Acts_4
Scripture
Acts 4:31
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Observation - What does it say?
What an incredible time to be a part of the church! The believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and preached a message resulting in 3,000 people believing in Christ and getting baptized in one day!
Then shortly after, God healed a grown man through Peter and John, who had been unable to walk his entire life, causing another great crowd to gather in amazement. A crowd in the thousands! Peter and John, recognizing their opportunity, shared with the crowd that it was Jesus Christ who healed the man and 2,000 more people came to believe in Christ that day! In a very short period of time the church went from 120 people to over 5,000.
After getting arrested by the religious leaders and threatened to not speak about Jesus anymore, the believers gathered in prayer together. As they prayed, the place they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit (again) and went and spoke the word of God boldly.
Understanding - What does it mean? Two things stood out to me in this passage:
- The Holy Spirit fills believers so that they can be his witnesses.
Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses…”
It’s not about chills and thrills, it’s about bringing the good news to the world around us. And why would we need to be empowered to share? Because we are weak and cowardly if left on our own. We are all desperate for the Holy Spirit to fill us and empower us to share boldly with people about Jesus Christ!
- Being filled with the Holy Spirit isn’t a one-time thing.
The same believers who were filled and empowered in the upper room (Acts chapter 2), were filled again here!
Ephesians 5:18 “…be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
The idea in the original language is “keep on being filled.” I don’t know about you, but I recognize that I leak. Over time, my passion and hunger for God has a tendency to fade. God designed us to be in a place of continual dependency on him, where we need to come to him not for monthly or yearly bread but for ‘daily bread.’
Life Application
I’m thirsty for a refill! For an encounter with God and a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit!
And, I’m feeling challenged to be God’s witness. I want to be more like Jesus. Everywhere he went he was helping those who had needs and sharing the good news with them. What if that described my actions at the gym and the grocery store and the mall?
God, fill us all and empower us to be your witnesses everywhere we go! Amen.
- Levi Thompson