The Promise of the Father

Acts 1:3-5 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: ⁴ And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. ⁵ For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

John 16:7, 13 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you…… Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

 After His resurrection, Jesus spent forty days with His disciples sharing more with them concerning the kingdom of God. Jesus had told them before the crucifixion that He must go away so that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth that would teach of Him, would come. In  His final instructions to His disciples Jesus told them to go back to Jerusalem to “wait for the promise of the Father.”  Many of them were obedient to wait until the promise came.  Most likely there were more than that initially, but they got tired of waiting and went home. 

When they waited they worshiped, prayed, and brought petitions before the Father.  They even found a replacement for Judas Iscariot to fill the empty spot amongst the twelve. 

I do not think they really knew what it was that they were waiting for or how long it would be until the promise would come.  I do not think they knew what it was going to be like.  But when the Promise came, they recognized Him, and began to flow with what He was doing.  It was probably a pretty wild time. There had never seen anything like it before. 

In much the same way, we are waiting for a promise from the Father.  Many have felt a great expectancy of something from the Father coming in their lives or region.  We do not know exactly what it is going to be like, nor how soon we will see it.  But we faithfully wait and pray and position ourselves to partake of that which our Father is about to pour out.  We wait and pray and position ourselves to flow with Him in what He is about to do.  Today is a day of preparation.  It is a day of letting God strip off the things that can get in the way or obscure our view or distort our perception of things as they unfold. 

Just as on the Day of Pentecost they had to think outside the box, we are in a day when it is not going to be church as usual and we need to think outside our traditional religious boxes.  Even amongst Pentecostals/Charismatics, we have traditional religious boxes that we have developed over the years.  They must go to make room for the new thing, whatever that looks like.  Lord Jesus help us.