This past weekend I led worship and spoke at a Women’s Conference in Rock Port, MO for the third time. Here’s my message without the freestyle parts ;)
How many of you have been here the previous two years – 2024 and 2025?
Let’s do a quick recap:
The theme for 2024 was Pray with a Passion and I spoke about Jesus’ prayers in John 17 and how His prayers for Himself were obedience and surrender.
Yes, He prayed ‘Father if there be any other way take this cup from me but not my will but Yours be done.’
Obedience and surrender – Pray with a passion…Passion.
Here’s an excerpt from that message:
“When we consider that passion is originally defined as the moment of deepest suffering of Christ for our good, it lifts the word from human desires to a monumental love willing to suffer. When we were bought by Christ, we exchanged our heart full of self-seeking passions for things on this earth for God’s heart. And now we share His passions”
He is worth it, my friends. Jesus willingly did that for me, went to the cross praying for me and you along the way…so I sure want to pray “Thank You, Jesus, I will do anything” I prayed, “God, I will do anything in 2013 and He moved and keeps moving in my life as I continue praying and saying “God, I will do anything.”
Then last year – the theme was Defined. And I poured my guts out to you ladies, or some of you ladies, and shared moments when I’ve struggled with who I was and defined myself with what I did for Jesus instead of embracing who I am in Christ. I shared how nothing good I do or bad I do can change how God loves me or feels about me. And I learned this by spending time with my Savior. I’m not enough, I never will be enough and I don’t have to be enough because Jesus is!!!
My identity is not in my gift of singing, any ministry I do, what people say about me, what I say about me, it is in Christ alone. And so is yours. Every single person God called in His Word was for Himself, for His own Glory! I’m a child of God, anything good in me is because of Him and for Him.
My gifts are all about Jesus and for Jesus. Any ministry I do is all about Jesus and for Jesus.
I have to lay down myself, what the enemy says I am, what I say I am, what others say I am, my mistakes, what I do, and just walk in the fullness of who I am in Christ Jesus.
When I do this… Jesus is glorified.
When I do this…He uses my life, the gifts He’s given me and a surrendered me for His glory, for my good, and for the good of others.
Our identity is in Christ and in Him, He can and will do incredible things with our surrendered, sold out lives.
The first step in walking in our identity in Christ is salvation, we have to have a relationship with Him. Then, we have to spend time with Him. And we have to remember whose we are, over and over again, we have to be reminded. The Word of God tells us and we need to tell ourselves and each other – Speak Life, sisters! And then, we’ve got to be fully surrendered, not caring about how others see us, or the limits people put on us or if the thing God is calling you to seems impossible. Remember who He is!
So, here we are in 2026 – Walking in Power
But How?
Surrender, obedience, remembering that our identity is in Christ, remembering that He is enough and spend time at His feet.
But it starts with salvation.
When we said yes to Jesus, when we accepted the free gift of salvation and put our hope and our trust in Jesus, we received not only eternity with our Savior but the Holy Spirit! Woohoo!!!
Ephesians 1:13-14 “In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.”
The moment we came to faith in Christ, we simultaneously received the Holy Spirit. Our inheritance is a pledge that all the rest will follow. Jesus Christ has purchased us for himself and has given us the Holy Spirit as the pledge that the redemption which has been so wondrously begun will be completed – to the praise of His glory!
Romans 8:11 “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.”
AND
ACTS 1:8 ! “But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
YOU WILL!! Say “I Will!”
YOU WILL!! I WILL!
YOU WILL!! I WILL!
YOU DO!! SAY “I DO”
YOU DO!! YOU DO!! HAVE the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT!!!
Do you feel like you have this power?
Let’s be honest for a moment.
…Sometimes?
Give me an example:
*Wait for answers
Do you want more power?
You gotta feed it! How do you feed it? You gotta spend time with Jesus! In His Word, in communion with Him!!
Acts 4:13 “When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus.”
Just a few verses prior Peter and John had healed a man and then are seized by Jewish leaders and asked “by what power or by what name have you done this?” “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit said by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.”
These Jewish leaders, they were amazed, not only because of the healing everyone had witnessed but because of their boldness.
And right after this encounter, they pray for boldness! We can pray for boldness!
Acts 4:23-31
23 When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant,[d] said by the Holy Spirit,
“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed’[e]—
27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Again, we gotta pray for boldness!!
Acts 5:12-16
Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. 13 None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16 The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
And there are other accounts when they were in prison or being beaten that they rejoiced because they got to suffer for Jesus!! How did they have this kind of mindset? Rejoicing in suffering for Jesus. The passion. Identity. The indwelling Holy Spirit!
That’s the power, ladies! I have said repeatedly that one of the greatest miracles I have ever witnessed is what the Holy Spirit has done in my heart, in changing my thinking, how I react, how I give grace, how I love – there’s no way I could do this on my own. THIS IS POWER! And I want to walk in this power!
These are the things that walking in the power of the Holy Spirit produces:
- Signs and wonders
- Healing and miracles, salvation!
- Boldness
- In sharing Jesus and His Gospel
- Change
- In my heart and mind
- In the way I live my life
- And in others through
- Prayer – I have examples!!!
- My Daughter-in-law
- My Son
- My Husband
- Prayer – I have examples!!!
- The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
- Not always the things we think about when we think about the word POWER. But what if all these were evident in our life all the time? Wow! And if we keep reading verses 24-25 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
How do we get there?
Time with Jesus, Prayer, the Word, Abiding in Christ. Remembering Whose we are. Dying to self. Surrender. Obedience.
What’s keeping you from walking in power? Is it control? Wanting control?
Have you even asked God what He wants because you’re afraid He’s going to tell you to do something you’ve already made up your mind you’re not going to do?
If there is an area of our lives that is off limits to God, then we will never walk in power….
Maybe it’s or could it be: your home; your location; finances; retirement; your stuff; your job; your comfort? Would you sell all you have, put yourself out there, give up your comfortable lives to walk in this power?
Jesus, my precious Jesus, went to the cross for me, He hung there, thinking of you and of me, dying, suffering unbelievable and unimaginable pain to give me life; not a life of a cute house, a savings account, a relaxing weekend while people are dying and going to hell around me, not a maybe tomorrow I’ll tell my neighbor about Jesus or pray for a sick friend or even a stranger. He died so I could live, live a life of abundance and American Christianity just isn’t it. I was bought with a price to glorify my King. Because of me, someone had to die. Because of me, of my sin, Jesus had to go to the cross to pay my debt.
Give the Gospel, Christy.
SONG: BECAUSE
Verse 1
It’s all my fault, I’m the guilty one
I caused the death, of His One and Only Son
I cannot deny, what is clearly mine
Because of me, someone had to die
Chorus 1
Jesus, Jesus
Because of me, You had to die
Verse 2
When the Father sees my sin,
He sees the cause of His Son’s death
The anguish and the suffering,
All to pay my debt
I’ll never grasp the price, or comprehend the cost
Because of me, (my) Jesus hung upon that cross
Bridge 1
Oh forgive me, please forgive me
Jesus
Bridge 2
I’m holding out my faith, to the One who gives me grace
Jesus
Verse 3
While I was still helpless,
Christ gave Himself for me
God proves His own love
Christ’s blood was spilled for me
Reconciled by His love, to all who will believe
Because of You, Jesus, I have been set free
Chorus 2
Jesus, Jesus
Because of You, I live
Ending
I’ll take hold of You (Jesus)
Like You took hold of me
Jesus
© Christy Hoagland 2026
ASCAP Sing for the King Publishing
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”
I have this little note in the margin I wrote 3 years ago that says “Don’t bring God the safe version of a life! I was created and I am chosen and called to do the work of the Lord! Now go and do it, Christy!”
I don’t want to live safe, I don’t want to look back over the last month, year, decade of my life and wonder how I could’ve glorified my Savior if I would’ve just given up all the things that were building my kingdom instead of His.
Do you think you’re too weak?
2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Are you ready to take hold of the power that you already possess?
Christy Hoagland 
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