PRAYER PRACTICE
Lectio – Read today’s passage through once. Then spend some time praying and asking God to show you what you need to pay attention to in the text. Read it again. Now ask God to help you see what this text, and the part that has stood out, may mean for you. Don’t expect to get a clear word every time but always be ready to really hear from God through His Word.
For more help use this Bible Study method
REFLECTION
The Holy Spirit Changes and Protects
by David Thompson
"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people." At first glance, this may be confusing. We may think of the last days as the rapture or the time just before the end. In the commentaries it describes it differently. The "last days" are anytime between when Jesus was crucified to the time He comes back. Therefore, it includes the experiences of the Apostles outlined in Acts 2 and it also includes us now. We are living in the last days, therefore what is told about here is ongoing.
Some of the various promises of things happening are not here yet but all will be fulfilled before Christ's return. It might get easy to take things for granted and not stay vigilant, but it is wise to be ready when the time comes. Acts 2:19 says, "I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke." Although some have tried to say that these things have happened already in war with missiles in the air and smoke and blood, I am convinced that this is actually stretching it for saying the end of the world is close. I believe we all will see these promised signs and will worship God for these things.
Finally, in the last verse of this section we are given a promise of assurance, "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." This is a great promise as it explains why we are saved and that God is giving the unsaved another chance. I believe that with all the signs in the air, with so many prophesying and dreaming dreams that many will be convinced to believe.
This does not take away from our duty to be ready with a good Word to friends, coworkers, and family members, but it also gives us assurance that some that have been hardhearted might turn it around.
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