The Last Days Will Be

And in the last days it will be, God says, that I will pour out My Spirit on all people, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.  Acts 2:17-18 NET

When you’re driving through life and the journey leads to you to a dark place where you feel alone and abandoned, know that you’re never really alone. God loves us, each and every piece of our tattered self and He calls us sons and daughters. Even when nothing else seems to work, Holy Spirit is right there with you. With only a thought, He can speak life, hope, strength, joy, and encouragement to you and over you. Even better, if we pray, and learn to listen intently, He helps us avoid residing in some of those dark places. 

Romans 8:14-16 NET For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.

As we grow under the grace and knowledge of  Jesus Christ, we learn how to recognize the guidance of Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples that Holy Spirit does not speak of Himself, but that which He hears from the Father. The direction of Holy Spirit is always in agreement with God’s Word. Any thought or word that comes to us must be in alignment with what God has said, or it is not Holy Spirit’s leading.

Have you been in a place of indecision and questioned if it was the will of God for your life? Were your thoughts, decisions and actions in agreement with His Word?  Ask Holy Spirit. Pray to Him for wisdom, affirmation. 

Acts 1:8 NET But you will receive power when Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.

Holy Spirit makes it possible for Jesus Christ to communicate with every single one of His followers in each moment, across the globe. Jesus could only be in one place at a time. His first disciples didn’t know much about Holy Spirit or His purpose. Maybe that’s why Jesus spent His last days on earth preparing them for His death. They didn’t know He was about to die, and they certainly didn’t understand why. So, instead of trying to dump His entire plan on them all at once, He made them a promise.  Jesus said that when He left He’d send someone else in His place— Holy Spirit.  

John 7:37-39 NET On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘ From within him will flow rivers of living water.’” (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Jesus wasn’t saying that they would be trading their relationship with Him in exchange for a relationship with Holy Spirit. Rather, Holy Spirit would come alongside them and help them understand everything Jesus had been teaching. Plus, Holy Spirit would teach them new things as they learned to hear His voice. 

When Holy Spirit came, He lead them to the truth. He didn’t have His own agenda, He was totally committed to completing Jesus’ mission on earth. In fact, the Holy Spirit does everything to bring honor to Jesus. He relays messages straight from Jesus into the hearts and minds of all His followers. But, here’s the best news of all: That promise wasn’t just for the disciples who were sitting around that night. It was also for each of us, generation after generation!

Luke 12:12 NET For Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you must say.

Think about how that changed the game. Before Jesus gave us access to Holy Spirit, He was limited to physically being in one place at a time. He had to spread His message one crowd or one person at a time. But, when Holy Spirit made His home in the heart of every believer, Jesus’ message was engraved into our hearts for eternity!

Holy Spirit lives within us. He is available at any moment for any reason. Just think about Him, and He is here.  Need guidance? Feeling confused? Wondering what to do? Just ask and He hears you.  My friends, please know our relationship with God isn’t limited.  We’ve been promised the same access to God through Holy Spirit. 

Acts 2:1-4 NET Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a violent wind blowing came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting. And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.

God might start by having Holy Spirit whisper parts of His plan to several people. They might not even know each other or attend the same church, or be in the same social circle but they’re each listening to Holy Spirit and doing what He says.  

Piece by piece, He lays out a plan of action to accomplish the thing God wants to do. In His timing, in His will, the pieces come together and God’s plan happens.

In fact, open the Bible, and read the book of Acts, again if you already have. It is is full of crazy stories about how Holy Spirit put the right people together at the right time to make something special for God’s kingdom happen. Honestly, with Holy Spirit living inside each of us, the possibilities are as limitless as God Himself. Our only job is to listen to that quiet voice of the Lord in our head and do our best to obey.

And while I don’t think we will ever really lose the wonder of conversations with God, when we learn how God speaks, it will start to feel more natural.