Yesterday, I was reading Acts 1 again and a phrase that I know that I’ve read so many times before jumped out at me. In the second verse, I read …
“Until the day when He ascended, after He through the Holy Spirit
had instructed and commanded the apostles (special messengers) whom He had chosen.”
Acts 1:2 (The Amplified Translation)
My eyes couldn’t leave the phrase “after He through the Holy Spirit had instructed and commanded”. Jesus was teaching and leading “through the Holy Spirit”. It wasn’t the Son of God doing it all by Himself. Jesus was depending upon the Holy Spirit.
Let me let you in on a fact of ministry. The longer that you and I work in a particular ministry, the easier it is to do things based upon experience. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Teaching a lesson is no challenge. Telling a story from the Bible isn’t difficult. In fact, it is super easy. Why? Because we have done it over and over and over again before. We are good or even great at what we do.
Listen, it isn’t expertise nor experience that will destroy the yoke of bondage. It isn’t your longevity in ministry that will break strongholds that have been passed down generationally. It is still “through the Holy Spirit” or, as Zechariah wrote,
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Zechariah 4:6
Hang your 20 years of service plaque on your wall for decorations and then push the dependency upon experience to the side and once again cry out for a “by my Spirit” encounter. Then, you, your kids, and your ministry will be forever changed.
