As we continue through the book of Acts, I am reminded of just how amazing the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ was in it’s inception. How his followers carried out his commandments being empowered by the Holy Ghost and preaching the Gospel with all boldness. It was truly a Church ABLAZE!
Just as Jesus had promised, the Comforter would endue them with power from on high and on the day of Pentecost, being filled with the Holy Spirit, they began to speak in tongues and magnify God. Peter preached the Gospel message of salvation and before the day was through, three thousand souls were saved.
Time and again throughout the book of Acts, the supernatural power of God is recorded as operating through the Church with the lame man at the gate Beautiful miraculously healed, earth shaking prayer meetings, a whole community of sick folk healed with some just by having the shadow of Peter the Apostle pass by them, miracles, signs and wonders. Perhaps one of the most remarkable manifestations of God’s power is the fact that the followers of Christ sold all their possessions, both poor and those with land, and brought the money to the disciples feet, where there was distribution made particularly to the poor. And they were united! (Acts 4:32-37).
The Church was on fire, set ablaze by the Spirit of God. In one instance the Church was described as; “These that have turned the world upside down” Acts 17:6.
God is calling the Church back to the same level of zeal and passion. Let us be mindful to not become so sophisticated and drilled in our church structure/services that we merely rely on rote and ceremony. We need the Holy Ghost to operate in us and through us. The Church is not a once a week event at a particular location, but it is the active ‘Body’ of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the church’s calling to turn our world upside down by bringing men and women to a saving knowledge of Christ. Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but that is just one component of the function of the Church. Our assignment is to invade the lost world for the sake of souls.
It starts by praying and seeking earnestly, with all our hearts, for God’s divine intervention in our lives and in our Church. We must enter the prayer closet and begin to stoke the flames of prayer and fasting until our lives, and our Church, is once again ablaze with Holy Ghost zeal.