The day of Pentecost has always had a bit of a mysterious aura associated with it for me. God comes down in a whoosh, leaves tongues of fire hovering over His disciples, and just like that, they are empowered to preach His gospel all over the earth. Things like that just don't happen anymore, right?
So I was reading in Acts 4:23-31 today. Verse 31 says that, "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly." And I started wondering to myself: has God changed, or have we? The Bible says that He is the Unchanging One; if that is the case, shouldn't He be able to visit the Holy Spirit upon us just as easily today as He did during the days of the early church? So, if God hasn't changed, then what HAS changed? Why is a visitation of the Holy Spirit no longer considered a blessing, but rather a concoction of a deranged mind?
Is it possible that God is just as capable - and willing - of showering us with His presence now as He was then? What if the only difference is that the believers of the early church ASKED for it? Here's a sobering thought: have we ever really asked God to empower us? Or are we too afraid of what might happen if we did?
So I was reading in Acts 4:23-31 today. Verse 31 says that, "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly." And I started wondering to myself: has God changed, or have we? The Bible says that He is the Unchanging One; if that is the case, shouldn't He be able to visit the Holy Spirit upon us just as easily today as He did during the days of the early church? So, if God hasn't changed, then what HAS changed? Why is a visitation of the Holy Spirit no longer considered a blessing, but rather a concoction of a deranged mind?
Is it possible that God is just as capable - and willing - of showering us with His presence now as He was then? What if the only difference is that the believers of the early church ASKED for it? Here's a sobering thought: have we ever really asked God to empower us? Or are we too afraid of what might happen if we did?
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