WAIT FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT
01st Feb 2023
Acts 1:4 states, “On no account leave Jerusalem, but you must wait for what the Father promised: the promise you heard from me. John baptised in water; but you will be baptised in the Holy Spirit. And soon.”
If Jesus’ last words to His disciples were to insist on them waiting until they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we must question our own experience and dependence on the Holy Spirit? Have we had a life changing encounter, and are we today experiencing His help on a daily basis? Is He real to us? Is He your Helper?
Read Luke 3:16, 24:49, John 14:26, 15:26-27, 16:12-13.
Fire, peace, knowing Jesus, understanding His teaching, knowing what’s to come and what is happening around you, are evidence of the Holy Spirit.
How can we live to please Jesus if we don’t know how to hear His voice, and are working with “good ideas” rather than God’s clear instructions. Clever ideas and even scholarly explanations of scripture won’t change hearts and lives. One word breathed out and given by the Holy Spirit can turn a person or a situation upside down and change everything.
How do you know how to respond in prayer unless He gives you insight? How do you know what to do with your life on a daily basis unless you are in contact with the Holy Spirit? Do you expect warnings of danger, or to hear instructions about the use of time?
Jesus knew that without the Holy Spirit, His disciples would revert to human solutions, which are always limited and have no power. His last words in Acts 1 are not emphasised enough. Today, hear Him say “wait”, don’t leave your Jerusalem until you have been baptised/immersed in the Holy Spirit.
When this happened at Pentecost, each one was filled, fired up, and changed in to humans living with resurrection power wherever they went, whatever they did - and they saw situations change, miracle healings, power encounters.
Today, cry out for a new encounter with the Holy Spirit, who the Father will give you, if you ask. (Luke 11:13)
by Joyce Sibthorpe
