A Mighty Movement

by Rocky Fleming

Day 3: While We Wait

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.  And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.  All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.  Acts 1:12-14 (ESV)

I was once asked if faith is passive or active, meaning do we just wait without activity, or are we to be active and live our faith out?  My answer was and is that we cannot have true faith and be passive, although we must sometimes wait on the Lord, such as Jesus told the disciples to do.  There are things that we must do.  But there are things that we must not do as well, to live out our faith.  In the passage above, we see an example as the disciples of Christ obeyed Jesus by gathering and waiting for the promised anointing of the Holy Spirit.  But, while they waited, they actively devoted themselves to prayer.  I see obedience with waiting, but I also see activity with their prayer.  Look at the other activity.  They were of one accord.

If I’ve learned anything about human dynamics and interaction with each other, it is this:  We must work very hard to love each other, to accept each other, (warts and all) and to encourage each other. These things do not come on the backstroke of life.  They are difficult at best, for we must be devoted to someone other than our self.  But they are critical for creating a healthy condition where the Holy Spirit is welcome to show up in our life and our presence.  This requires a dedicated effort and it does not come easy.  But there is a benefit.

I love the song  Holy Spirit You Are Welcome Here.  Look it up on the internet and listen to it.  As I listened to it before writing this devo, I was struck with the dedicated effort in the song to invite His presence in an assembly.  It is a love song, a worship song, and a song declaring a desperate need for His presence to be known.  The question is whether the Holy Spirit is already there, or must He be invited?  The same question could also be asked whether He is already in a believer’s life from the point of salvation, or must He be invited in later?  There are different thoughts on this.  

Let me present another possibility.  Could He already be in a believer’s life and in a congregation, but be forgotten, put aside, with little attention given to Him?  Could He be the Lord of our life, but not be the Lord in our Life?  From my point of view, that is how I see where the problem lies with many believers.  I have found by my own life example that my life has been a continuous challenge to surrender one more aspect of myself and my rights almost every day.  However, when I finally let go of whatever I hold onto at the time, the Holy Spirit takes more of me and He shows Himself more clearly to me.  Therefore, I’ve come to see that it is not me having more of the Holy Spirit, but rather the Holy Spirit having more of me that allows Him to show up more in my life.

The point I am making is this.  I believe the Holy Spirit wants to show Himself more profoundly than we realize and certainly more than we have experienced.  I also believe that He is waiting on our hearts and souls to cry out and seek Him in earnest, and this creates a fertile, holy ground through our unity and love for one another as His family that welcomes Him.  When we do this, the same Holy Spirit who showed Himself at Pentecost in a magnificent way to work through ordinary people in extraordinary ways … may choose … to show up and make Himself known more dynamically in us.  

Will you do your part to create this holy ground in your life for your King to walk on?  While you wait for Him, this is where you need to apply yourself and prepare the way for Him to come.