The 8th January 2005 northern Europe was hit by a severe storm commonly referred to as Gudrun by the Norwegian and Swedish weather stations. The storm had wind speeds of up to 165 km/h and caused a lot of material and financial damage throughout Sweden.
The forest industry in particular was badly hit from damaged trees. An estimated 7,500,000 cubic meters of trees blew down in southern Sweden alone. It was reported that in the space of 6 hrs, 250 million trees were blown down.
It is also believed that over 341,000 homes lost power in Sweden and several thousand homes were out of electricity for many days and even weeks. About 10,000 homes were still without power after three weeks. My mother-in-law was one of these.
For the next three weeks she lived without electricity in the bed and breakfast she had newly taken over. For the next three weeks they had no hot showers, no refrigerators to keep the food from spoiling, no lights and no electrical appliances. Luckily they had a wood burner that kept the house heated until the power could be restored by the power company.
I can just imagine that when one has not had access to electricity for so long it probably hard to describe how it feels to have the electricity turned on again. For my mother-in-law it was quite overwhelming.
I recently read that that over 1.6 billion people in the world live without electricity. Many of these people have no choice due to poverty and other social injustices. People living in Sweden on the other hand have a choice.
The same is true of every born again disciple of Christ. Unfortunately many believers live a Christian life without power in their lives. Power is within their grasp, but they continue to live in the dark, day after day, year after year. But it doesn't have to be that way.
Jesus made us a promise... “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” (Acts 1:8).
In other words, if you're a believer and feel like you're living in the dark; it does not have to be that way. The Bible tells us that the power we need is within our reach. That's why, according to the Bible, Jesus sent the Hoy Spirit to dwell within us, and that is why Paul challenges us to be filled with Spirit everyday. He is our source of power.
Are you willing to be filled by the Holy Spirit everyday in order to witness for Christ?