Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Proverbs 13-15, Acts 2:1-21
I come from a non-charismatic church tradition. We believe in the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit, but I have not once seen or heard someone speak in tongues or a true instantaneous healing. We pray a lot to the Father and the Son, but the Holy Spirit often gets second chair in our prayers and tradition.
That's sad.
The days of Christ, from his birth to his death and resurrection, has set the world upon it's ear. It was the start of a new thing, a new covenant between God and man, a time of true peace. And with Acts 2 we have another new chapter of the same book. The Holy Spirit was given in small doses to a world gone mad before this, so we had an inkling, a taste of what was to come. The people who had been gifted with the Holy Spirit before Pentecost were strange, different and weird by the worlds standards. They were prophets, priests and kings who spoke the words of God for repentance.
What happened here with the gathered believers after Christs ascension is no different. These men (and probably women) were used by the Holy Spirit to bring God's children to repentance, to bring them back to God, back in fellowship with Him. It's been God's plan all along. The reason for Christ and the cross, the reason for the bible. Not for man's glory or entertainment, but rather to bring people back to Him. It seems when the Holy Spirit 'hits' it's notable. It was here that day and in the sprinklings back in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit causes people to do odd things. And it makes people notice.
I think in my experience, we shy away from the Holy Spirit because we cannot contain Him. We are afraid if we call on Him, or He falls on us, we will do strange and odd things. That's very sad. There is a reason Christ called Him the comforter. It is a comfort, first, to be reconciled to God. It is a comfort to be taught a better way. It is a comfort to know the scriptures better and deeper. It is a comfort to have a presence about us 24/7. I often equate the Holy Spirit with such things as what happened at Pentecost, but I often forget about the still, small voice, the gentleman that He is too.
The prophecy of Joel that Peter quoted is for all people for all time, but the primary purpose of the Holy Spirit and the gifts he gives is to bring the lost to repentance. Time is of the essence. We cannot delay our witness. And the Holy Spirit gives power and boldness to share that witness. I've experienced that myself. All we need do is ask.
Father God, forgive us for the part of you that we ignore and don't give our due to. Help us to live lives worthy of the Holy Spirit that lives in us. Give us that power and that boldness that we see in Peter and the disciples to bring others to repentance and belief in You. Thank you for the gift of your spirit. Amen.
Tomorrow's passage: Proverbs 16-18, Acts 2:22-47
4 comments:
It is overwhelming sometimes for me that the Holy Spirit is here, available to me. To embrace this and the power it contains is something I am only starting to realize in my walk. Great post!
During the worst times of Baret's illness, when I prayed, I imagined the Holy Spirit filling the hospital room, filling Chris & Deena and giving them peace, filling Baret and drawing out the illness in his body, touching his brain and healing it. That's what I prayed for, that's what we asked for. And He answered. It wasn't sudden, but it was indeed miraculous.
Obviously, we can't control the power of the Holy Spirit. There was no guarantee that Baret would be healed. But we acknowledged the power and prayed for it to be unleashed.
But yes, we do overlook the Holy Spirit so often. To our loss!
I really want to read Francis Chan's book "Forgotten God" which addresses precisely this issue.
I believe you're right that we haven't considered the Holy Spirit and esteemed Him enough ~ that we really don't have a clue of what His manifest presence looks like in our lives and in our churches ~ but I'm not sure that's the reason we don't see many miracles. Even Holy Spirit-filled areas experiencing revival and where the Gospel is spreading like wildfire aren't really seeing Bible-like "signs and wonders," so I don't think that's just a matter of limiting the Holy Spirit.
I believe God certainly still does miracles, but I'm not convinced they happen the same way they talk about miracles in the Bible ~ spectacular and spontaneous. Granted, there are some exceptions, but there are three pretty clear periods in Bible history where we see miracles done and they're all in relation to a new revelation from God.
First, we have Him setting apart the Israelites, bringing them up out of Egypt and making it very obvious He's choosing them for Himself from all the nations in the world, and meeting their every need for the next 40 years, with or without human involvement.
Then we have Elijah and Elisha at the beginning of the prophetic age in Israelite history; the new era of God speaking to His people through specially chosen men.
And lastly, we have the Messiah and His message, which carried through into the first years of the early church as it spread out from the Jews to the rest of the world.
It seems miracles were used very specifically to give attention and credibility to a previously unheard-of message. We don't have new revelation from God. He's revealed to us all we need to know; the Gospels talk about Christ's finished work and Revelation talks about the Word's completeness. I don't believe we will see Bible-like miracles until He returns.
I just think we need to be careful of the expectations we place on God and the Holy Spirit, and to be mindful of the very specific purpose of miracles.
Great post. I think that miracles are too often explained away and less attributed to God's power and the work of the Holy Spirit.
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