Points to Ponder week of 1/30

Knowing something is coming and having to wait for it can be tricky. It’s like a kid on Christmas, you know that an exciting day is coming and you’re not sure exactly what is in store but it both builds anticipation and makes the waiting feel longer. God had promised and set up the day of Pentecost for His people for a long time and I wonder if that same tricky anticipation was what the 120 disciples were feeling as they waited together. They knew that Jesus had promised in Luke 11:11-13 “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” And they had seen the promise of Joel which said, “After this, I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions.” Yet as they prepared to celebrate Pentecost, the memorial for the first fruits and the giving of the covenant to Moses, they couldn’t be fully certain what was to come. The anticipation is mounting and God is up to something incredible. Jesus had given them clues too, they would love one another in great ways, they would be empowered to be His witnesses on the earth, they would be transformed and led into the truth, and God would use them to save others and make disciples of all nations.
So as we dig in this week to the first fruits of the fulfillment of the promise for the Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of God’s people, how are you anticipating for God to move? What is God up to in your life? How does He want to transform you? How does He want to empower you with His Spirit? Who does He want to reach through you? As we look to God to move at Blue Ridge in the powerful ways He did in the early church let’s ask Him to build anticipation and expect Him to do things that are above and beyond what we can ask, think or imagine, in and through us.