April 25, 2010

Following His ressurection from the dead, Christ appeared to many of His followers at various times before He ascended back to Heaven. He appeared first of all to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils; later He appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus; He then appeared to the disciples behind closed doors where they were hiding because of fear. After these things He appeared to several of His disciples as they were fishing and fed them breakfast on the shore. It was there that He restored Peter to ministry with the command, “feed my sheep”. (John 20-21)

In the days preceding His ascension, over 500 witnesses saw the resurrected Lord. Just before He left He gave His disciples their (our) marching orders:

Matthew 28:18-20 - And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

Then, as He prepared to depart, He gave an interesting command: He told them to “wait”. He first told them to “go”...and then He told them to “wait”!

Acts 1:4-5,8 - And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now...But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me...

Perhaps one of the reasons we fail to be effective witnesses today is the fact we have tried to do the work of the kingdom without being endued with power from on high. We start out with great vigor, but because we are operating in our own strength, we soon run out of momentum. Or perhaps we were once filled but have allowed our supply to run dry and need to be refilled with this power.

"Oh, God, stir us again with your power...with the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit ...that we may accomplish our task here on earth! Come Holy Spirit...fill our hearts and lives with your presence. Let there be a fresh Pentecost in our church and in our lives...oh, God, we pray!"