A couple of weeks ago we celebrated my oldest daughters birthday. I took her out to lunch and while she held my youngest granddaughter in her arms, I couldn’t help but remember her as a baby in my own arms. Birthdays can be like that. We are seemly transported back in time to special memories. Today marks the Day of Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks. I can’t help but remember my own experience when the “Day of Pentecost had fully come.” I wasn’t brought up in church so my experience determines my doctrine not the other way around.
I had knelt down beside my bed, and said a sinner prayer. I got up and felt no different but was determined to live a Christian life, whatever that meant. Three weeks later I still hadn’t made it to church. My sister and her family were joining us for a holiday. She tried to tell me about the Holy Spirit but it seems kinda weird to me, so she stopped talking about Him. Later that evening, she asked me to come pray with her in my bedroom. It was there in prayer I received the promise of the Father, the Helper, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit. He didn’t appear with cloven tongues of fire but with a prayer language. He came with power and changed my life.
The Holy Spirit isn’t weird or strange but is sent by Jesus, John 16:7. Before conversion it is the Holy Spirit’s job to draw us to Jesus, and afterwards to dwell within us. John 14:7, “…He abides with you and will be in you.” At the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it is His job to come upon or cloth you with power. Acts 1:8, “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Luke 24:49, “…clothed with power from on high.”
There are many who try their best to serve Jesus in their own strength. There are times when it is by God’s design our own strength is not enough. It is for this reason Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. We need Him. We need His power. I can’t heal the sick, raise the dead, feed the multitudes, or cause the blind to see. God can.
Whether we need the baptism of the Holy Spirit to make heaven may be a matter of controversy but I know I need Him to live in this world. I needed Him to raise my children, to stay married, day in and day out I need Him. I want to be effective in all I do, that takes the power of the Holy Spirit.
