Don’t miss your suddenly moment

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. – Acts 2:1-4.

In the upper room there was a suddenly moment and it all started with the sound as of a rushing, mighty wind. This would have taken them by surprise and got their attention.

We don’t just want a gentle breeze experience, we need the dunamis, the surprising power which cannot be ignored.

The rushing mighty wind, was the first of three things which happened on that day which may seem unusual to us, but not to God. These were used to get the attention of men and women.

The word in Greek for wind is pneuma and in Hebrew is ruach which can be used for spirit or breath.

After God had made everything in creation, He took some lifeless elements, the dust of the ground and formed the shape of a man. It was lifeless until God breathed life into it. The ruach of God suddenly made us alive.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. – Genesis 2:7

Once more in in Acts 2 we see God breathing into a spiritually lifeless body, the church.

Then came the tongues of fire which sat on everyone, but did not consume them. As a friend of mine used to say, 120 heads, 120 flames. In Exodus 3, God gets the attention of Moses by a bush which was burning, but not consumed.

And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. – Exodus 3:2

This encounter was to get Moses out from his inactivity, so that he could be used for God’s purposes.

Then when the crowd heard them in Acts 2 they spoke in different languages. Again in Genesis we see different languages being used to divide the people.

Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. – Genesis 11:9

Now in Acts, we see those languages being brought together by another act of God.

And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. – Acts 2:6

So as strange as this may sound, we see the hand of God in it all. As Holy Spirit power falls on us in unfamiliar ways, there is nothing to fear.

We need to come out of our inactivity, even if we don’t see tongues of fire.

When Holy Spirit comes, that which divides us becomes a strength and an evangelistic opening.

As I was reminded recently, we simply need to breathe in and breathe out.

In the natural, we breathe in oxygen and we breathe out carbon dioxide. In the spiritual, we breathe in the breath of God and breathe out His power.

He breathes into us with His ruach, so we can breathe out with His dunamis.

This is not just for the special few chosen by men. It is not just for one gender or age group. God pours out His spirit on ALL flesh.

ALL flesh means ALL flesh with no restrictions of age, gender, colour or creed nor even worship preference. All will be involved, men and women, the old and the young.

But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,

That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

Your young men shall see visions,

Your old men shall dream dreams.

18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days;

And they shall prophesy.

– Acts 2:16-18

I don’t want to be like the church in Acts 1, who had enjoyed an encounter with Christ but had no power. I believe we are still in the days of Joel’s prophecy. All of us can have our suddenly moment and be more like the church we see in Acts 2, after a sudden Holy Spirit encounter. Dreams, visions and prophecies, all to glorify God.

Don’t miss out on your suddenly moment. God still desires to breathe His life giving breath into us, His church today, we can breathe out in His power to fulfil His plan of salvation before His sure return.