Acts 1 Devotional

Waiting for the Promised Gift

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.””Acts 1:8 (BSB)

Acts begins with Jesus still in charge. For forty days after his suffering, the risen Lord shows himself alive to his apostles and speaks with them about the kingdom of God (1:3). Then he gives them a surprising first instruction: stay in Jerusalem and wait for what the Father had promised (1:4). When they ask whether this is the time he will restore the kingdom to Israel, he does not give them a timetable. He gives them a promise. The Holy Spirit will come on them, and they will be his witnesses as far as the ends of the earth (1:7-8).

Then he is taken up, and two men in white tell them Jesus will return just as they saw him go (1:11). They pray together, and even in choosing a replacement for Judas they ask the Lord who knows every heart to show them whom he has already chosen (1:24). The mission was never theirs to power. It began with a gift they could only wait for and receive.

To think about: What are you trying to accomplish for God in your own strength that you could first bring to him in prayer?