The Centrality of the Holy Spirit
We see that the Holy Spirit was absolutely central to everything the apostles did in the book of Acts. Nothing could be done without the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit and this was always the one ingredient they were looking for.
At Pentecost it was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that created a wave of miracles and also Peter boldly standing up and preaching.
Later on in Acts chapter 8 we see that even though people had given their lives to Jesus through the evangelism of Phillip the first thing Peter and John did was to pray for the believers to receive the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:15 "As soon as they arrived they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit."
In Acts chapter 19 the same thing happens. As soon as Paul meets the new believers in Ephesus he asks them if they have received the Holy Spirit and then prays for them! The guys knew that this was the one ingredient that could not be missing- the one thing that each believer had to have. They all walked in the supernatural and were witnesses to the supernatural.
How much are we trying to do without the presence of the Holy Spirit and his gifts working through us? Are we looking for the Holy Spirit and his manifestations as central to anything we do?
Extraordinary miracles
In the gospels we find a unique miracle. A lady, suffering from constant bleeding for 8 years simply touched the hem of Jesus' robe and she was healed! This was not a once of miracle in Mark 6:56:
"Wherever he went—in villages, cities, or the countryside—they brought the sick out to the marketplaces. They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed."
Once again back in Acts chapter 19 we see that this miracle was 'upgraded' to handkerchiefs and aprons that had merely touched Paul, and he wasn't even there when it happened.
Acts 19:11 "God gave Paul the power to perform unusual/extraordinary miracles." This wasn't the usual mixing of laying hands on people so they could be healed and/or delivered. Notice that Paul was the one doing the miracles. The Holy Spirit gives the power but chooses to use us and transfers that power to us once he lives in us. We have the power to heal. Paul wasn't even close when the healing happened, it merely touched him then they travelled with it to another place, placed it on the sick and they were healed and even delivered of demons!
Discovering the ways of the Spirit
These miracles had never happened before. It was reminiscent of Peter healing people with his shadow, even that hadn't happened before. Philip spoke to an angel and was transported to another location twice! Before this point in the Gospels there is nothing that indicates that these works are going to happen, no record that it had happened. Even Jesus healed people with his robe, but not across a distance! It was all new works of the Holy Spirit. Just as speaking in tongues and the ability for every believer to prophesy was new works of the Holy Spirit. Never been done before.
So what stops the Holy Spirit of inventing even newer and other original ways of doing his work? There is so much to discover of the Holy Spirit's workings and creativity. We don't know it all and haven't seen it all. What the Holy Spirit expects of us is to join him on a crazy adventure and press in to him more until we see things happening through and by us that has never happened before.
Therefore we need to challenge our minds to not scoff at something or some way we don't know but to be receptive of ways of the Holy Spirit we haven't seen before. It helps me to not simply nullify something just because it is weird and it is the first time I've seen it.
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