By The Spirit

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

Acts 2:13-21

BY THE SPIRIT

13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:      

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. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'  

NIV

It is not possible to break this up so we will deal with this in its whole or in part for several days. As many believers think of Peter, a man who denied Christ three times, a simply fisherman, common by all standards, unlearned in the art of communication, now takes charge of the situation and begins one of the greatest sermons of all times. We might learn a lesson from Peter in the sense he stood up, spoke up and told them to listen carefully to what he said, that he would explain what was happening. Do we just babble or worse yet argue about the scriptures, about beliefs, or doctrines of various denominations? Perhaps we are moving ahead of the Spirit, and trying to do everything in the flesh. It might be a whole lot better if we were to wait for the Spirit to bring about an event that we could tell people to listen carefully and we would explain what is happening. If there is no supernatural event as a whole lot of people speaking in tongues, then we might simply still have to wait for the moving of the Spirit in our lives, or in the lives of those we are to tell to listen carefully to what we have to say. Peter stood up with authority, with power that came from the Spirit. Being a Jew Peter certainly knew what the Prophet Joel had said, word for word, or being a Jew he sort of knew about the Prophet Joel, and sort of what he said, but when he began, the Spirit gave him the exact words the prophet spoke as it was the Spirit who gave the Prophet the words. Should we do any less? Should we speak in the flesh, by our own knowledge, or should we speak by the Spirit?