Prayer – Lord, amazing that you appeared to over three hundred people after Your resurrection.
Now, I am beginning the count of 50 days after
Resurrection Sunday to Pentecost. You came to baptize with the Holy Spirit,
according to John the Baptist. Over three thousand people came to believe in
you and be filled with the Holy Spirit on that first Pentecost (Acts 2:41). Since
then, millions of people have come to know You as Savior—and are continuing to
seek the narrow gate that leads to Heaven (Matthew 7:13). In the meantime—give
me wisdom to understand You more each day and explain the scriptures to me…as
You did to Your disciples waiting in the Upper Room. Open my mind.
Then he said, "When I was with you before, I
told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets
and in the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to
understand the Scriptures. And he said, "Yes, it was written long ago that
the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. It
was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his
name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: 'There is forgiveness of sins
for all who repent.' You are witnesses of all these things. "And now I
will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the
city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven." Luke
24:44-49
Meditate. Consider waiting.
Stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and
fills you with power from Heaven. Jesus wanted the disciples to stay put
and patiently wait for the Holy Spirit to be sent to them. Do you think it was
difficult for them to wait patiently? Did they realize what they were
going to receive? Jesus appeared to some of the disciples in the Upper Room
after His resurrection, breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit.
That Sunday evening
the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the
Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! "Peace be
with you," he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands
and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said,
"Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you."
Then he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you
forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are
not forgiven." John 20:19-23
Jesus breathed on them…just as He breathed on Adam in
creation. It was a spiritual breath.
Then the LORD God
formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into
the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person. Genesis 2:7
 |
| The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. |
The Holy Spirit has always been…from the beginning even before man was created.
The earth was
formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God
was hovering over the surface of the waters. Genesis 1:2
The Spirit of God…hovering. He was present then…and always
with Jesus and the Heavenly Father. Is the Holy Spirit within you? If not, seek
Him today. Don’t wait until Pentecost happens in fifty days. The Holy Spirit is
God. The same God who it has been said that if you seek Him, you will find Him,
just as David told his son.
And Solomon, my son,
learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with
your whole heart and a willing mind. For the LORD sees every heart and knows
every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake
him, he will reject you forever. 1 Chronicles 28:9
Seek God…the Holy Spirit…immediately. Good advice then and
now. We don’t know when our time is up—so the sooner we seek the Lord and find
Him within our own hearts, the better.
Verse of Salvation ~ Dear friends, I had been eagerly
planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that
I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has
entrusted once for all time to his holy people. Jude 1:3
© 2023 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All
rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless
otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale
House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.
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