Being Filled

Enjoyed Acts 2 in a fresh way this morning. On the day of Pentecost the saints were "all together in the same place" and subsequently experienced the outpouring of the economical Spirit, having been filled inwardly (Greek pleroo in verse 2) with the essential Spirit. Then "tongues of fire" "sat on each one of them" (verse 3). The Recovery Version footnote indicates that "tongues" is a symbol of speaking "symbolising that God's economical Spirit is mainly for speaking". Furthermore, "fire" symbolises the "burning power for purging and motivating in God's economical move". Therefore, the result of this outpouring is that the saints begin to speak and speak forth, as the Spirit gives them utterance. We need such an outpouring to be burning for our Christian ministry.

Calling on the Lord

Reading the Life Study of Genesis this week I had a fresh appreciation for calling on the name of the Lord. In Genesis 4:26 we see that "men began to call on  the name of  Jehovah", beginning with Enosh, in the third generation of man. Since Enosh means "frail, mortal man" this shows us that man realised his need for Jehovah - the name of God which denotes His intimate fellowship with man. To call means to "cry out, to cry unto" and to "invoke a person".

Furthermore, similarly just as Abel means "vanity", so in our human life - apart from God - we are just vain and weak. But, when we call on Him, He is rich to us and we become rich and strong (Rom.10:13). Whatever our situation, we can call on Him out of the "lowest pit" (Lam.3:55-56); even during our darkest, and most depressing of times we can still cry out and cry unto Him. Hallelujah! Our calling is our breathing and when we call He draws near to us (v.57; James 4:8).

The Crucial Need

Enjoyed reading this morning that for our gospel preaching to have an impact, to experience the baptism in the Holy Spirit, we need to be in one accord. This, according to Philippians 1:27 means that we need to be "in one spirit, with one soul striving together along with the faith of the gospel". Furthermore, in light of the burden for migration to the 12 cities in the UK, for it to be a success we need to learn to be built up with the saints in our locality before we go out. Praise the Lord, for the one accord and the buidling.