The events that took place during the period between the Resurrection and Christ’s Ascension were as critical for us as they were for the disciples and the early followers of Jesus. What He said and did during that period solidified what had been, and raised expectation for what was to come. The same preparation for power must happen in us. We need to understand who the Holy Spirit is, what we can expect when He takes up residence in our minds and hearts, and what we can do to open the riverbed of our personalities for His flow. The infallible proof of His resurrection and victory over death were critical to the birth of the church, as His disciples were about to give their lives in Christ’s service.

We are living in a time when the Spirit is releasing people to respond in great numbers. He is doing His miraculous work in their minds, emotions, and wills-especially their wills. As Christ continues His ministry, He invades our wills and creates a willingness to be made willing to consider the truth of His love for us. Through His gift, the will allows the possibility for our minds to entertain the thought of our great need for love and forgiveness.

Every believer is baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ at the moment of conversion. From that point on, the Spirit lives inside the believer and empowers him or her for service to Christ. We are called on to be God’s ambassadors in the world, introducing people who don’t yet know Jesus to the love and grace of God that is available to them in Christ. We can only do this through the power of the Holy Spirit.

God has put the Holy Spirit in our lives to empower our lives to be lived for his glory. The world we have grown up in teaches us to rely on our own abilities in life; it teaches us to believe in ourselves and be confident in ourselves. In contrast, God wants us to believe in Him and be confident in Him.

Christ gave us His plan, His command to carry out the plan, and the power to reach His goal to reach the whole world with the Gospel. Jesus told the disciples the means by which the gospel would advance: the Holy Spirit imbued the early Christians with power so that their accomplishments were supernatural. Our relationship with Him is radically different. He is with us, and He lives within us. The power we receive would not be something but Someone: Himself. The eternal word through whom God created the universe, who dwells among us and whom we behold in glory full of grace and truth lives in us.

Christ’s work of redemption rests primarily on four pillars of truth: His incarnation, His crucifixion, His resurrection, and His ascension. The ascension was the exclamation point, completely and finally demonstrating that His atonement had forever solved the problem that sin created.

Christ was not finished when He arose from the dead or ascended to be glorified with reigning power. He came back to give the greatest gift of all-His own Spirit to live in us. With that thought we press on to experience further preparation for Pentecost.

With the declaration in Acts 1:11, the angels confirmed that the second Person of the Trinity was then, and forever would be, God and Man. Just as He left, so would He return-in His glorified body. This is a part of every Christian’s hope! Christ was the first fruit of the resurrection, meaning that when all things are made new, His followers will be made like Him.

We might not like to admit it, but there are things that are beyond our power. This forces us to give up control. When we surrender control of our lives to God, He allows us to experience what His control can do. It’s not about blindly following. It’s about fully trusting that God has our best interests in mind.

Jesus is telling us that the power of His Spirit will be entrusted to people who can accept His authority over timing. The Spirit is given for a very special purpose. Power here means supernatural power of the quality revealed in Jesus’ own life. That power allows His movement to spread throughout the earth. His followers are to present Himself and His finished work of redemption through the Cross and the Resurrection.

Our job as God’s soldiers is to be a liberating force. God’s will and purpose for sending the Holy Spirit was so that every person will know and make a decision for Jesus. This work will be costly. We must be ready to pay that cost. We are to die to ourselves and our control of our privacy and schedules and become available to share by life and action what Christ means to us and can mean to others.

The work of God’s Kingdom is never done. When we commit to fully serving Christ, we soon realize that our goals on this earth are enduring. Our service, prayer, and witnessing are never complete. There is always more to do for the glory of God, a deeper relationship to be had with God, and infinite wonders to be proclaimed about God to a world that desperately needs Him. We are to take this work seriously because it is our highest calling.

Doing God’s work involves waiting, and that’s hard to do. We want God to be like a microwave oven. We want Him to provide His miracles, His breakthroughs, His answers to our prayers in short order. The reality is that God is like a crock pot or a slow cooker. If it feels like God is slow to answer our prayers and meet our needs, we must remember that God is working in the waiting rooms of our lives. He uses the waiting time to help us grow. While we are waiting, we can do these things:

1. Be active. Waiting is active, not passive. Waiting time is not the same as wasting time.
2. Be obedient. As we wait on God, we can do the things He has commanded us to do.
3. Be unified. There is great power in unity. Couples, families, and churches that need a miracle need to come together in unity.
4. Be praying and praising. The disciples prayed continuously while they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit. There is great power in unified prayer and praise. They start a spiritual fire that ushers in a great move of God.
5. Be preparing. While the disciples waited for the Holy Spirit to come, they also selected a replacement apostle for Judas. Peter knew the Lord wanted twelve apostles to witness to the twelve tribes of Israel. While we wait, we can prepare ourselves for what lies ahead. Preparation is critical as we wait on God.

Who has God put in our lives to love and introduce to Him? Who now is alive forever because we cared about him or her and were used as the Lord’s spiritual obstetrician? Who in our lives may have missed both the abundant and eternal life because of our silence? Are we willing to be made willing for the basic, undeniable calling of every Christian?

The focus of our mission is at home in life’s most intimate relationships where people really know us. It also has a focus at work and in the community where the consistency of our life and witness can be observed. It also has a focus within our nation and the world. It includes wherever we are or are sent. We don’t have to wait for the call to be a missionary and a minister. We can start with the people we know, and, wherever life leads, there will be people waiting whose lives are being prepared mysteriously for the chance to meet Jesus and grow in Him because He arranged for us to be in the right place at the right time.

The coming of the Holy Spirit will begin a new age when the words and actions of the disciples are the fruits of the Spirit’s life in us. With the Spirit’s guidance our projects might take an unusual shape, a new routine, or an unexpected turn. Maybe we will be less driven, less success oriented, more accepting of the vices of others and more willing to be flexible when change is needed.

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; p. 1486)
2. Ogilvie, L.J. & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 28: Acts (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1983; pp. 21-48)
3. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
4. MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5. Lucado, M.: The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson; 2010; pp. 1501-1503)
6. Rev. David Mainse, “Witnesses.” Retrieved from contact@100words.ca
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8. Dr. Charles Stanley, “Evangelism: Every Believer’s Calling.” Retrieved from www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/in-tough/
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10. Ed Young, “It’s Time to Reign.” Retrieved from www.christianity.com/devotionals/ed-young-ministries
11. Keith Butler, “You Shall Be Witnesses Unto Me.” Retrieved from paul@ncmcanada.com
12. Pastor Jeff Schreve, “What to Do When You’re Waiting on God.” Retrieved from www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/fromhisheart/
13. Jude Siciliano, OP, “First Impressions, Ascension of the Lord (A).” Retrieved from www.preacherexchange.org