Acts 4:32-33 And the multitude of them who believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own: but they had all things common. And with great power gave the Apostles witness of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great Grace was upon them all.

 

We can see by the above Passage of Scripture that the group of believers had grown in number to several thousand. They were in one accord and supported each other. The enemy had tried to ruin them financially by excommunicating them from the Synagogue. Many of them worked there and to be put out of the Synagogue meant destruction. But together they stood strong in their faith in Christ: His Crucifixion and His Resurrection.

 

At that time, many people had been crucified on crosses. It was the means of capital punishment but only Jesus was Resurrected. This was the greatest happening in all of history both before and until this day. The Resurrection of Christ was the proof that He was the Son of God; the Messiah which they had studied for generations.

 

There are people today who place their faith in the Resurrection. They believe it is more important than the Crucifixion but if Christ had not been Crucified, He could not be Resurrected. While both occurrences are Miraculous, it was the Crucifixion of Christ that took away the sins of the world. His Resurrection proved that He overcame death; that the grave could not hold Him. Then by appearing to well over 500 people after that, proved that He was alive and still is alive to this day sitting at the Right Hand of the Father in Heaven. So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into Heaven, and sat down at the Right Hand of God. (Mark 16:19)

 

The common faith of the people in Christ Crucified and Resurrected created an atmosphere for the Holy Spirit to work mightily. Although they did not have a complete understanding of Grace, (which would come later through Paul) they knew that the Holy Spirit of God was moving mightily among them and through them and their numbers grew by the day.

 

Creating an atmosphere where the Holy Spirit can work should be the goal of the Church. Back in 2007 when God called me to build a retreat facility here in Caney, He spoke something very powerful to me that I shall never forget. I had no idea what a retreat facility was. I had never been on a retreat in my life. I knew I had to build a building. That would be no problem as I had built many buildings in the past. But what the Lord spoke to my spirit that morning in prayer would be the crux of His whole ministry here. He said, I want you to create an atmosphere where My Holy Spirit can work in the lives of those who come.

 

As I said, building a building was not the problem but how does one create a spiritual atmosphere where the Holy Spirit of God can work? These Words spoken to me that morning set me on a quest to determine exactly what God was talking about and as Jesus said, Seek and ye shall find. I prayed and sought the Word of God about this. He kept His Promise and began to show me how to do this. I will go into some detail about it tomorrow.

 

The believers of the First Church created such an atmosphere and the Holy Spirit moved among them. He will do the same anywhere. A proper spiritual atmosphere is what God desires for His Church.

 

A proper spiritual atmosphere will…...….turn the tide

 

Thank you Lord,         Doreen

 

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