Tag: spirit

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The Wait, the Wind, the Word

The Apostles kept looking up, their eyes on the sky. They stared steadily at the spot where Jesus had escaped their view. The Savior rose through the clouds before this group and was gone.

It was now 40 days since Resurrection Sunday. Jesus came and went among them. He appeared and disappeared to Peter, to James His half-brother, to a group in a locked room, to 500 at once. He spoke with His followers and ate with them. He invited them touch Him. There were to understand that He was present in flesh and bone. He revealed to them that our future reality would have substance, an existence not at all ethereal or ghost-like.

But Jesus had gone up through the heavens. What now? Surely, uncertainties filled the minds and hearts there. For a time, they were frozen in place.

Angels then arrived with a question and a promise. “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (see Acts 1:11).

Power was coming, Jesus told them so. Power had been on their minds. They asked Jesus if Israel’s Kingdom season had arrived. “That’s not for you to know,” the Lord answered them. “Times and seasons belong to the authority of the Father,” He said.

After all that these people had seen and heard with Jesus, they still had so much to learn. Kingdom authority was coming in a new and living way. Power was about to be sent from above. Holy Spirit fire would fall on them. A new baptism was about to be introduced to the world.

“Wait,” Jesus said.

Isaiah 40:31 says, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Christ had spoken of the Spirit and what would come with Him to these faithful ones. They would require the strength, the wings, the stamina, and the leading that would be sent to them.

The disciples did as they were told. Soon these followers of the Resurrected One gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem.

It was a feast time in this city. The Jews gathered for Pentecost, a harvest celebration, a time of thanksgiving to God for the first fruits of the wheat crop. From throughout the Roman Empire, thousands came to be with their kindred at the Temple.

These pilgrims were about to experience a pivotal moment in history. They went on with their religious duties, doing their best to honor God with sacrifices and offerings.

Meanwhile, the disciples of Jesus labored in prayer. A small room full of waiting ones became possessed with divine expectation. The communion of these believers was true and real. They were in one accord when sound of the Wind came.

It was mighty and rushing. It filled the room. To each one, this Wind swept a “tongue” – a small flame that rested just above every head. God filled His people with Himself. The offering of Christ on the Cross opened the way for our bodies to become temples for the Spirit.

The love of Christ called them to Him. Their love for each other in Christ had drawn them together. Now the love of God in and among them shined out to others. They were now ready to address the world full of fields ripe and ready to harvest.

At last came the Word.

Those in that room began to speak with the languages known by those filling the streets of Jerusalem. The Wait and the Wind made the followers of Jesus ready to speak with power and authority. News of this miracle moment spread through the city. The sound captivated hundreds.

Some mocked – they laughed the group was full of wine. Others heard, however. And as they listened, they were cut to the heart.

The Spirit’s breeze blew upon them as well. The dust of their cold religion was carried away, and a new thing put before them.  Thousands seized upon the message and responded in the faith of the Son of God.

Peter addressed them with the Gospel of the Kingdom. The essence of this message was this: “Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21).

Could it be time for a new Pentecost? Are we willing to wait and watch? Are we listening for that mighty, rushing Wind?

A world full of trouble awaits a message of hope. We have this message. The Gospel of Christ must be spoken in every tongue to every tribe of people.

Do we believe it? Will we do it? May His Wind blow fresh upon us.

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The Woman and Her Bucket

High noon, it was, and such a strange hour to come to the village well. This woman tried to sneak around right there in the bright, hot sun. She plotted to drop her pail, get her water, and be gone before anyone could notice her.

Her ways were well known in Sychar; the tawdry details of her life filled the gossipy chatter that often went on here. The “water cooler” talk of those days revolved around her many failed relationships.

She’d become fairly adept at fast-filling her pot and getting home. This way she avoided her neighbors who brought their buckets during the day’s cooler hours.

This day would be different, however. She would find a Man – tired from travelling and all alone – resting at the well. She moved quickly, wanting to get her water and escape. Maybe this Man would be too weary to take note of her presence.

Men! They always presented problems for her. She knew them pretty well – she had encountered quite a few during her years. Mostly, they had left her disappointed and disillusioned. She sized up this one with a quick glance and discerned that this Man was Jewish. That bit of information caused her to relax – Jews don’t speak to Samaritans like her, she reasoned, and she let down her guard.

A Request

“Excuse me,” spoke this Stranger. “Could you give me a drink?”

The interruption both startled and annoyed her. “Typical man,” she thought to herself. “He wants something – just like all the rest.”

“Seriously?” she answered. “You’re a Jew, I’m Samaritan – aren’t you afraid my water will make you ‘unclean’?”

Jesus responded, “Really, you should be asking Me for a drink. If you knew God and who I am, you would ask for the ever fresh, living water that I can give.”

This woman marveled at the offer. The Man had no bucket and the well was old and deep. How was He going to get this water for her? She thought it was a trick and decided to play along with Jesus. “This well is an ancient one — it was dug by Jacob himself. Are you telling me that you’re a better man than him?”

She played herself right into Jesus’ trap. He spoke to her of a different kind of water, water that refreshes the spirit and leaves one never to be thirsty again. “The water I give,” Jesus said, “is a gushing fountain of endless life.”

Those words struck a chord within her. “Sir, give me this water,” she said. Her words carried a tone of hope. This touched her like no other promise she had ever heard before. Could it be true?

When Jesus asked her to first fetch her husband, her answer was, for once, honest and forthright:  “I have no husband.” Something big began to happen, a saving thing, a redemptive encounter unfolded.

There was no deception in her now. She withered as Jesus recounted her relationship history – five broken marriages and the unlawful living arrangement she had with her present partner.

Worship Redefined

She knew a bit about religion – perhaps she had tried to worship the Lord. The mount near Sychar had been something of a holy place. At that time, among the peoples of the region, Samaritans were ostracized and none dared try to make his way to the Jerusalem Temple to make an offering.

Yet in that moment, we see Jesus begin to define what worship really is. It is a matter of the heart, not a matter of place and time. “The hour is now that true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth,” He declared to her.

The climactic moment in this whole encounter is described in John, chapter 4. The woman speaks of the Promised Person, the Messiah, the Anointed One. It had always been her understanding that the Savior would come and “tell us all things.”

“I AM the One,” Jesus said to her. It was a direct, declarative statement defining the reality of who He is. This weary, worn out, thirsty woman got the message straight from the Messiah’s lips. He came to this woman, told her her own story as only He could tell it, and then revealed Himself to her.

Result:  she became a witness.  Suddenly full of living water, she dropped her bucket and ran back to the village. She gathered her neighbors and led them out to meet Jesus. His words touched many from her town. His message was so profound to them that they begged Him to keep talking.

Jesus and His disciples stayed in a Samaritan village for two more days. “We have heard him ourselves and know that this indeed is the Christ, the Savior of the world” was the testimony of Sychar’s people.

This is how God works His wonders in the fields that are ready to harvest. There are people everywhere who are thirsty for life. They struggle under the weight of their bad choices and poor surroundings.

And, then, Jesus shows up, making Himself known.

He has made us for this work. He has spoken to us about who He really is.

May we respond as this woman did. May we be mighty witnesses for the reality of the Christ, the Savior of the World.