Waiting is the most basic discipline for those who would follow God and change the world. Yet, it is rarely mentioned in today’s “do something” economy. All too often we are measured by our busyness for God. We rush forward into any “well-meaning” opportunity to do good. We create a dust storm of activity and label our restless living as devotion.
In His typical, counter-culture self, Jesus ascends into heaven to take His place on the throne at the right hand of the Father, and He tells His disciples to wait.
He had already taught them the most basic principle of waiting, when talked about the secrets of the kingdom in John 15:5…
“…apart from Me you can do nothing.”
Jesus had already lived His life as an example to His followers, day by day, showing them what it looked like to wait on the Father for His assignments. In John 5:19, He said…
"Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.'"
And now, in Acts 1:4-5, Jesus tells His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes upon them…
"Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, 'Which,' He said, 'you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
So, wait, they did. They waited and prayed with one common goal in mind, until they were clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit on high. Acts 1:13-14 says…
"When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers."
This is what we are being called to do. In a little over a week from now, we will be celebrating Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit with power to change the world. We have learned what it means to follow Jesus, to walk in the kingdom, to receive assignments from the Father, and to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The culmination of sent is here. Now we wait and devote ourselves to prayer for the next several days. Your life in the kingdom is not looking back, it is looking forward. We are not bound by a powerless past. We are not limited by the things that have held us back from experiencing the fullness of the kingdom. Instead, we can wait with expectation for the coming power of the Spirit of God
After waiting, Acts 2 records the story of the Spirit of God being poured out on His people and more than 3,000 were saved in that same day. More were being added to their numbers daily.
In Acts 4, the number grew to about 5,000.
In Antioch, in Acts 11, “…a great number of people were brought to the Lord.”
In Thessalonica, in Acts 17, “…some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.”
In Philippi, when Lydia met Jesus, she brought many others with her. When Cornelius met Jesus, he brought his entire household with him.
People were healed, demons were cast out, and some were even raised from the dead. This is the power of the kingdom of God. The eleven cowardly men were transformed by the teaching of Jesus in those last 40 days, and by the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them.
The message of the gospel was meant to go out with power. Paul said to the Romans in 1:16…
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
To the Corinthians in 1:18, Paul said…
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The kingdom of God is meant to go out with great power. Anything short of the power of God is just a shadow of what the kingdom and the church were meant to be. This is why Paul warned Timothy about people who “have a form of godliness but deny its power.” (1 Timothy 3:5).
Let’s not be those people. Let’s be those who receive the teaching of the kingdom and wait for the power of the Holy Spirit.
The end of the story is already written. When we wait, the Spirit will come upon us with great power and we will change the world. The book of Acts is filled with amazing stories of the power of the kingdom. It ends in chapter 28. Our lives were meant to be the 29th chapter of the book of Acts.
The end of the story is written in Psalm 145…
YEHOVAH Extolled for His Goodness.
A Psalm of Praise, of David.
1 I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
3 Great is YEHOVAH, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable *.
4 One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts.
5 On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
6 Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, And I will tell of Your greatness.
7 They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.
8 YEHOVAH is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.
9 YEHOVAH is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works.
10 All Your works shall give thanks to You, O YEHOVAH, And Your godly ones shall bless You.
11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom And talk of Your power;
12 To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
14 YEHOVAH sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to You, And You give them their food in due time.
16 You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 YEHOVAH is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds.
18 YEHOVAH is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.
19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them.
20 YEHOVAH keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.
21 My mouth will speak the praise of YEHOVAH, And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.
One year from now, we will be telling of the greatness of the kingdom. Six months from now, we should be able to write this Psalm on our own.
WORSHIP: Worship the God who loves to pour out His Spirit on His children. Worship Him as a holy God, seeking His holiness until it shines brightly upon you, cleansing you from anything that holds you back from experiencing the fulness of the kingdom. Worship the God who loves to bless His children and stay in that blessing until it overtakes you and consumes you. The coming blessing of the Spirit is yours.
PRACTICE: Spend some time each day until Pentecost, devoting yourself to prayer, humbling yourself before God, taking up your cross daily, and asking the Father for a richer, deeper, more powerful relationship with the Spirit of God. If you can, bring someone else along for the journey. Agree with each other that you are going to pray and seek God for an outpouring of His Spirit. Then be of one mind together, devoted to the kingdom, devoted to the seeking God for an outpouring of blessings, of grace, and of His Spirit. Do not rest until you receive this from the Father, no matter what the cost.
MEDITATION: Each day until Pentecost meditate on a different passage of Acts. Keep your eyes focused on what God can do through ordinary people when they are fully devoted to Him and filled with His Spirit. Each day, as you meditate, move from the passage to your own life and ask God to show you what your life would look like filled with His Spirit and living in the kingdom. Be alert. He will show you.
ABIDING: By this time, it is very possible that the Father, your Spiritual Director, has led you to a place in Scripture where He wants you to abide. As you go back and read through this teaching one more time, ask the Father if there is anything in these passages specifically for you. Look for the things that reinforce what God is teaching you at this time. Write down anything you hear from Him. Spend some extra time listening to see if the Spirit has anything more to say to you or if there is a deeper teaching for you today. Write down whatever you hear. Ask the Father if there is someone, He wants you to share this with and follow through with His assignment.
© 2020, John Santaferraro.