Acts 4:29-31 29 “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, 30 while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.
This is a verse that struck me as I read this morning, but I have no coherent thread as to why. It touches on several points of need/concern in my life right now. In these days, life seems so full of mundane but excruciating routine. Mundane in that “nothing special� seems to be happening in our lives, and excruciating because, well, we can’t even keep up with “nothing special.� We seem to be loosing ground on all fronts: in our relationships, both with God and men; in our lifestyle… the house and yard are just shy of a wasteland (Mom would call it a “bush�); in our finances; in our health; and even in emotional wholeness. What was it like when the Holy Spirit visited the apostles in such a demonstrative way? Did they expect it? Did they jump up and down?? Oh! How I long for a cleansing flood from the Spirit! I have been so busy wallowing in the mud of self-pity and despondency and apathy. I feel like a horse stall in need of a pressure washer, I feel caked with filth of my own making. (Not quite Shakespeare, but hopefully conveys the point). I think I have done a little house cleaning this week. Internally at least, but a broom doesn’t make a tenant… I need the Spirit to “move back in.�
On another note, I see the apostles committing themselves to a work that has opposition. What strikes me is that they had already proclaimed the message of salvation in two huge ways and that people were being saved and loving one another and giving up there wealth to help each other. But they didn’t sit back and consider the mission accomplished even though they had preached to all people, then in the temple, and then at court! They asked for confidence, and boldness, and (indirectly) perseverance to continue to proclaim while God displayed Himself supernaturally.
This comes against my “magic bullet� mindset. One shot and all is solved… forever. But that is not the truth about life… let alone evangelism. As I get older this becomes more and more apparent as life refuses to succumb to my efforts. The baby doesn’t stop crying, the grass keeps growing, the mole comes back and messes up the lawn… and a woman whom I’ve preached the good news of Christ to may decide to become a Hindu. This frustrates me because I thought I had shot her with that magic bullet…