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April 1, 2024
- By Ed Powell
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"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8
The disciples had been intimately associated with Jesus for three years, witnessing His miracles and sitting under His profound teaching. Yet, when He spoke to them of His death, His resurrection, His ascension, of going back to the Father, and of preparing a place for them, they were completely bewildered. When He told them He would send to them a Comforter who would more than compensate for the loss of His bodily presence with them, they were beside themselves. They were fearful, timid, ill prepared, unstable, and not willing to be identified with Him. At the crucifixion, where were all His disciples? After their intimate experience, when He washed their feet as the Servant of Jehovah, they followed Him to Gethsemane, but fled at the sign of the Cross.
But then He tells them to tarry in Jerusalem and wait for the gift His Father had promised. "You will receive power when the Holy Ghost comes on you." In simple obedience they were to wait. We read, "And all of these, with their minds in full agreement, devoted themselves steadfastly to prayer" (Acts 1:14).
Three things are paramount in these few words and are so essential to our lives: They had unity of spirit-- they devoted themselves to hear from God, and they sought God in prevailing prayer. Nothing takes the place of being in His presence in prayer, and receiving the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit for whatever task God gives us to do. Most assuredly, this we need to do, that we might walk worthy of Him day by day.
The coming of the Comforter meant the indwelling and abiding presence of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as an ever-present, all-sufficient, everlasting Savior. He would now, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in their lives, be able to minister to their needs, hear their prayers, and manifest His presence and power to everyone at the same time. No longer limited by His bodily presence, He now indwells each believer.
Through the Holy Spirit, He imparts to us His very life and feeds us with the Living Bread. He breathes into us His peace that passes our understanding. He sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God. He meets our needs according to His riches in glory. He reveals to us an understanding of His Word. He pours into our lives the fullness of His resurrected life. He renews our strength by ministering to our inner man by the might of His power.
All of this, and infinitely more, could never have been possible if Jesus had not ascended to the Father. He sent to us the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Paul writes, "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple, and that God's Spirit lives in you?" (1 Corinthians 6:19).
This is the secret of a victorious life. It is when the fullness of the Holy Spirit occupies the whole of our life with the adequacy of Christ. It is when He, who is our life, lives freely and fully through us. It is the out-living of the in-living Christ.
We must be emptied of self and free from continual sin, which impedes the work of grace He wants to do in our lives, whether in service or in our daily walk. It must be HIS LIFE LIVED THROUGH US!
© 2007 by Ed Powell. Used by permission.
This page was reprinted by permission from: http://litmin.org/dare.php?date=2024-04-01
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