Are you in a wilderness? Are you searching for answers? Do you feel alone in the crowd? Do you sense hopelessness? Despair? Do you feel insignificant? Incapable? Perhaps you are in your wilderness! Perhaps you, as a child of God, are being prepared for victory and great service! Perhaps there is an unfathomable ministry ahead of you, and you are being refined as gold in a fire!Everyone faces their wilderness. Jesus did 40 days, Moses 40 years, Paul was blinded, Abraham childless, Adam was banished. Those used of God will first spend a time of or in the wilderness.
The wilderness, in whatever form it manifests upon us, serves many purposes. It is an experience like no other. Unpleasant? Yep! Difficult? You betcha! Full of evil temptation? Of course. But those that persevere, those that turn to God and God alone for strength, those that fully realize their own inability to succeed apart from God, to them is handed the keys to the kingdom!
This wilderness, whatever it is, serves to strengthen us for days ahead, to focus us on our mission, to purify us of whatever we would try to use instead of the holy ghost, to build our faith, clear our vision, test our resolve, to show us the reality of the enemy of mankind. It is truly a necessary and blessed place.
The key... Is the last part of this verse... Angels ministering. God never leaves us alone! The very angels of heaven are there for you and me... To minister to our hurting hungry tired humanness. Turn to God as David did in the psalms and let the refreshing waters of God refresh your soul. Turn to God and God alone! He is our living water in a dry wilderness.
It is when our prayer becomes for strength and holiness, instead of deliverance, that we are ready to leave the wilderness.
Jesus commanded the disciples to "wait till you are clothed with power from in high" as his last words on earth. They were not to use their experiences, the teaching he had provided, the training, the study, none of that until the holy spirit was given and received. John describes this step as the gospel itself! Yet today it seems often overlooked. Violating Jesus command by stepping out in ministry of any sort without being clothed, baptized, filled with the holy spirit is a recipe for disaster. It amounts to man trying to "do it" again through man's means. Training, study, school, are all institutions of man. Jesus warned that the holy spirit is our guide, and our power.
This baptism that John speaks of must be separate from salvation since the disciples were commanded to wait for it after salvation was granted. Pentecost!
To walk in an any effective ministry, requires that the holy spirit be the guide, comforter, power. He keeps us from error and empowers the work or words to be effective. And today we live after Pentecost! The gift of the great comforter and power is given, we only need to receive! The power to walk as Jesus did is available to us!
John says that Jesus "shall" baptize us in the holy spirit... Shall... Today is that day!
There is an old saying... "If you have to invite someone to church, don't bother". That may seem odd but think of this example from Jesus ministry, who we are to follow. He did not publicise his ministry, in fact, he did the opposite. He encouraged silence!
There seem two truths at play here.
First, Jesus helped people out of his compassion. He offered what he could, health and deliverance, toease suffering. He met their needs out of his kind heart. He could not say no! It was not a membership drive, was no advertising, was no plan to get people to listen, was no motive other than compassion. We should follow his example... Serve others. Meet their needs out of pure love and compassion. Not church building, not with numbers in mind, just pure compassion for suffering.
Second, meeting peoples need brought the crowds to Jesus! They overwhelmed to the point he could not even enter a town! The lesson here is that if we meet others needs, crowds will come automatically. Truly meeting needs is unique, and draws a crowd. People are full of needs to be met.
The saints of today, the churches of today, would do well to heed this lesson. Crowds come when needs are met. If we forgot about all the advertising and programs and entertainment and enticement, instead just met true needs with true solutions from above, out of a pure heart of compassion, our churches would be overwhelmed with crowds. Not offering man's wisdom that is a dime a dozen, but true healing, true deliverance, true help... As Jesus did. If we are unable to offer true help from above, our goal should be seeking god until "clothed with power from on high" so that we can walk as Jesus did.
Advertising is not the answer... Righteousness, power, compassion, love. Those are the answer to a hurting world.
