Receive the Holy Spirit
***Before we get to what God has for us today, I just want you to know
intensely special this week has been for me. I cherish the opportunity to serve
this ministry in this way every year. I know the power and might of the God we serve
for myself and it is my greatest passion that others know it too. My heart has
cried out as I completed today's post because I KNOW how hard it is to keep
going. I KNOW how hard it is to trust God and to really truly take Him at His
word when everything and everyone – including my own self – says to just let go
and walk away. I have seen God start keeping promises this week that I have
been praying for ten years. I have seen His faithfulness start to manifest in
such a way that burdens that have brought me to my knees up until very recently
have been lifted. I have been challenged with you to give more of myself and to
receive more of my LORD. Please know that this year's fast has been intensely
personal for me and that I carry you in my hearts and sisters (and brothers),
warriors, and friends. I love you. Ro***
Acts 2:38-39 Peter said to them,
“Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins; and you will
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise
is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord
our God will call to Himself.”
This is the last post of our fast, gang! I have wrestled with this one all
week, because I wasn't sure what the Lord would have me share. And in all
honesty, I struggled to pick just ONE verse from Acts 2 because the whole thing
is just so poignant. But the part that in red, that's the part that has rested
with me since Sunday.
Receive the Holy Spirit.
When I read the chapter, I thought of all the signs and wonders and of God
pouring His Spirit out on all flesh, but then I kept reading and low and
behold, as I read, another word came to mind: BELIEVE.
That's really what it's all about. You can fast, you can pray, you can give
away all your possessions, you can even be privy to some amazing miraculous
displays. But if you don't believe, if you don't allow your heart to open up
and welcome the gift of the Holy Spirit – if you refuse to accept the greatness
and the grandeur of the God who loves you enough to save your soul, then how
will you ever really know the depths of His love for you?
The day of Pentecost came and people began speaking in tongues. But at the end
of the day, even after such a display of power and greatness, some called them
drunkards. Peter preached a sermon, explaining what was happening, inviting
them into relationship – not only salvation, but sanctification. And he even
gave them a promise at the end, for their children and themselves and all those
who God plans to call to Himself! (Which, by the way, is also His promise to
you and to me!)
I daresay that some of them STILL were willing to write it all off as just a
little too much wine.
That makes me sad. It grieves me in my spirit to think that after all the work,
all the buildup, all the display, we could be those who refuse to just believe.
The Lord spoke to me once a few years ago, when the fire was the hottest and I
was at my weakest point: 'You have obeyed Me. Now I want you to believe Me.'
I am asking you now, having given of yourself and given up your own wants –
having obeyed scripture to fast and pray, would you throw it all away by not
believing the One who holds the power of life and death in His hands?
Tonight at 7pm, your sacrifice will be made complete. Don't let your week be
wasted, don't let your sacrifice be in vain. Today's prayer is very simple:
Abba Father,
Help me to believe.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Gang, I really love you.
Ro
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