Acts 1:15-20
In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) 16 and said, "Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas .... For," said Peter, "it is written in the book of Psalms, 'May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,' and, 'May another take his place of leadership.""
We see in this passage that there were about 120 people gathered together for prayer in the upper room. This was probably one of the most important and impactful prayer meeting in the history of the church. 120 people gathered together to wait on the Lord for ten days. I had often wondered why it had to be 10 days and why the Holy Spirit did not come upon them immediately. Actually the Bible is full of examples of waiting upon the Lord. Moses fasted 40 days when he was waiting to hear from God on Mount Sinai. Why would God wait 40 days and not speak to Moses immediately? When Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, came to Elisha to be cured of his leprosy, Elisha told him to wash himself seven times in the Jordan. Why seven times?
We find that in the process of waiting, the Spirit of God deals with certain things in us and prepare us for His work. Sometimes we wonder why we need to pray. Would the Holy Spirit not work if we do not pray? Would the Holy Spirit not come if we do not pray? The answer is no. The Holy Spirit has His authority and He must come and His work must be done; however, the Holy Spirit could choose not to do the work of God through us. And this is the reason we must pray - to prepare us to be vessels for the work of God.
In California, we enjoy a nice temperate climate, even during the winter. When I used to live on the East Coast, I would dread having to try to start my car every morning during winter time. I used to envy those with a garage in their house because they could park their car in the garage and would have no trouble starting the car in the morning. I even heard that in Canada, where the winters are extremely cold, it is not enough to park the car in a garage. You also need to light a lamp and put it below the car in order to keep the engine warm. The key to being able to start a car is keeping the engine warm.
By the same token, prayer keeps our spiritual man inside warm. When the fire of the Holy Spirit comes, if our hearts are warm, we are ready to participate in God's work immediately. Prayer prepares us to be clean vessels for the work of the Lord when the Holy Spirit comes.
Pray with Pastor Tong
Dear Lord, we pray once again that you will equip us, so that we will use prayer to be your vessel. We welcome Holy Spirit to come among us and speak to us so that we can do great things through you. Let us work together with you so that we may witness the glory of God. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.