Experiencing God's Presence #123

Experiencing God's Presence #123

“In the last days,” God says, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike—and they will prophesy.”

Acts 2:17-18

Peter stood up to preach, and one of the first things he said was a quote from Joel. The prophet had foretold a time when God’s Spirit would be poured out. Clearly this event fit that description, but the prophetic language described an even greater scale. All people qualified—men, women, sons, daughters, Jews, Gentiles. And the prophecy described an even greater scope. In spite of only a few manifestations of the Spirit’s Presence that day, God’s people would be able to prophesy, see visions, and dream dreams. In other words, Peter interpreted a landmark event at one place and with limited manifestations as the beginning of the fulfillment of a prophecy with much greater ramifications. Pentecost wasn’t seen as the exception; it was seen as the foreshadowing of more to come.

That isn’t how many of us view this event—or other events in Scripture. We tend to see the astounding, miraculous incidents in the Bible as exceptions rather than examples. Or if we do see them as examples, they are grand examples that we can emulate only in lesser ways. But Jesus made it clear that His people would go on to do greater things than He did, and He promised to empower us not with a lesser spirit but with Himself. The Spirit who descended on the day of Pentecost is the exact same Spirit who comes to us today. And the prophecy of Joel is as true for us now as it was in Jerusalem then.

Spirit, fill me with prophecies, visions, and dreams. Whatever You offer, I want it—in abundance.