No shortcuts

I, like you, long for a moving of God's Spirit in our church, our community, our state, our country and our world.

 

But here's what I know:  there are no shortcuts to the "upper room" of God's presence.

 

We as Pentecostals revel in Acts 2 - where God's Spirit fell upon His people - and people were filled and embolden with the power of God to be His witnesses.

 

So what is the foundational pathway to being Spirit filled?

 

It always runs through the Cross.  There is no shortcut around Calvary to the Upper Room.

 

To be it kind of crassly, we must "pay" before we "play" in the presence of God.

 

Paul teaches us in Romans 12:1, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship."

 

Before I experience Pentecost, I must experience a sacrifice of myself.  I place my living offering (my emotions, mind and body) on the altar of fire and let God purge my being of any unrighteousness.

 

That is the divine order of progression.

 

To experience God's presence in a deeper way, I must identify myself with the lamb of God who was crucified for me. 

 

When Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn to let all of us as followers of Christ into the holy of holies.

 

We now have access into his presence.

 

The wounded side of Jesus is open and we all have an open invitation to walk through His wounds to the very heart of God.

 

Calvary - Pentecost.  Let's not put the "cart" before the proverbial "horse."

 

Just a thought for a Thursday.