ACTS 2:4

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

TO PONDER

One of the things I have been pondering recently is that everything Jesus did or said was part of His Father’s plan and purpose for Him. Never once did Jesus do anything for His own benefit. Nor did He say anything to bring honour or glory to Himself. Remember that Jesus would regularly go off by Himself in the early mornings to plan out His day with His Father – so that He was specifically doing the things that His Father had planned for Him to do in getting His message out about Their purpose in rescuing humanity from its selfish self.

However, His disciples were regularly thinking about themselves and what was in it for them. Jesus regularly had to explain to them that being His followers was about humble service in obedience to God’s will and purpose.

So when the day of Pentecost arrived and Holy Spirit entered the disciples, a change occurred. They lost their self‑centred focus. They were no longer afraid for their own safety and security. They had surrendered their lives to God’s plans and purpose for them. They opened their mouths and let God speak His message through them. And a miracle occurred in that they were speaking in languages that they had never spoken before.

One point we can take from this miracle is, it wasn’t to give any honour or glory to the disciples, but showed how God could used low class, despised people (and Galileans at that), without any theological training, to be the means of bringing God’s message to others. In effect, God is perfectly able to use us, in spite of our insecurities, to bring His saving message to others.

As we grow in our relationship with the Heavenly Family, we grow in trusting God’s promises that Holy Spirit is always with us and guiding us in achieving God’s plans for us. We learn to let go of all the things we are afraid will go wrong, and we learn to let go of our own superior ideas in how God should be working in our lives, and we come to experience the excitement and joy of seeing God working through us to reach others. And then we spend time in praising God for what He has done so that we don’t get puffed up with pride by what we just did.

Prayer: Heavenly Family, thank You all for what You are doing to grow me in trusting Your love and promises so that Holy Spirit can live out Your love for others through me. Amen

Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping