The Power Source


I like to listen to my iPod when I am mowing the lawn or exercising or riding my bike. Maybe you have an iPod, CD player, MP3 player, radio or even your phone that you use to listen to music. Whatever you use, you need a power source. I have to plug my iPod and Blackberry into a charger. I charge my MP3 player by plugging it into my computer. If you use something else to listen to music, you’ll need batteries or to be plugged into an outlet.

It needs a power source.

Before Jesus returned to heaven to be with his Father, he told his disciples that they would do even greater things than he had done when he was on earth. Now Jesus did some pretty great things, didn't he? He healed the sick. He turned water into wine. He made the blind to see and the lame to walk. Where were the disciples going to get the power to do such great things? Jesus promised them that he would ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit would give them the power to do great and mighty things.

It happened just as Jesus said it would. On the day which is called Pentecost, the disciples were all together in one place. The Bible tells us that there was a sound from heaven like a mighty rushing wind and it filled the place where the disciples were gathered. Then, there were flames of fire that appeared and rested upon each of them. When these things happened, the disciples were filled with power and began to preach and teach about Jesus. They were able to do things that they had never done before because of the power of the Holy Spirit in them.

Did you know that you and I have that very same power available to us today? The Bible says that "all who are led by the Spirit are children of God." We who are the children of God have the power to do great and mighty things, not in our own strength, but through the power of the Holy Spirit that is within us.

We don't have to perform miracles or speak in other languages as the early disciples did on the day of Pentecost and shortly thereafter. We have the power of God's Word. That is our power source. The Holy Spirit worked through that Word with a splash of water to make us his own in our Baptism. The Holy Spirit works through that Word with the bread and wine to strengthen our faith in the Lord's Supper. And the Holy Spirit works through the written, spoken, sung and visible Word of God to sanctify us to live as God's chosen saints.

Stay plugged into your power source!

Dear Father, we pray that we will be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit just as the disciples were on the day of Pentecost. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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