30 Days - Day 4

Day 4

Acts 2:1

1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

During the past 10 days Jesus has ascended, the disciples have been meeting together for prayer, they have been waiting for God’s promises, they have chosen a new apostle and, no doubt, they have prepared for a holiday. After all this was one of the 3 great Jewish Feasts and the celebration of the completion of the harvest. All Jewish men were supposed to keep this feast, and Jerusalem would be filled with people flooding into the city from all over to celebrate. In the middle of all this preparation it would not be unnatural for there to be an intense sense of excitement along with the hustle and bustle of running here and there in preparation for the celebration about to take place. Yet here were the disciples gathered together. The day of Pentecost had arrived and yet here they were together still waiting on the Lord.

We can probably be fairly certain that the opportunities for being witnesses that the feast presented would not have gone unnoticed or unthought of by the early disciples. From a human standpoint it probably seemed the perfect opportunity to launch their “gospel campaign”. Yet we still see them gathered together and in one place. They could have organized their strategy to canvas the city. They could have been out on the main street corners with their signs and tracts ready. They could have set up their stations throughout the city to reach the most effective cross-section of the feast population. But instead they are here clustered and cloistered in one place still waiting. Yes, it was the perfect opportunity but they remembered the words of Jesus just before He ascended. Do not depart! Wait for the power!

The perfect opportunity or the perfect timing means nothing without God’s perfect power. He had told them to wait, and they waited. He told them they would be given power and they were. They didn’t need to micromanage God’s plan. They needed to obey because what was coming was a work of the Spirit and not a work of the flesh. There was no way that anyone could look at the results of the Pentecost preaching campaign and claim it was the disciples superior business plan, organization abilities, strategy or any other thing. They could only attribute it to the power of God.

There is no doubt that we need to be prepared. We need to understand the opportunities. We need to plan and be wise in our preparations. But more important than any of those things is that we be together waiting on God so that all will be done as a work of the Spirit and not as a work of the flesh. Not to us, not to us O Lord but to Your name be the glory...

Prayer Requests Day 4

1) Jim, Olya and Family - the organization of our time (family, ministry, friends
etc), continuing language growth, building relationships with others, rearing Christian and Julia in the Lord, provision for needs, health and protection.
2) Phil and Yvonne Brewer - health issues (Phil's back causing pain, Yvonne sugar allergy causing dizziness), development of Crisis Pregnancy Center for Slovenia, provision of needs, development of a Bible Study in Mokronog
3) Nathan and Dawn Detweiler - provision and preparation during their deputation time, timely arrival in Slovenia (planned for early 2009), integration into team, language study, cultural adaptation, grace for life "on field"
4) Justin, Matej and Amy, Darja and others at Calvary Chapel Celje as they help, support and encourage us in the work in Maribor. Wisdom for Justin and Matej (Pastor and Elder). Darja as she studies at Maribor University and helps us reach out to students (this Fall)