DEVOTIONS

Monday, May 29 – “Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” (Acts 2:33) The Holy Spirit has always been around.  Pentecost is simply the turning of a page into a new chapter in our relationship with the Holy Spirit.  Through Jesus, the Holy Spirit is poured out on all who follow him.  Prior to Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was only poured out on specific people, at specific times, for a specific purpose.  Now, because of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is given to all people of faith in Jesus, for all times and all purposes.    

Tuesday, May 30 – “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field.” This Festival of Harvest is what is happening in Jerusalem, when the Holy Spirit comes down from heaven and rests on the disciples.  Jewish people, from all over the word, are present to celebrate the first harvest of the season.  This is why all the different languages needed to be spoken.  How appropriate that God would use the Festival of Harvest as the release date of the Holy Spirit into the world.  For on that day, over 3,000 were baptized.  Now that is a great harvest. 

Wednesday, May 31 – “They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” (Acts 1:14) This is what was happening before Pentecost.  Before you can reap a harvest, you must prepare the dirt, plant the seed and tend to the seed.  What this preparing, planting and tending looks like is a community of followers in worship and prayer.  Only after this preparing, planting and tending can the seed grow into a plant that will produce the need for a harvest.  You need to be a part of a believing community.  You need to worship and pray.  That is, if you want a harvest? 

Thursday, June 1 – “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13) The Holy Spirit is yours.  The very presence of God living in you.  All you need to do is ask for it.  God won’t kick down your door or force you into this intimate relationship.  God will simply sit outside your door, knocking.  It’s up to you to open the door and to, literally, invite God in, to dwell in your life.

Friday, June 2 – “No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:” (Acts 2:16) God wasn’t siting up in heaven one day, some 2,000 years ago, contemplating if this would be a good day to bless the world with the Holy Spirit.  Has it ever occurred to you that nothing ever occurs to God?  Pentecost was a part of a master plan.  So many things had occurred that would lead us to the day of Pentecost.  And all of those things were a part of God’s reality, since the very beginning. The very words that Peter quotes on Pentecost were written by Joel, some 400 years before Peter was ever born.  Pentecost might be new to you.  But it’s just another piece of what God has been up to, since the very beginning. 

Saturday, June 3 – “Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” (Genesis 11:7) This is from the story of the Tower of Babel.  All of the people, who resided in what we call the middle east, were spread out all over the world.  They developed different languages and different physical characteristics. As a result of this, people lost the ability to communicate with each other.  On Pentecost, the disciples, through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, were given the ability to speak foreign languages.  God brought his people back together, in the middle east.  And gave them the ability to once again, speak to each other.