Acts 3 has one of my favorite stories in it. You know the one where Peter and John are on their way to the temple and a cripple asks them for money. Peter makes the statement, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have.” (Acts 3:6 NLT)
We all know how it ends. The crippled man gets up, totally healed, dancing around and praising God in front of everyone. So awesome! Peter being full of the Spirit was able to minister to the cripple’s real needs and see him restored both physically and emotionally.
Many of us want to see the supernatural realities of God break into our everyday situations. We want to be able lead people into an encounter with the presence of Jesus, but there is often a gap of time between those moments. My question is this: What are you filling yourself up with in the meantime? What you are full of will pour out of your life.
What were Peter and John doing before this encounter? Acts 2:42-47 List several things the new believers were up to immediately following the outpouring of the Spirit. They worshipped in the temple and in homes, they ate together sharing meals, were generous, devoted themselves to teaching the Word, and doing this all while praising God. Now this is a condensed list so I’m sure they went to work, had family obligations, business ventures, and other such things. I want you to notice, however, a few key things to staying full of the Spirit of God.
It starts with ENCOUNTER but is maintained and stirred in COMMUNITY! Wood burns brighter when it is together. They had community. You need community! They didn’t only meet in houses or only meet in the temple. They didn’t only pray together or only eat and fellowship together. They pursued His Presence and they pursued community, and in the process, they were continually filled.
In reality there were four things they did that stirred their fire and pursuit of God.
- Studied the Word
- Fellowshipped (they hung out and ate together)
- Worshipped (both in homes and in the temple)
- Prayed (both in homes and in the temple)
I want to encourage you to pursue encounters with the Holy Spirit and to also build your faith and fire in community! When the moment comes where God is looking to use you to facilitate His supernatural presence breaking into someone’s life, you’ll be full of it. You’ll be full of the Holy Spirit and be able to partner with God to see lives changed, transformed, and brought into the kingdom of God!