“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.”
ACTS 4:13
Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Deborah, Elijah and Elisha–all these names inspire awe and wonder, but they were people of like passions like you and I (James 5:17). The same Spirit that was upon them is in us. We did not receive a second-rate Spirit or experience, and we should not expect a second-rate result.
THE BAPTISM IN THE SPIRIT ENDUES BELIEVERS WITH THE Spirit of the prophets. When the prophets experienced God supernaturally, they called it the Spirit of the prophets. Joel 2:28 promised that the same Spirit of the prophets would be poured out on all flesh. People of all kinds would prophesy—not just an individual here and there. Furthermore, this outpouring would not be for a single task but as a permanent gift in Christ to everyone. On the Day of Pentecost, as described in Acts, “a sound like the blowing of a violent wind filled the whole house where they were sitting . . . and tongues of fire came to rest on each of them.” They all spoke with new tongues about the “wonderful works of God.” Joel’s prophecy was that young and old would prophesy, and Peter declared, “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.” He described new tongues as prophecy (Acts 2:15-17). Prophecy is utterance under the power of God, and we see it in these last days as we are endued with the same Spirit as the prophets of old.
The transformational power of the Holy Spirit is undisputable. Fishermen and peasants turned into great apostles–weak and indecisive but having become strong and influential. They became spearheads in the Kingdom of God blazing away in the darkness of the world with the fire of the Gospel.
YOU WOULD THINK IT WAS MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: A GROUP of fishermen charged with changing the world. However, these mostly unlearned nobodies advanced with a new secret. God personally worked with them through signs and wonders. More than that, He barbed their simple words with conviction and guided those words to the hearts of hearers as unerringly and powerfully as David’s stone to the head of Goliath. Without personal charisma, the charisma of the Spirit of God endued them. Their “secret” was simple—the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit does not choose the strong and the capable, although He does not ignore them either. However, His main purpose is to give strength to the weak and needy. Their weakness attracts His power, His all-sufficiency and His life-giving dynamism. He comes for the best and for the worst of us, as the Father’s Promise sent by the Son. Look at the story of Peter the Apostle:
PETER DENIED JESUS THREE TIMES WHILE AT THE FIRE ON THE night Jesus was arrested (Mark 14:66-72). Questions as to his identity came to him like a shot, and he miserably denied Jesus his Lord. Tears dripped down his rugged beard, and when Jesus silently looked at him, the melt-down of repentance began. But look what happened to Peter on the Day of Pentecost. He became the spokesman of the Apostles of the Lamb and he also led 3,000 people to the Lord that day (Acts 2). God gives such empowerment to the most miserable people.