“I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Luke 24:49
Luke records these as some of the last words spoken by Christ before He ascended into heaven.
Other apostles recorded some of the acts Jesus said they would do in their ministries, but they could go nowhere and do nothing until they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
And once the Holy Spirit filled them – watch out.
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one 
place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
Acts 2:1-4
This ragtag group of people who had hid in the upper room, afraid that the soldiers who came after Christ might also come after them, suddenly changed into a group who immediately began speaking “great things of God” in languages from all over the region.
The sound was so loud that people came to see, and hear, what was happening, and hearing the Lord being glorified each in their own language, they were amazed.
Peter, who had just weeks before claimed he didn’t know Christ as He hung on the cross, now stood as he was filled with the Holy Spirit, “raised his voice and addressed the crowd,” proclaiming the prophecies of Joel, confronting them with putting the Messiah to death, witnessing to His resurrection, speaking the prophecy of David, and declaring that this Man – the Lord – was now at the right hand of God. And because of the power of the Holy Spirit, the people were convicted, and the Church grew by 3000 that day.
That first Pentecost was a small seed of what God would do through the disciples and the early church as they were empowered by the Holy Spirit.
In the Spirit the disciples were one in heart and mind, witnessed boldly, spoke with authority, prayed in faith, saw visions, prophesied, healed the sick, cast out demons, time-warped, performed signs and wonders, gave glory to God, and remained steadfast in their obedience to Him even when faced with jail, flogging, and death.
And when they were punished they entrusted themselves to their Lord.
On at least one occasion while in jail they prayed and sang hymns to God (Acts 16:25), and on another “left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” (Acts 5:41)
And all these years later, nothing has changed. We still need the empowering and leading of the Holy Spirit to accomplish God’s will.
So why don’t we see the magnitude of the miraculous works the early church experienced?
Have we run ahead of the Lord, instead of praying for and relying on the empowering of the Holy Spirit to do His work, His way, and in His time?
Are we trying to do spiritual things in our own strength, using only talents and human knowledge instead of our Spirit-given gifts and godly wisdom?
Have we been grieving the Holy Spirit by some ongoing sinful attitude or behavior?
If there’s ever a time we need the Holy Spirit to move in us and among us to do a mighty work, it is now.
On this Pentecost, I pray again for revival of my own heart and for the hearts of all God’s people. That as fellow citizens of the household of God we will recognize the gift we’ve been given in the Holy Spirit and wholeheartedly recommit ourselves to the Lord, praying our way through each day and night, yielding our wills to our Lord and Savior, putting aside the flesh and walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.
That as one we will burn with a Spirit-driven holy passion of faith, trust, and boldness in our witness of Jesus Christ and the hope we have because of Him.
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Heavenly Father, for the sake of the lost and for your glory, we put aside confidence in anything of ourselves, and we give our lives to be walking, breathing manifestations of the Holy Spirit, that we might move, serve, and worship as one body.
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May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13