Prophets
foretold it. Jesus anticipated the
moment. We celebrate the coming of the
Holy Spirit to all believers on the Day of Pentecost—fifty days after Easter. After Jesus ascended to heaven the true
believers, 120 in total, gathered in the upper room and prayed. They prayed for nine days, and on the tenth
day the Holy Spirit came upon them. I’m
not sure how prepared they were for God to move in that way. They described it as if tongues of fire fell
on them, and a strong noise like wind powered through the room. Yet the unbelievers who witnessed it thought
the best explanation was that they were all drunk at 9 a.m. in the morning!
I don’t
think I realized the power of the Holy Spirit coming on me as deeply when I was
seven as I do today looking back on the experience. I describe the moment of my understanding as
God is holy and I am a sinner, and my sin separates me from His love for me as
if a light bulb went off. It was
sudden. I did not expect to make the
decision my mom told me that I would need to make someday if I were ever to get
those snacks they passed out in church!
I simply went to a fun church activity and invited my best friend. Unbeknownst to each other, we both stayed
after the meeting as instructed to tell the Children’s Evangelist that we had
decided to accept Christ in our hearts.
They told us that our family would not mind waiting on us and set us up
for further conversations that ended up in baptism in front of the whole
church. It was because of that decision
that the Holy Spirit came upon me. There
were no tongues of fire or long wind-like sounds.
There was
joy. My mom suggested that I tell my
second-grade teacher, whom I had no reason to suspect would be happy for
me. I was surprised by her reaction to
such news. I didn’t notice any sudden
changes in myself, but I did receive a gift of understanding the Scriptures
better than others. Even during a time
of purposefully rebelling against God in 8th-9th grades,
I received the Outstanding Bible Student Award given by my Christian school. All of this is evidence of the Holy
Spirit. Since that time, I have
witnessed the Holy Spirit give much more wisdom, ability, understanding and unexplained
kindness. He gives me supernatural
patience, convicts me of my driving, and prompts me to remember something I am
about to leave the house and forget (not every time—or I don’t sense Him
enough). All of this is evidence to me
of the oneness for which Jesus prayed.
He wants me and all Christians to be one with Him and God. His death made it possible for the Holy Spirit
(the very power of God) to reside in us.
Worshipping God from earth in the church age is the best time to live before
Christ’s return. Before Christ’s death,
burial and resurrection, the Spirit of God was given to prophets, writers of
the Scriptures, and certain leaders and kings.
Jesus made the same Spirit that guided King David to be a man after God’s
own heart to guide you and me.
I haven’t
heard of the Spirit coming on believers as He did in Acts 2—like a tongue of
fire and loud wind. I have witnessed
(through video) a village of new believers share a common overwhelming joy
after receiving salvation at the same time during a Jesus film. It appeared strange to the onlooker to find
people jumping in joy, crying tears of celebration, smiling and hugging one
another in waves of happiness that could only be identified as the Holy Spirit’s
joy of salvation.
The Holy
Spirit bears fruit in the lives of Christians that fulfills any law that God
has ever given. Galatians 5:22-23 says: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness
and self-control. Against such things there is no law. I welcome the
Holy Spirit to my life and am so grateful that He came at Pentecost and to all
who receive the gift of salvation.
Copyright © 2019.
Deborah R. Newman.
teatimeforyoursoul.com All Rights
Reserved.
Comments
Post a Comment