Hearing from God

DEVOTION

 THE BOOK OF ACTS

HEARING FROM GOD

Acts 2 13-21

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

We have seen the power of the Spirit upon Peter and because of this his boldness to said and tell all the People to listen to him carefully, and he will explain what is happening. His words about the last days have had some wondering as to when are those last days. If they were at the time Peter was speaking then what are the days we live in now? It would appear we are still in those last days, and so they have lasted now for thousands of years. Of course Joel was inspired by the Spirit to say that and it as it was way before Jesus came to earth, the last days are the time after Jesus returned to heaven. The point of all that is the fact that the Spirit is still being poured out upon us and because of his outpouring we should be prophesying, in our youth we should be seeing visions and in our old age we should be dreaming dreams. Some of us should be speaking about God the divine influence of the Spirit, which is the implication of the word prophesying. Visions and dreams were both ways in which God communicated with his people; we can see that all throughout the Old Testament. We certainly need to have communication from God today. What kind of life would we have if it were not for God revealing himself to us in some way? It would be a very lonely and hopeless life if God did not communicate with us. We have his Spirit poured out upon us though the Spirit God speaks volumes to us. The Spirit leads us into all truth; he reveals the true nature of God and his divine plan for us. Without the Spirit we would be wondering aimlessly through life without a purpose other than to try to satisfy our own self. But because of the Spirit we can hear from God and know and understand our purpose of declaring the greatness of God. When we hear from God, what else can we do, but declare his greatness. We are indeed in the last days and God is speaking to his people. We should listen carefully to what he has to say. It is a wonderful experience to call upon the name of the Lord. It is incredible to be saved. There is nothing better than to hear from God.