An Angel of the Lord tells Philip to go to a certain desert road. It is there Philip sees a haricot with an Ethiopian eunuch that was a court official for the queen of Ethiopia. The Holy Spirit tells Philip to go to the chariot. The official on the chariot is reading scripture and doesn’t understand it. He invites Philip to ride along with him so Philip can explain the scriptures to him. The man believes and Philip baptizes him. Then Philip is “carried away” by the Spirit of the Lord.

Philip was very in tune with the Holy Spirit’s prompting and he was obedient to the Holy Spirit’s directions. He was used by God as he listened attentively to what God directed him and obeyed. Because of Philip’s obedience, he was able to witness to and be a part in introducing someone to Jesus.

The Holy Spirit wants us to listen to Him as well. He wants us to obey His prompting. He desires to use us for His greater purposes. As we are filled with the Holy Spirit, He will speak to us and direct us. He will lead us just as He did Philip after he was filled with the Holy Spirit in the upper room at Pentecost.

May we be overflowing with the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and follow His leading!

After Stephen was stoned to death, persecution grew against the early believers. Much of it was at the hand of Saul who later became the Apostle Paul. Many believers were put in prison. Those who were not imprisoned spread out from Jerusalem witnessing of Jesus and His resurrection wherever they went. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and declared Jesus. Signs followed him, demons were cast out of people. Simon the sorcerer, who practiced magic in the city, bringing glory to himself. The people living there saw his feats and said, “ God had made him great.” When the people saw and heard from Philip what was real and true. They believed in Jesus and were baptized. Even Simon believed.

Peter and John were sent to Samaria because they had heard the people had not had the Holy Spirit fall on them. So they came to pray for them to receive the Holy Spirit. As they prayed for the people to receive the Holy Spirit, Simon the sorcerer was amazed. He offered money to be able to pray for people like that. Peter rebuked him because the gift of God cannot be bought with money.

The Holy Spirit is a gift to us. His indwelling is not something we can buy with our own influence or power. He comes to those who are seeking to be filled with Him for the glory of God. He comes to testify of Jesus and magnify Jesus through us. Simon the sorcerer was about himself, not God.

These believers had been baptized in Jesus name but the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon them as the apostles had experienced at Pentecost. That is why Peter and John came to pray for them. They needed to know about the gift of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

May we examine our hearts. Are we as Simon the sorcerer, full of ourselves. Do we think only of our plans and our glory? Or are we as the apostles, full of the Holy Spirit, testifying of God everywhere we go, bringing glory to Him in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit? Are we full of the Holy Spirit?

I love the account of Stephen in Acts. Stephen is a man that the Bible describes as being “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.” He was chosen to take care of food distribution in the early church because He had those attributes. As Stephen was faithful in His role, he was “full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.” He spoke with wisdom and the Spirit’s power.

Stephen did some of the more ordinary work within the early church with extraordinary power. Why? Because He was experiencing the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in His life. He was full of the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit was not only given at Pentecost for the twelve Apostles to work signs and wonders as they witnessed the resurrection of Jesus to the world around them. The Holy Spirit came so everyone within the church could be full of Him. The Holy Spirit used a man in charge of food distribution to widows within the church to perform “signs and wonders” and the Holy Spirit gave him supernatural wisdom and power as he spoke as well.

The Holy Spirit’s power to be a witness is for everyone within the church! He longs to empower us and to work through us giving supernatural wisdom, signs, and wonders as we do whatever our role is when we follow Jesus.

May we be as Stephen was “full of faith and the Holy Spirit!”

The apostles performed incredible miracles in the name of Jesus. The people knew the power of the Holy Spirit was within the followers of Jesus! They would lay their sick in their beds out on the streets so Peter’s shadow might touch them as he walked by. Crowds gathered bringing their sick and demon possessed to be prayed for. All were healed.

This made the religious leaders jealous. So they arrested the apostles again. This time an Angel set the apostles free. Now the religious leaders are very concerned. They wanted it stopped.

Peter and the apostles once again told the religious leaders that they crucified God’s Son, and in repentance, forgiveness of sins comes. Then they said:

“And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”” Acts 5:32 ESV

It was the Holy Spirit within the apostles that gave them the power to be witnesses of Jesus! The Holy Spirit was a witness too! Their testimony evidenced by the miraculous was impossible to deny! Unless one chose to ignore the evidence and turn the other way.

The Holy Spirit longs to testify of Jesus within our lives as well! He wants to show a life changed and empowered by Himself to those around us! He wants to work within us to create what God intended for us to be all along, the image of God! He desires to display the miraculous!

That is the purpose of Pentecost all those years ago! The Holy Spirit within us, empowering us to be a witness- a living testimony of what God is like to the world. As we give ourselves to Him and ask for Him to fill us to overflowing, and we obey Him, we will be a display of the miraculous power and love of our Heavenly Father. Our lives, through the Spirit, will glorify Him!

Come Holy Spirit! Make us a witness, with You displaying the miraculous, as Peter and the apostles were over 2000 years ago!

Ananias and Sapphira wanted to look good like some of the others who had sold their property and given the proceeds to the Church. They conspired to give but lie about how much they gave. They kept some of the money for themselves. They lied to the Holy Spirit and to man. Both of them fell dead when confronted with their sin.

After reading this I ask myself do I try to lie to the Holy Spirit as well? Do I act as if or try to give the impression that I am following God whole heartedly when I hold back,on purpose, things that I do not want to surrender to Him? The Holy Spirit who fills us with Himself, knows us. Pretending to follow Jesus so that we look good is offensive to God. God knows living wholehearted for Him is what is best for us. The Holy Spirit does not want us to pretend or be half hearted. He wants to consume all of us! It is the same as Jesus told the Church at Laodicea regarding their acting like they were following God wholeheartedly:

““‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”Revelation 3:15-16 ESV

A good cup of coffee is only good hot or ice cold as ice coffee. Lukewarm it is only worth spitting out and throwing away. It is the same for us. May we never try to lie within our hearts about our devotion to God! May we be flaming HOT in our love for Him! May we not lie to the Holy Spirit regarding what we come to give to Him!