Day 20

“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

In the Upper Room at Jesus’ last Passover Supper, He told His disciples, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me…” (Matthew 26:31). They didn’t believe Him. Later, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said to a weakening Peter who was about to fail Him, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).

Being a witness for Christ is the mandate of every Christian but how often have we felt the way the disciples felt the night of Jesus’ arrest when they all deserted Him? “I can’t do this. It’s too hard.” Aware of our weaknesses, we’re vulnerable, sometimes fearful, and with lack of confidence as a constant stumbling block, how can we hope to be a faithful witness for Christ? What we need to realize is that our failures, weaknesses and insecurities do not disqualify us; in fact, they actually qualify us. Acknowledging our own powerlessness is the best qualification we have to become participants in the work of God.

At Jesus’ arrest, trial and crucifixion, the disciples were filled with fear and foreboding, but on the day  of Pentecost, once God poured out His Holy Spirit to actually and literally indwell them with the resurrected life of Jesus, they became totally changed men. It wasn’t that they were better men, better trained with better skills. They were the same men, but their weaknesses had been substituted with Christ’s strength. So Peter, on seeing the miracle of the lame man healed immediately after Pentecost, said to the crowd, “Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.” (Acts 3:12-13). This is not something that can be explained in terms of us, our ability, our skill; it can only be explained in terms of God, His activity, His skill. We were just the instruments!

When Christ indwells our lives by His Spirit, we discover it is not in our own strength that we operate, but in the strength of God, Himself, who empowers us. The Holy Spirit works in us first, replacing our desires with His desires, and then works through us, as the enabler to accomplish what God has set for us to do. In being witnesses for Him, we become partners with God in His work on earth, empowered by the illimitable resources of His Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, I ask that you fill me with your Holy Spirit to accomplish your agenda in my life, and help me to rest in your strength, wisdom and guidance as you work through me.

To reflect upon: In what ways am I insecure when it comes to witnessing for our Lord? What can I do to be more consciously aware that it is His strength working in me and I need not despair?