Written by Mark Driskill:

Monday November 1, 2010
Read Acts 1:1-5

Since I came back from my mission trip to Kenya my heart has been challenged in a myriad of ways. One of the larger challenges has been to seek the kind of relationship with the Holy Spirit that we see in the lives of the Apostles and the early church in the book of Acts.

There is something unsettling about seeing how the Spirit is so interwoven into the work of the African church, at least in my brief experience, then to come home and see that in all too many churches he is little more than a relic or a gimmick for our pet projects, or a dead word in our stale denominational statements. Is it any wonder the church in the west languishes under the weight of its religious luxuries gasping for some breath of life while Chrisitianity grows like wildfire around the world?

Then as open my Bible and read the book of Acts I see how completely the early church depended on the Holy Spirit for everything while today we try to impress God with our man-made answers to the worlds problems, claiming to be too busy for prayer and too rational for the Spirit to work among us. This challenge to find a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit has led me into the book of Acts.  So I invite you to come along with me.  Let us look together into this great account of the Acts of the Apostles and see if it will stir us, beyond our gimmicks and our religious games and into a deep and meaningful walk with the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 1:4-5 we see Jesus’ first instructions before he sends his apostles out. He told them to “wait for the promise… you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” In our day we are so anemic about waiting for anything.  I believe this is one of the great challenges for 21rst century western believers.  We have forgotten two important things about waiting.

First of all, we 21st century believers do not know how to wait.  We are so accustomed to leaving the restaurant if the waiting time is too long.  We curse and kick at our high speed internet if it takes more than twenty seconds to load.  We train our preachers to keep the sermon down to twenty minutes or less.  This unholy hurry is costing us more than we realize.

Secondly, we don’t really know what to wait for. We have so domesticated the work of the Holy Spirit, having pinned his hands and feet to the pages of our restrictive doctrinal statements that we no longer consider the Holy Spirit worth waiting for. To many of us he is little more than an occassional goose bump during a nice song. His work in our lives seems to end at conversion. We believe he convicts the sinner, then after baptism he seems to say, “Okay, you’re good. See ya later.” That is not the Holy Spirit of the New Testament.

If we could have the Holy Spirit as the helper, and understand what that means, we would wait for him. I wonder what will happen when we make it a practice to actually begin our days waiting for the Spirit to fill us and speak to us. Let us do that. Let us make it our practice to literally start each day doing more than rushing through our prayer lists. Let’s spend time, say 1/2 hour or so, waiting in God’s presence. Asking nothing but to be filled with His power, and that he speak to us throughout the day. I think the Holy Spirit is worth waiting for. Do you?

Mark also preaches in youth rallies and revivals upon request at no charge. Their vision is to see true spiritual awakening come to the mountains of Eastern Kentucky and to the nation.

Contact information:
Email: driskill@hilbillymail.com
Facebook: Mark Driskill
Address: PO Box 1159 Jackson KY.