Acts 1:8
Within your own
abilities and resources you are powerless; you couldn’t overcome, you couldn’t sustain and you couldn’t
bear without the presences and power of God… I state this to reinforce the
message from today’s focus verse… Jesus informs His disciples that they are to
standby and wait for the arrival of the Holy Ghost before proclaiming the good
news throughout the world… We need the Holy Ghost to share the good news to a
loss and scattered generation; many have fallen into diverse temptations and have
even lost sight of God’s promise and plan because we believed in our own power
and were simply overpowered by the storm or circumstance that we faced…
You are called to witness and bring reconciliation between God and His
creation; however, you cannot jump into action without first being equipped for
duty… This is the grave mistake that we too often make, we have a zeal for God
so much so that we move before His command and end up being rejected like Saul
or running into the enemy’s territory like David… Jesus says ye shall be witnesses… You will have a story to tell, you will have a
testimony to share and you will be given an opportunity to add your personal
brick to the building of God’s kingdom; the thing you must understand is that
there is a process that must be adhered to before you begin applying your
bricks… The Holy Ghost is our guide, compass and power; we have to have the
spirit of God living in us in order for the will of God to be carried out
through us… This world can be a treacherous place and one of the biggest
detractors to our walk of Faith is seeing a fellow believer become victim to
society or circumstances because they were not prepared to face them… This is the difference between a praying man
who has lost everything and a man who has turned to the streets to try and save
his home… When the spirit rest upon you, you can rest in the will of God
knowing that His plan is perfect and that you will reach His expected end… There are many mistakes that we can make in
this life, giving into temptation, associating ourselves with the wrong people
or even just denying the truth; however, one of the mistakes we often make
which is never really discussed in our Christian journey is the mistake of
moving before God calls you too… In the book of Acts the disciples were given
specific instructions as it pertained to their life after Christ death and
ascension; one of these instructions was simply to be patient and wait for the
comforter… One can only imagine what must have been going through the disciples
head, Jesus had died and rose from the dead, He has shown Himself to them and
now He is going home to eternal glory… Their leader is leaving them and they
are preparing for a life they have not known, we can put ourselves in this
situation when something unfamiliar happens to us, we can draw a parallel to
our lives when the usual is changed; however, we are called to remember that as
a child of God we are called to wait upon the Lord… Isaiah tells us in his
prophetical book that “…they that wait upon
the Lord shall renew their strength…” You can’t do it on your own, stop trying to figure things out on
you’re on, instead wait upon the Lord and the power that you will receive
through the gift of the Holy Spirit… Peter denied Christ and left the courtyard
weeping; however, when the Holy Spirit came upon him, he preached and 3,000
souls were saved… The point that we must learn is that we are nothing without
the savior and that we are unstoppable with Him… The key is, understanding that
He must be in the midst if we want to experience the success that only comes
from above… There are many times in our lives when we feel weak, many days that
we feel like we can’t go on and want to throw in the towel; however, Jesus
reminded the disciples just like Luke reminds us today that we will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comes… The message for us today is to wait on
the Lord, this is not to be confused with not doing anything in life, but
rather positioning ourselves in the will of God so that He can strengthen us
and mold us according to His desires… As Jesus was preparing to depart from Earth and return to Heaven
He instructed His disciples of things to come… He assured them of a comforter
and guide in the form of the Holy Spirit which would be poured out upon them after
He left! It is important to understand that the disciples were scared and
captured by fear at the sight of Jesus leaving the earth; the disciples still
didn’t really understand the magnitude of what Jesus came to the earth for and
why He was leaving, they had walked with Him for three years turned away from
normal practices and now they feel alone and isolated! I think it’s safe to say
that we can only imagine the fear that had come upon them… In our lives we face that same kind of fear,
Jesus may not be here with us physically, but when we choose to follow Him we
separate ourselves from the way of the world and make a choice that will lead
us down a path different from others… The bible says, “Stand still and know that I am God…” It also says as we studied earlier that,
“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength!” The bottom line is that we must be patient, be
attentive and be alert; your breakthrough, healing and deliverance are in His
hand… Wait on Him, He is coming!!!
BE BLESSED!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment