Luke 10:1-24
Our foundation is found in our Lord’s instruction to the seventy and His prayer of gratitude to His Father!
Acts 1:8 – You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.
By this time, the eleven disciples had walked with Jesus for over three years. I say eleven, because Judas, after betraying Jesus took his own life. Many others followed Jesus as well. 1 Corinthians 15:6 tells us that over 500 brethren saw Him at one time after His resurrection. Acts 1:15 records that one hundred twenty disciples waited in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father of which Jesus had spoken.
Days after the resurrection it is recorded, “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14). These disciples were seeking to obey Jesus’ command to “wait” by preparing for the promise of the coming Holy Spirit. It is evident that they did not know what to expect, but they prepared the best they could to receive what the Lord had promised.
After the resurrection, when the disciples encountered the risen Lord, they did not recognize Him (Luke 24:31-32). The years in which they had walked and lived with Jesus were an encounter with the Lord in the flesh. Now, they were experiencing Him in the Spirit, and they did not really know Him (2 Corinthians 5:16). We have not known Christ after the flesh. We have only known Him by the Spirit. Although we, as they, were born of the flesh, it becomes quite a challenge to learn to respond to the Holy Spirit as He leads us in becoming a “new creation” person in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
It is important for us to prepare for the Lord’s presence. Many just assume He is present around us. I believe that He is present in our daily lives, but He wants to show Himself to us in ways we have not known and cannot imagine in our rational mind. These disciples “devoted themselves to prayer.” They devoted themselves to searching the Scriptures about what was happening. They sought to set some things in order in preparation for the coming Holy Spirit. Notice, the Scriptures state that, “they were of one mind,” as previously mentioned.
Father, help me to prepare myself for what You want to accomplish in and through me. I ask for You to help me prepare my heart and lifestyle for what You are planning. Give me an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying today to the church. Father, I pray for Your people to be of one mind in their willingness to allow the Holy Spirit to accomplish the Father’s will.