When the day of Pentecost had fully come . . . they were all filled with the Holy Spirit,
and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Acts 1:1, 4
Wouldn’t you like to have been a fly on the wall to experience this day with the disciples? It must have been unreal. “Sounds” of wind from heaven? “Tongues” of fire? People acting like they are drunk? There have been many discussions over what really happened this day, and many formulas have been written, such as the “three easy steps to Pentecostal power.” However, in the pyrotechnics of the event, we sometimes miss the functional reality.
What did the “ability of God” enable the disciples to do? We see that the Holy Spirit gave them utterance. The power of the Spirit gave the fearful disciples the ability or power to speak. We become enamored with the tongues phenomenon, which is real and alive, but miss the point of the tongues on this day. Acts 2:6 says, “The multitude came together, were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.” The power or “ability of God” empowered these disciples to communicate in a way that others could hear and understand. Ability means the Holy Spirit gave the actual language and the courage to speak.
What did the Holy Spirit’s power give them utterance to say? Acts 2:11 says, “We heard them speaking in our own language the wonderful works of God.” Do you see God’s heart in all of this? Why power? So others could hear in a way that they could understand the wonderful reality of God and His goodness.
The power of the Holy Spirit in your life is for the same purpose. There are people to whom God desires to display His love and goodness, and He has empowered you to bring it to them in a “language” they will understand. By the indwelling Spirit of the Resurrected Christ, you have something that someone needs. By the power of the Spirit, He wants to get it out of you and into them! Not everyone may speak the “language” you do, but somewhere out there, there is someone who needs what you have!
Furthermore, God’s love is displayed to the disciples. The Godhead is giving these uneducated, fearful, flawed, sinful humans the wonderful honor of representing Him. The power of the Spirit, in part, is to bring wholeness to us and in us, but that is a process. Peter would later be confronted by Paul for sin. The day of Pentecost does not make us perfect, but it makes us empowered. God’s original intent for you is to be in a loving and connected relationship with Him, and then to expand His kingdom in the earth, which includes helping others see Him for who He really is. God is entrusting His kingdom to them and to us—warts and all!
The day of Pentecost is about power, which includes supernatural realities like tongues, miracles, courage, and boldness. However, note that the disciples had healed the sick before Pentecost. They had cast out demons before Pentecost. Pentecost was not about those things. It was about the giving of authority and power to the disciples to enable them to go into all the world and make more disciples.
Because the Resurrected Jesus is alive, we have the honor and responsibility to give our lives to represent to the world the most wonderful Person to ever live in it. He is here among us and in us, and the world is dying for Him. He has given us the ability to speak, act, love, and give, and as we do, people will be forgiven, healed, delivered, and restored to a loving relationship with God. All of this is expressing His wonderful love!
Do not seek power for power’s sake or for validation of who you think you are. Seek power because you desire others to experience the presence and goodness of the Resurrected Jesus of Nazareth!
Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father
the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out what you now see and hear.
Acts 2:33