But you will receive power.....

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; 
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 

The very last words of Jesus to His disciples before He ascended into heaven were, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you...."

What is this "power" of which He spoke?  The Greek word here is dunamis: force, miraculous power, ability, abundance, might, miracle, power, strength, mighty (wonderful) work.  This Greek word is what underlies our English version: dynamite.  

The disciples had come to believe in Jesus, the Son of God, and in His "force, mighty power, wonderful work, strength," but had no clue in heaven or on earth that that same "force, mighty power, wonderful work, strength" would or could ever belong to them.  And yet, after the Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit of God descended on them in tongues of fire, we see the little band of ragged disciples doing the same things that Jesus did during His public ministry: healing the sick, casting out demons, drawing others through the word of God to the worship of the true God, etc. 

The church was alive with the power and the presence of Jesus Christ in His members, in the little band of believers -- the "little band" that grew by 3000 believers in one day!

When Paul arrived sometime later at Ephesus, he "found some disciples" and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when (or after) you believed?"  They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."  As it turns out, they had not been baptized into Jesus Christ; they had received "John's baptism," a baptism (or ritual washing) of repentance.  John's baptism was intended to prepare them for the One Who Was to Come, Jesus Christ.  

What was it that caused Paul to ask the question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?  He must have noticed a lack of power among these believers.  An interesting phenomenon, I'd say.  A "lack of power"  -- isn't that what characterizes most of our churches today?  I am not talking about "hype" here --- the "good feeling" often generated by loud music, raised hands, and speaking in tongues; in "mighty miracles" accompanied by swooning and clapping.  I do not discredit any of these signs, as I have often participated in charismatic services in various churches.  And there are times when the church (and we ourselves) need to be awakened from slumber by a few outward demonstrations.  

However, the kind of "power" I am really looking for is the power evident in and flowing from the Person of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Gospels -- the power of Love, the power of Peace, the power of Kindness and Compassion, the Power of God moving among His people with gentleness --- gathering in the lost and the outcast, healing the lame, forgiving the sinner, overcoming our "human nature" inherited from the beginning and passed down from generation to generation.  The calling of Levi, the tax collecter, to be part of the Kingdom of God; the invitation  to Zacchaeus to come down out of the tree; the healing of Mary Magdalene, who was possessed by seven demons.   The drawing power of the Fatherhood of God inviting mankind to eat at His table, no matter their sins and offenses.  All can be forgiven; everything can be healed if only we ask --- that kind of power!

Do we belong to what Augustine called The City of God, or do we belong to the City of the World and its "power"?  Do we exhibit the nature of Adam, the "first man," or the nature of Christ, "the second man, the Man from heaven?" (1 Cor. 15).  

When the Holy Spirit "comes," He leads us in prayer (Romans 8), fills our minds with truth (Jn. 14 and 16), makes us holy (Gal. 5), and equips us to build up the church (Romans 12 and I Cor. 12 and 14).  That is the kind of dynamite that comes from heaven above, the kind of "power" that does not pass away when the music stops, the kind of power still flowing from Jesus Christ even to His last breath on the cross.  

Is this the kind of power we experience in our church today?

The Gift of Joy

 O God, I stand beaten and battered by the countless manifestations of my own inadequacies.  Yet, we must live with joy.... Aid me in this quest, O God.  Help me find satisfaction and a deep, abiding pleasure in all that I have, in all that I do, in all that I am.  ---Rabbi Nachman of Breslau

Rabbi Nachman of Breslau stressed the importance of joy in the spiritual life and encouraged his followers to spend an hour a day conversing with God, "as you would with your closest friend."  St. Dominic Savio once said, "Joy is the unmistakable sign of the presence of God."  I think the quest for joy is a universal one.  Most people would say the quest for happiness is the one that is universal, but joy, to me, goes deeper than happiness.  Happiness depends on circumstances; joy does not.    The night before He dies, Jesus tells the disciples, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love....I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete" (John 15).

We thirst for this deep joy, but where can we find it?  Someone once told me, "You cannot give yourself joy!"  Why that should have been such a revelation to me, I cannot say, but it hit me between the eyes!  I had been trying to "manufacture" joy for some time -- transcendental meditation, no; positive thinking, no; yoga, no.  None of these worked for me; they gave me a modicum of peace for the moment, but life always intruded on that temporary "fix."  When someone prayed for me to receive the Holy Spirit, however, I discovered that I did not have to "do" joy -- it was a gift from Above!  

Psalm 16 is one of my favorites:

Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;

You have made my lot secure.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

surely I have a delightful inheritance.

I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;

even at night my heart instructs me.

I have set the Lord always before me.

Because he is at my right hand,

I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will rest secure,

because you will not abandon me to grave,

nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

You have made known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence,

with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

If we connect the words of  this Psalm with the words of Jesus at the Last Supper, we better understand His Gift of Joy to the disciples.  Joy is to be found in the Presence of God, and His Presence remains with us; it is up to us to tap into that Presence, as Rabbi Nachman advised -- talking to God daily as if He were our closest friend.  He doesn't always "answer" us, but He always bestows joy!