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
A definition of the word “power” means the ability to do. You know, because it is the Greek word from which our English word “dynamite” comes, some of the brethren try to make out that the Holy Spirit is dynamite, forgetting that they have the thing upside down. Dynamite was named after that Greek word, and the Holy Spirit and the power of God were not named after dynamite. Dynamite was discovered less than 200 years ago, but this Greek word from which we get our word “power” goes back to the time of Christ. It means “ability to do”— that is all, just “ability to do.”
One man picks up a violin and he gets nothing out of it but squeaks and raucous sounds. That man doesn’t have the ability to do. Another man picks up the violin and he is soon playing beautiful, rich melodies. One man steps into the prize ring and can’t even lift his hands. The other fellow walks in and he has power to do, and soon the fellow who did not have the ability to do is sleeping peacefully on the floor.
It is the man with the ability to do who wins. It means the dynamic ability to be able to do what you are given to do. You will receive ability to do. It will come on you.
-A.W. Tozer
(The Counselor, 61-62)