i hope you all have had a great friday! who's happy it's the weekend?? ME!
:)
i just wanted to share some thoughts tonight on a passage from Acts. Acts 2:1-13:
On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.
But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, “They’re just drunk, that’s all!”
God really revealed two specific things to me through these verses in Acts.
The first thing is in verses 1-4. I noticed (or, God made me notice) that the believers first sensed the Holy Spirit by hearing him, in the sound of a mighty windstorm. Next, they sensed him by sight, in flames of fire that settled on each of them. Lastly, they felt the Holy Spirit, when He filled them.
This may not seem really cool to anyone else, and that's fine. :) I just thought is was really neat that the last way they sensed the Holy Spirit was by feeling.
I think some of the "encounters" we have with the Holy Spirit are just feeling. It's all hype. The music sounds good, makes us feel really passionate, but that's as far as it goes.
We have to go from hype, to passion. Passion that never goes out, never goes away.
And I just thought it was really cool that the Holy Spirit didn't even come to them originally as a feeling! In the instance in Acts 2:1-4, He revealed his presence in a sound, then sight, and finally a feeling.
The second thing was the reactions of some of the people when they heard the believers speaking in tongues.
This may seem like a bit of a stretch.........but I kind of feel like this is how I might seem to Watch. In the letters he gets from me, after they've been translated, I'm speaking in his language about the "wonderful things God has done!" And that's exactly what it says in verse 11.
“These people are all from Galilee (or Tuscaloosa), and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs (or Thailand). And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!”
I know some of you might think I'm a little goofy for thinking like this......but it makes me happy to think that this is one way the Holy Spirit has filled me up and caused me to work!
I'm speaking in tongues, y'all!
:)
Hopefully, though, Watch won't think I'm "drunk, that's all." :)
I just thought I'd share those things with y'all.
Also, there's some cool stuff floating around the web:
- The 58: "movement"
- This video about how Malaria can truly be stopped from killing again
- The second chapter to Enduring Hope was published on the HLQ, written by Caroline Duncan :)
- Katie's in the USA!
well, goodnight, my loves!
happy friday/saturday!
p.s.-- happy birthday to my cousin, CJ, and Mrs. Valerie!
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