The Promise of the Father

The Promise of the Father

   In Acts 1:4-5 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, "which" He said "you have heard from me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now".

Jesus told His disciples to wait for the "Promise of the Father" which was the gift of the Holy Spirit they were to receive.  In addition to salvation, God wants His people to receive this flooding of their inner beings with the Spirit of God called "The baptism of the Holy Spirit". It is a complete immersion of the human personality into the Spirit of God through which Holy Spirit is allowed to come in the fullness of His power, into a persons life. Under the old covenant, only those uniquely called or annointed. of God  received the Holy Spirit.  But under the New Covenant, every believer is offered "The Promise of the Father" which is "power from on high"  the active presence of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49). It is by this activity of the Spirit's fullness in the life of every believer that the  ministry of Christ in His church continues.  The power of God comes only by the Holy Spirit Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and Samaria, and to all the earth. " There is no other way to appropriate this power. But even after receiving it, we must remember that being filled with the Holy Spirit is a one time event.  We need to be continuing refilled with the Spirit in order to renew our lives and ministries. We also need to exercise our prayer language as a part of the Spirit's flow in our lives Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance; Acts 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rules of the people and elders of Israel"; Acts 13:9 "Then Saul, who also [is called] Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him."

Through the Holy Spirit, we can expect our Spirit-filled relationship with Jesus to help us to speak boldly, with courage, and with spiritual understanding.  Acts 4:13 "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. " As we expect that courage and spiritual understanding to come,  will be ready to share Jesus boldly, always asking the Holy Spirit to confirm our testimony.  Acts 10:44-45 "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all of those who heard the word.