And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever —   17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. John 14:16-18 NKJV

Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”  Luke 24:49 NKJV

After the resurrection, but before the Day of Pentecost, Jesus was sending His disciples into the world to be a witness; but, first they had to wait for the “Promise” of the Father and be endued with power. Without this empowerment, the disciples would have been weak and worthless.

To be “endued” with power is to be “clothed” with power, i.e., miraculous power; the supernatural ability of God working through man by the power of the Holy Spirit.

What is the significance of clothing? The purpose of clothing is to cover and to protect—to cover nakedness and to protect from shame and the exposure to the elements. For example, in Genesis chapter 3: when Adam and Eve transgressed against the command of God, “the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves” (v.7), but when the Voice of the Lord came walking into the Garden and confronted them, God covered their nakedness with the skins of animals (v. 21). This act signified a blood sacrifice to atone for their sin and pictured the coming of the sacrificial Lamb of God (Jesus) who would shed His blood to take away sin, and further prefigured being covered with the robe of the righteous of God in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:21).

The Holy Spirit is God’s appointed spiritual clothes to wrap the spirited-filled believer in power. When we are clothed with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we are covered from the nakedness of human limitation and protected from the powerless of guilt, shame, and a lack of confidence as Adam and Eve discovered in trying to cover their nakedness with fig leaves, i.e., human effort, the energy of flesh, and acting apart from God’s help.

Here’s why we need to be clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit: (1) it is the source of all spiritual power (Acts 1:8) that grant unto us boldness to witness with authority (Acts 4:29-33); (2) it gives us comfort and confidence of being helped in every situation of life (Zech. 4:6; John 14:18); (3) it helps us to be full of faith and power (Acts 6:8); and, (4) it gives us the spirit of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7). Before you haul off to witness, preach, teach, or whatever you do in life, first wait to be “clothed” with power!