THE PROMISE OF THE FATHER

ACTS 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Before Jesus went back to heaven, He told His disciples to “wait for the Promise of the Father”. (Acts 1:4) There are thousands of promises in the Bible, so which promise was He referring to? The early church knew which promise Jesus was referring to because He had told His disciples, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the Promise of the Father, which you have heard Me speak about. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4–5)

Jesus was referring to the baptism in the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues. (Acts 2:1–4) Jesus wants you to know the value of the Promise of the Father because He said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me...” He did not say, “You shall do witnessing,” but “You shall be witnesses”. In other words, your very person will be a witness to Him! T

his is because the power you receive when you are baptized in the Holy Spirit is the same power that so anointed Peter that the sick were laid on the streets for his shadow to fall on them and heal them. (Acts 5:15) Even handkerchiefs and aprons from Paul’s body were so saturated with the anointing of the Spirit that when they touched the sick, people witnessed diseases and evil spirits leaving the sick! (Acts 19:12) That same power caused a Holy Spirit-baptized church member, who prayed in tongues, to experience God’s healing power when he laid hands on his mother who was in an advanced stage of cancer. And because she was healed, she became a witness of the love and power of God to her friends and unbelieving relatives.

Beloved, when you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, you will be a witness to others that no problem, trial, disease or sickness is a match for the power of the Spirit in you!

Comments

join the community of Faith

Acts 2:42-47 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit of God blew into the hearts and lives of common, ordinary followers of Jesus and the church was born. On that first day, Peter stood up and preached a very basic message pointing people to Jesus. He called them to repent and be baptized. On that day, about three thousand people came to faith! So what do you do with three thousand new...

You Have The Victory!

Romans 8:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. If God’s Word says that we are more than conquerors through Christ, then we are. We are not going to become, we already are. We may be experiencing some failures or setbacks in life right now, but only good will come out of our situations because God says that “in all these things we are more than conquerors”. We have the victory! You see, God has placed us in Christ, whom He has exalted to the highest place in the universe. We are not trying to get to victory ground. We are already on victory ground. We don’t confess God’s Word to get victory. We confess His Word because we already have the victory. We don’t fight for victory. We fight from victory. The devil will try to steal our victory. He will come against us with lies and fears, and cause us to be conscious of our failures, weaknesses and symptoms in areas such as our health. But we are not trying to be healed...

The God to Whom We Pray

Nehemiah 1:1-11 Nehemiah demonstrates power in prayer. As a servant to King Artaxerxes of Persia, he had no right to request leave to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, much less to requisition materials and protection. Yet knowing the nature of the God he served, Nehemiah did not hesitate to act boldly and ask the king for what was needed. His prayer began, “I beseech You, O lord God of heaven” (Neh. 1:5). Lord, when it appears in all capital letters, denotes the word Jehovah (a form of Yahweh, the Hebrew name for God). It means “God who is eternal in His being”—conveying that everything everywhere is in His presence. So, when God makes a promise, He knows how He will keep it. That is why Nehemiah called Him “the awesome God who preserves the covenant.” He knew God was committed to bringing repentant Israelites back to their homeland to dwell in His presence (Neh. 1:9). Another Hebrew name used to refer to God, Elohim, is translated “He who is absolutely sovereign.” If He...

THE WATERFALL OF GRACE

Search This Blog