But by My Spirit By Eneji Matthew Samuel

We all must at one time watched a Nollywood movie of the spirit of a dead man who brought those responsible for its death to book, the spirit or ghost is usually relentless, frustrates and threatens its killer(s) until they confess their deeds. In such movies it is not uncommon for the spirit to retain the outfit with which it met its death and blood stains usually ooze from its mouth even if it was shot or stab in the stomach. Such movies imprint in our minds a lesson: the spirit of a man will always stay behind to complete the task a man’s death stopped him from, that the spirit of a dead man will always seek and accomplish its vengeance before taking a rest in the land of the spirit. This has led Robert Mugabe of blessed memory to conclude that Africans never rest, even in death their spirits are summoned to come solve problems.

In Christendom, spirits — both of God and man are held in high esteem because they are the most important entity in them. The Bible is dotted with plethora of examples of both the display of the Spirit of God and that of man. In the beginning before even the first word was uttered by God to create the universe, the Spirit of God brooded over the surface of the water; before Samson became too strong for his enemies to withstand, it is recorded that the Spirit of the Lord descended on him; the Spirit of God came upon Saul and he prophesied, after which he became a different man; before Jesus began his earthly ministry the Spirit of God descended upon him immediately after His baptism. The Spirit of God is always available before an outstanding event takes place. And whenever he left there were disastrous effects (1 Samuel 16:14). He is usually the propelling force, the catalyst without whom nothing is ever done. Of course you must realize at this point that the Spirit of God is God and when God assured Zerubbabel that what is to be done is neither by might nor by power ‘but by My Spirit’ it goes to show that God was stepping in to handle the situation himself.

I began by painting a picture of what the human ghost is or is capable of doing in an African movie. Whenever the spirit of man combines with the Spirit of God, the result is usually baffling. Proverbs 20:27 talks about the spirit of man being the lamp! candle of God and any man who surrenders his spirit to God becomes a wonder not only to his generations but many other generations to come Jesus speaking in John 3:19 declared His Self as light; Going further in Matthew 5:13-14, He declared His disciples as salt and light, showing that when you allow Him to indwell you, you become one with Him and He now shines through you. The results were evident in the lives of the apostles as they were called Christians because their reflection of Christ was so evident that the people of Antioch saw and not only heard about Christ in the sermons the apostles preached. God is increasingly looking for vessels who will be filled with him, vessels that will stagger with his presence, vessels that will be drunk, not with wine, but with the Holy Ghost, all you have to do is surrender and acknowledge him as the needed force in your life, as the catalyst; then and there you will realize that it is not by power nor by might but by the Spirit of God.

Stay blessed!

Adapted from

The Bible Study Outline

Produced by

FCS A.B.U, Kongo Campus, Zaria

2019/2020 Spiritual Session

About the Author

Eneji Matthew Samuel served as the F.C.S President for 2018/2019 Spiritual Session at A.B.U Kongo Campus Zara. He studied civil Law at the institution. He is a Public Speaker, Poet, comic actor and artist.  He has a lot of writings and publications attached to his name.

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