Day 1—Acts 1:1-26

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5)

Today we begin a series of 40 reflections based on passages from the Book of Acts. Holy Spirit highlighted the verses listed above as I read and reflected on this passage.

According to Acts 1:3: “He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” On the very last day of His physical stay on earth, Jesus tells them “to wait for the gift my Father promised.”

He is reminding them of what He had told them earlier: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever–the Spirit of truth… But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:16-17, 26)

There is only one thing He asks them to do, that is, to WAIT. So “they all joined together constantly in prayer.” (v. 14)

Jesus does not specify how long they would have to wait before they receive the Holy Spirit. He leaves it at a cryptic “in a few days.”

It would appear from the biblical record that the only other thing they did besides waiting in prayer was to choose a replacement for Judas. Otherwise they simply waited.

Imagine that, eh? Waiting day after day, not knowing which day He would show up. How long would you be able to sustain such waiting?

Let’s calculate how long the disciples had to wait. Since Pentecost is the 50^th day, that would be 10 days.

10 full days of simply waiting…just because Jesus said they should…and if they did, they would receive the Holy Spirit. Aren’t you glad they did?

It would also appear that not all who started out the waiting period lasted all 10 days. In I Corinthians 15:6 Paul says that Jesus “appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time” during those 40 days. Yet, the head count that day identified only 120 “wait-ers.” (v.15)

Gary Oates, author of “Open my eyes, Lord” was ministering in Toronto a few years back. Most of us at his meetings were struck by how clearly he could see in the spirit realm as he described angels and other realities in great detail.

When pressed to reveal his “secret”, Gary shared about the time he spent soaking in God’s presence on a regular basis. He shares it in an article on The Elijah List: “I cannot overemphasize the importance of waiting on the Lord until I experience His manifest Presence daily. I don’t come out of that private room until I have experienced His Presence.”

I also recall him saying that, at times, this could mean waiting for a few hours. Frankly, I was not excited to hear that! I would’ve much preferred a defined time period, say 33 minutes and 27 seconds…lol!

Those gathered in the Upper Room were prepared to wait regardless of how long it took for the Father to deliver the gift He had promised. Ditto for Gary Oates and countless others. Father always keeps His word.

How about you, dear friend? Would you make waiting on the Lord a regular part of this 40 Day Fast? You will be glad you did!

(Pastor Jeeva Sam serves Morgan’s Point and Forks Road East United Churches in Wainfleet Township in the Niagara Region. He and Sulojana, his partner in life and ministry, love to co-labour with Holy Spirit, particularly in prophetic and healing that produces breakthroughs. The Sams are passionate about activating, equipping, releasing and mentoring others into their destiny)

 

Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it…Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? (Luke 15:4, 8)

I woke up this morning to a horrible feeling. Where there should’ve been a ring on the fourth finger of the right hand, there was none.

Of course, this immediately brought back memories of the last time said ring went missing was late in the Fall one year. My sons and I had raked what seemed like literally millions of maple leaves off our front lawn and the ditch. They filled up quite a few bags, perhaps 10 or so before nightfall.

Now it was my turn to put the rest of them away and have them at the curb for pick-up the following morning. Off I went to work, rake in hand, sporting garden gloves to soften the impact on these anointed hands 🙂 Every once in a while though, I would take the gloves off, and just enjoy the feel of the dried leaves as I placed them in the lawn bag a few hundred at a time.

It was only when I was cleaning up and reaching for the body wash that I noticed that the ring was missing. Fourth finger. Right hand.

What is so significant about this ring? It had been passed down the generational line on my pastor father’s side from his father who was also a pastor. Dad gave it to me at my ordination and let me know that it was my responsibility to pass it on to the fourth generation pastor in the family.

I am not sure of its monetary value, but its spiritual and personal value was simply inestimable, as it was irreplaceable.

What do I do now? Having used two different brands of bags, I could narrow it down to the 13 that had been filled to the brim by yours truly. One of them surely would contain the missing ring. But which one?

We had no metal detector. I did not want to attract attention. I chose to bring the bags one at a time to a slightly secluded spot in the backyard and dump them on to the cement patio. I couldn’t wait for that “clink” to signal the discovery of the ring.

First bag. No ring. Second bag. No ring….and so on. Disappointment upon disappointment. More back-stretching labour as the leaves went back in. Finally, as Bag #8 was emptied, I saw the shiny object and heard the noise. It us unmistakeably the same ring that I had lost. Hallelujah!

All those memories came flooding back as I wondered what I would have to do to retrieve it this time. Being winter in Ontario, the possibility of the ring slipping off my finger when I removed the gloves somewhere was very real. But where? Did they fall off while I washed my hands with soap at one of two different coffee shops?

I started praying that perhaps the ring had landed on our driveway, or better still, inside the car or best case scenario…inside the house!

As I started to get changed, I heard a small ‘thud” on the carpet in the closet. Voila! There it was. Staring me in the face. My precious ring. Thank you, Lord! Don’t ask me where it fell from or how it got there…but it did!

I don’t want to go into a deep exegesis of the first two parables in Luke 15…but the focus for me was on the fact that neither the shepherd nor the woman would rest until they found the missing sheep and coin respectively.

The Lord caused me to pray right away. ”Lord, make me like the shepherd and the woman and even me. Let me search relentlessly and not rest until I’ve found that which is of immeasurable value…a precious soul. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Would you make this prayer yours as well?