“..tarry ye…until ye be endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)
Jesus had just been crucified and buried. Now, as the disciples are assembled together, the resurrected Christ appears before them! Imagine how anxious they must have been to get busy serving the Lord and doing miraculous deeds, now that they know He had been raised from the dead. But, instead of telling them to hurry off and begin performing miracles, Jesus told His disciples that they were to wait in Jerusalem.
“What? Wait? But why?” they must have asked Him. So Jesus says to them, “..behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you [the Holy Spirit]: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power [by the Holy Spirit] from on high.” In other words, Jesus was telling them not to try and do one single work for Him UNTIL the Holy Spirit was given to them.
What a lesson for us, today! We do not have to “wait” on the Holy Spirit like the disciples did because we are given the Holy Spirit the moment we are saved. BUT, though we do not have to wait on the PRESENCE of the Holy Spirit to do God’s work, we must wait on the FILLING of the Holy Spirit to do God’s work.
Trying to do God’s work without the filling of the Holy Spirit simply means we are trying to do God’s work through the power of the flesh. No, we must wait until we are sure that we are right with God and are being led by the Holy Spirit so that when we do God’s work, it will be done God’s way.
Singers, don’t try and minister through your singing unless you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Teachers, don’t try and teach your Sunday School class unless you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Preachers, don’t try to preach a sermon unless you are filled with the Holy Spirit.
If you have sin in your life, then you are NOT filled with the Holy Spirit. Make things right, today, and be filled so you can get busy serving!