Luke 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Shortly after WWI, Lawrence of Arabia was entertaining some of his Arab friends in Paris. He showed them the sights of the city: the Arc d’Triomph, the Louvre, the Champs Elysees. It was a remarkable irony to Lawrence that these amazing sights were not what most impressed his Arab friends — but rather the bathtub faucet of their hotel room. They were completely astonished that someone could turn a handle…and get all the water he wanted.
As they were preparing to leave Paris, Lawrence found his foreign friends in the bathroom with wrenches trying to disconnect the faucet.
They said, “It is very dry in Arabia. What we need are faucets. If we have them, we will have all the water we want.” Lawrence had to explain that the water did not come from the faucets, but rather from the water supply to which they were connected. It doesn’t matter if you have a faucet — if you’re not connected to the water supply!
As we approach the Jewish festival of Shavuot otherwise known as the day of Pentecost, we’re reminded of how God endued those in the Upper Room with power from on high! They waited – and waited – and waited, for the promised coming of the Holy Spirit. They didn’t go forth proclaiming the gospel UNTIL they were filled with power from on high. I believe as they were in prayer in the upper room, God was revealing different sins in their lives that He wanted them to deal with, so that He could fill them to overflowing. The Lord did not want these saints just to be faucets — but rather, conduits of his power!
Let’s spend time today making sure all the obstructions are cleared — so that we can be the spirit-filled saints God has called us to be in these last days! There’s so much work to be done — but let’s be sure we’re doing the work, fully endued with power from on high!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]One of the great marvels of the Roman Empire was the invention of the aqueduct system to provide water over vast distances. It was an absolutely ingenious method which made use of gravity, with stone arches to support the water channels. An aqueduct was built in 109 AD which carried water to the city of Segovia for eighteen hundred years. For nearly sixty generations this aqueduct provided cool water from the mountains above. But fairly recently, it was beginning to collapse.
I love fishing but sadly, I haven't been able to do it in quite some time. Yeah, I know, one would think there'd be some good fishing spots here in Israel. However, from what I understand, they're not really available to the public. So sad. Nevertheless, fishing gives me a chance to get a break from the world and just relax and meditate -- and on a good day, maybe catch a fish or two.
When Daniel was in the midst of the lion’s den…God was with him. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were in the midst of the fiery furnace…God was with them. It would have been perfectly easy for God to immediately transport these saints out of their difficulties, but no, He chose instead to be with them in the midst of their trials. God chose to reveal His power through the trials instead of exercising His power to remove them.
Doesn’t it seem like just when we get that much needed breakthrough, suddenly the enemy comes to attack? In this passage we read how the Philistines heard that David was anointed King and quickly assembled together to seek and destroy him. And what does David do? Does he become fearful? No. Does he hide? No! David goes out to meet them!
Do you ever wonder why it is that sometimes we don't get the things we pray for? James hits it on the nail when he says that we ask amiss, that we may consume it upon our pleasures.
Yeshua (Jesus) told His disciples to go into the deep waters and let down their nets for fish. When they did, their nets were filled up with fish to the point of breaking. Being fishermen and businessmen, they may have been tempted to start doing business. I mean, think how much they could make!
Numerous modern critics of the Bible say the resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus) is simply a myth based on pagan stories of “resurrected gods” from around the world, and that the authors of the New Testament borrowed from these myths and incorporated them into the Bible. But the similarity of two stories proves nothing about their origin or truth content. The Jews of Yeshua’s time were steeped in Old Testament monotheism which had a well developed tradition of resurrection believed and taught by the Pharisees. Polytheistic pagan ideas would have been abhorrent to men who understood and practiced the Judaism of the apostles and New Testament writers.