The Spirit sends us
Let’s close our week looking at how the Spirit sends us. In Acts 13:4 we read that “Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit.” Sent out! The Spirit had a plan for them, and so when they were filled, the Spirit sent them to do good work for God.
See, the Spirit’s filling is not just for us. It’s for the world. Remember, Jesus told us that it was better for him to go, so that He can send us the Spirit. Amazing! Better a world with Spirit-filled believers, than world with Jesus in the flesh!
Even though Jesus was the perfect human being, God in the flesh, He says that more good can be done if he goes, and the Spirit fills the believers, so that the believers can be His hands and feet in this world.
Let me remind you of Jesus’ last words before he ascended into heaven. In Acts 1:8 we read: “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.”
Empowered for Witness
Why did Jesus send the Holy Spirit to empower us, encourage us, teach us? So that we could be witnesses. So that we could be powerful, courageous, and equipped to go into the world and be witnesses for Jesus. To tell and show the world everything Jesus did and was and said.
He didn’t just do it for our sake: but for the sake of the world who needs Him! It reminds me of that song:
Here I am Lord, is it I Lord? I have heard you calling in the night
I will go Lord where you lead me, I will hold your people in my heart!
I will go for your people. I will hold your people in my heart, and not just take this power of the Spirit for me, but share it with the world, so that they too can be empowered, encouraged, and taught the truth which will set them free.
God is sending you and me today to head into the world and be his witnesses! Just as Paul and Barnabas were sent out, so God is sending us out as witnesses:
At home.
At work.
With our friends, in our social groups.
Online, on Facebook and Instagram and TikTok if you like that stuff.
Spirit-Driven Lives
Let’s go and share Him, but we can’t do it ourselves. It’s only through the Spirit’s filling that we can be effective for God at all.
So, who’s the hero of your story? Yourself? Or the Spirit, empowering you, encouraging you, teaching you, and sending you?
Let’s give our lives and our stories over to the Spirit today, and live by His filling every day.
