Thank God for the Holy Spirit. Here’s an observation about the Holy Spirit that I have noticed over and over again while reading the Book of Acts. When He gets involved in a situation, barriers fall to the side and are eliminated. Here are just a few.
- The Barrier of Insufficient Power – ELIMINATED! Acts 1:8 Our weak, limited, strained abilities disappear when we put on the wardrobe of power. (Luke 24:49)
- The Barrier of Limited Geographical Effectiveness – ELIMINATED! Acts 1:8 Our finger-in-the-glass-of-water effectiveness is forever erased as He enables us to turn our entire world upside down. (Acts 17:6)
- The Barrier of Predictable Gatherings – ELIMINATED! Acts 2:2 The “And suddenly…” totally scrapped the upper room’s prepared order of service. (If your service is predictable, I seriously wonder if He is present.) The Holy Spirit loves “suddenlies” and the “while Peter yet spake these words”. (Acts 10:44)
- The Barrier of Boring Gatherings – ELIMINATED! Acts 2:2-4 The Holy Spirit totally eradicates a “snooze” meeting. Can you imagine what it was like in the upper room? With fire on their heads and fire in their spirits, there were no kumbaya songs going on. Dancing? Probably. Shouting? Yep. Jumping? Most definitely. Worshiping God to the max? Yes, yes, yes!!!
- The Barrier of Closet Pentecostals – ELIMINATED! Acts 2:5-16 The Holy Spirit refuses to be restrained and confined to a Sunday gathering place. Our Pentecostal “wardrobe” isn’t placed on a hanger inside of the church closet as we leave the service.
- The Barrier of Intimidation – ELIMINATED! Acts 2:5-16 The Holy Spirit causes fear to be smashed to smithereens. Boldness replaces fear and causes us to stand and speak whereas, in times past, intimidation would cause us to fade into the background and hide. (Acts 2:14)
- The Barrier of Age Restrictions – ELIMINATED! Acts 2:17,39 Too young? Too old? Those days are forever gone. Now, from the youngest to the oldest, no ID card is needed to show our age eligibility. We are all at the perfect age to be used by the Holy Spirit.
- The Barrier of Gender Restrictions – ELIMINATED! Acts 2:17-18 Male? Female? It’s now a great big “yep”.
- The Barrier of Race/Background – ELIMINATED! Acts 2:38, 10:34-35 The Holy Spirit erases the “us four and no more” mentality. The race is gone as the grace shines!
- The Barrier of Location – ELIMINATED! Acts 1-28 A mile, a hundred miles, a million miles away from anything that resembles Christianity, the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit is ready and waiting. I’ll go one step further. Ready for this? The Holy Spirit eliminates the need for you to be present to activate God’s power. (Acts 19:11-12)
Can I continue? I could tell about the Barrier of Time, the Barrier of Education (or lack thereof), the Barrier of Money, the Barrier of Emotions, etc. But, I will leave this for you to study. I’ll end just the way that I started this post. Thank God for the Holy Spirit.
