A Waiting Harvest at Cana

And They Were Bewildered (Part 1 of 2)

Dear Friends, here are some of my thoughts this week.

In an article on foreign policy and international trends, I stumbled upon an interesting phrase: “the global pandemic teaches that nothing stays local for long.” As I considered his words, I thought more about the flip side of this logic: All things global first start local.

It reminded me of two aspects represented at Pentecost. First, the global movement of God’s people. And second, the release of power through the Holy Spirit.

There is always an “In the Beginning”

It seems to me that Jesus believed that all things global first start local. The global movement of billions that follow Jesus today started at one particular time. Jesus invited two brothers to follow him. Two words, one invitation: Follow me.

When we think about it, that’s how God works. When He creates, He starts with one simple thing. One word… the creation of the world. One seed…a tree, then a forest. One act of obedience on the cross…redemption and forgiveness of sin for mankind.

We live in the flow of responding to the events and circumstances that others have created. It’s easy to forget that each of these events and circumstances began at one particular time and place. Recognize-- we also can create something with one thought, one prayer, one word, one action.

Go, and wait

Pentecost is celebrated fifty days after Easter (as a biblical holiday, fifty days after Passover) and is the day God fulfilled His promise to give us the Holy Spirit. This year, Pentecost falls on May 31.

After his resurrection, Jesus spent forty days with his disciples. He provided biblical and physical proofs of his resurrection and taught things of the Kingdom of God. During this time, they also traveled from the Galilee to Jerusalem, a three to five day walk. There, Jesus instructed his disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait. They watched him ascend into heaven. Then, around 120 people waited together for about a week. Acts 1:1-11

Exactly what were they waiting for? I doubt they knew for sure. Acts 2:1-4

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled and dwelt within the hearts of men and women for the first time, fulfilling the prophecy of Joel 2:28-29. As evidence, they were filled with power and began speaking in different languages. It was an event of “firsts” nearly as earth shattering as the crucifixion and resurrection.

Law of Spiritual Gravity: A place of sacrifice draws the power of the Holy Spirit

I wondered why Jesus led his followers all the way back to Jerusalem from the Galilee. The Holy Spirit could have come down anytime, anywhere, right? Not really. God is always more purposeful than that.

Consider again, all things global first start local. The awesome power of the Holy Spirit which now fills and directs the hearts of every believer, emanated from one particular “place”.  Jerusalem, the place of sacrifice.

Jerusalem is the physical site where Jesus decided to offer his life, and in fact became a sacrifice. This “place of sacrifice,” Jerusalem, was where God first dispensed His power that now fills us and traverses the globe.

I believe we can create a similar place, too. There are moments in our life where we decide to offer a sacrifice - these areas become our Jerusalem. I believe we find the place around that decision is where God loves to descend His spiritual power.

The power of being intentional

Everything has a genesis at a particular time and at a particular place. This encourages me to be more intentional in my daily life. We tend to think that “spiritual movement” or the power of the Holy Spirit just happens, all at once,  just like that. But it doesn't. It happens through something: one thought, one prayer, one word, one action, one personal decision.