1 Samuel 10:6-7 and 1 Samuel 11:6 – “‘At that time the Spirit of the Lord will come mightily upon you and you will prophesy with them, and you will feel and act like a different person. From that time on your decisions should be based on whatever seems best under the circumstances, for the Lord will guide you’… And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words… ” (TLB / ESV)

This is when Samuel first anoints Saul to be king of Israel, and we can learn several things from this.

First, Samuel tells Saul a spiritual truth. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you the decisions you make are guided by the Lord, so you can trust those decisions.

Second, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you are empowered to do things you could have never done on your own.

What we see in this short example is Saul, a timid shy man with low self-esteem, being emboldened by the Holy Spirit and becoming a different man. When the Holy Spirit comes upon him, Saul changes from a shy, timid man to a man of action and decisiveness. He supernaturally changes into a leader of the people and leads them to conquer their enemy.

We see this again in David’s life. In 1 Sam 16:13 we read: “So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the olive oil he had brought and poured it upon David’s head; and the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him and gave him great power from that day onward. Then Samuel returned to Ramah.” (TLB)

We get a glimpse of this great power the Holy Spirit gives David at the battle with Goliath. Goliath is challenging the Israeli Army. David comes and says he will fight Goliath. David has no fear. Saul is concerned about this young boy fighting Goliath. But David tells Saul, “I have killed a lion and the bear.” He goes on to say if “a lion or a bear comes and grabs a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and take the lamb from its mouth. If it turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death” (1 Sam 17:34-35, TLB). That’s an amazing picture of the ferociousness David displays in battle by the empowering of Holy Spirit. He next tells Saul, “and I will kill this Philistine as well.” Then, with only a sling and a stone, David slays the giant.

How did David become such a mighty warrior? Was it because of some unique talent or tenacity he was born with? No. It’s because the Holy Spirit came upon him and empowered him. David’s great fighting ability, the talent for which the Lord had uniquely called him for his life destiny, was given him by the Holy Spirit. That is the source of his victories.

We see this confirmed again in 1 Sam 18:14 where the Lord says “David continued to succeed in everything he undertook, for the Lord was with him” (TLB).

We again see the same thing at Pentecost. All of the disciples are in a room, praying and timid after all that had recently happened. Then the Holy Spirit comes upon them and now they’re emboldened and are changed. The apostles become mighty preachers of the word, filled with all wisdom and boldness. It was such a significant change even the Pharisees commented and were astounded that these unlearned men were speaking so well and with such boldness.

If we want to do great things in our life we cannot do them on our own. We will only accomplish great things when empowered by the Holy Spirit. This should be our highest goal in living a Christian life — to be empowered and changed by the Holy Spirit. Only then can we truly accomplish what the Lord has called us to do.