Yield: Every Day is Pentecost Day | Convene For The Cities

Let’s talk Power.

I’ve just finished a very emotional week. And by the end of it, I was asking God why I can’t seem to “control” my emotions – why it didn’t appear that I had any power to do so. I also don’t have any power to make others do what I want them to. And it appears that the winds and waves of life aren’t under my control or power either.

But God Is All-Powerful.

Peter at Pentecost Let’s look at Acts 2. (I am going to refer to various pieces of this chapter, so you may want to familiarize yourself with it.) When God and I talked about this passage, it was more like a “presence” than a “lesson”.

Pentecost was certainly filled with power:

The blowing wind – so powerful and loud that it brought people from all over Jerusalem to the house where they were praying.
- Power => of Prayer
Fire – so large that its “tongues” – that which we see lapping in a fire – broke apart and came to “rest” on each person. I don’t know what a “resting fire” is – but that must have been amazing to see – and scary. Probably like Moses and the burning bush – the fire that did not consume.
- Power => for everyone.
- When was the last time you heard of everyone, every single person, being so in tuned, so connected, so in agreement in prayer, that not one person would be singled out as “not the same”.
Peter – so changed, that he was no longer afraid of what people thought. Peter speaking up is nothing new. But Peter speaking so eloquently probably was. He was intelligent, using scripture that he’d learned throughout his life – but it came upon him as he needed it.
- Power => to create internal change – overcoming fear.
Tongues – at least 16 separate languages represented there. And they ALL heard them talking in each of their languages.
- Power => over physical needs and resources
Timing – the Day of Pentecost was the perfect day and just the right time. How long had people been praying? Scripture doesn’t say. It just says they were all together. Perhaps they had just shown up and were just beginning. Perhaps they had prayed for days. Maybe like the impromptu revivals happening on college campuses. But God moved them and moved upon them.
- Power => of time & space.

¹⁷“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. ¹⁸Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

That phrase, “In the last days” . . . we tend to refer to the last days as something yet to come. Specifically like Revelation or Daniel, etc. BUT it appears from this passage and from what happened on Pentecost – the “last days” probably began with the death & resurrection of Jesus. It’s the “new” dispensation. It’s not only our future, it’s our past, it’s our present. God poured out His Spirit on all his praying people on Pentecost – thus, it is part of the “last days” – some 2000 years ago.

I think this feeds my musings about the last days – that maybe as humans, we have it all wrong. We focus on earthly events – rather than the spiritual, heart matters.

And can I also say, Thank You Jesus, Thank You Father, for bringing women into this new dispensation. There was Deborah in the Old Testament who was apparently a spirit-filled judge … but for God to make sure that things started off with more than just men … to have women so involved … in spite of, and maybe because of, all our entanglements and our “spaghetti-brains”. God brought us in and honored us by also filling us with the Spirit. Hallelujah!!

[We interrupt this blog for a special note: If you've never heard of the whole spaghetti-brain idea and don't know what I'm talking about - see this clip - and read this book. It may just change your life, and save your marriage.]

Now back to our regularly scheduled power-lesson:

³⁷When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart [pricked in their heart (KJV)] and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins [remission of sins (KJV)]. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Oh how well I know the “pricking” of the heart by the Holy Spirit. That’s why it’s so important to not continually ignore the Holy Spirit because that can lead to a seared heart/spirit, where one can no longer feel the pricking. I want to be able to feel it. I need it to hurt. I need to be prodded and poked. Because the goal is Oneness. The goal is Heaven. The goal is Redemption. The goal is Peace. The goal is Goodness.

Have you noticed that in modern times there is a lacking of the word “Repent” (which literally means to return by turning around and going the other way). Oh we love to talk about the love of God – which is truly beyond imagination and we should always revel in it. However, being the prideful humans we are, we assume God's love is like human love. Human love is not holy - not in and of itself. God’s love is holy. And His love cannot outweigh or overcome His Holiness, or any other of His attributes for that matter. THUS – the need for redemption. The blood. And for that to happen – repentance must take place.

I like the KJV word “Remission” = the cancellation of a debt, charge, or penalty. We receive the Holy Spirit upon this forgiveness – this “cancellation of our debt”. Wow! Talk about new from old, life from death. Now THAT’s Holy Love!

But here’s the thing that really hit me: This is for EVERYONE – but each must be “CALLED” by the Father Himself.

power mom We cannot come on our own. We must be drawn, called by God Himself through the power of the Holy Spirit whom He will give to us when we say "Yes!" Which takes me back to the pricking vs the searing. Let us endeavor to never ignore the call of God – for even the simplest of things. The more we use our “ears to hear”, the more God will speak and guide and call.

God uses His power make Himself known to us – through people, through prayer, through nature, through anything. He uses His power to call us, to reach us in our current state, at just the right time. He uses His power to forgive all our debt. He uses His power to change us, to turn us around, to redeem us. He uses His power to purify us and to give us His power. We don’t innately have the power to do most important things in life anyway – so I say “Woo Hoo – Thanks be to God, I got the Power”!

God is All-Powerful. Therefore, every day is Pentecost Day!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen. ~ Ephesians 3:20-21

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