Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Just before ascending to Heaven, Jesus told the disciples that they needed to wait for a special event. He told them that, something like the baptism that folks experienced with John the Baptist was going to happen...but it would be a baptism with the Holy Spirit rather than water. He said that the Holy Spirit would come upon them and bring power. The result of this experience and of this power would lead to a prophecy: "You shall be witnesses..." to the whole earth. The disciples had been through a whirlwind of events, from the powerful experience and teaching of the Last Supper, to the betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane, to the abuse and crucifixion of the Lord, to the miracle of the resurrection and renewed fellowship with Jesus. They needed a time to reflect, renew and be restored...for their spiritual lives to "catch up" and be settled and quieted within before they would be ready to move out to reach the world. There was a right time for them to wait and there came a right time to move. In a bigger sense, the disciples had invested three years walking with Jesus and now they were about to take the inspiration and motivation of that investment and reinvest in others. As we are invested in our personal walk with Jesus we also will be inspired and motivated to reinvest the reality of Jesus in our lives in the lives of others. As we wait on Him, He comes upon us in power through the Holy Spirit and reaches through our lives to others. Two kinds of power: power that activates us and power that reveals Him to others. We have His word on it!
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