5 million people watching — and parted an ocean.
• One prophet spoke over a nation's economy and it overturned in a single day.
• The ark of God was placed beside the idol Dagon in a sealed room — no prayer warrior, no fasting — and by morning Dagon had fallen face forward.
• Angels physically came and walked a prisoner out of jail in Acts 12.

The same God who did these things is alive forever. The imprints those men and women left on history are evidence that this God is real and accessible. But our generation must have its own imprint.

The embarrassment that powerlessness is bringing to the name of the Lord, to priesthood, and to the body of Christ is getting out of hand.

The church was designed to be a place of answers. If a generation of intelligent, sincere people rises and asks the church to justify their attendance — to demonstrate that the things claimed about God are real — what will be the response?

The abundance of the demonstration of the Spirit is the authorized way to draw people to Jesus. Not marketing. Not social media campaigns. Not persuasion alone. The genuine demonstration of his life and power.

The Cry of This Season