Acts 1:8 "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Forty days after the resurrection Jesus took His disciples to the Mount of Olives. After giving them final instructions, He was taken up into heaven. The disciples were then to go to Jerusalem and wait until they had received the promise of the Father, i.e., The Holy Spirit. Jesus told them earlier that when He went away He would send them another Comforter, One that would be in them. (John 14:17). Jesus told them they were to receive power. All too often, when we think of "power" we think of the special effects in the sci.-fi. Movies. The power we receive involves courage, boldness, confidence, insight, ability, and authority. As faith grows there may even be miracles. Speaking in tongues may well come with the receiving of the Holy Spirit, but it is by no means the essential part. The power is in effectively bearing witness to the saving grace of Jesus. To be His witnesses, beginning with where we are and expanding to the ends of the earth. Before the Holy Spirit came the disciples cowered in fear behind closed doors - they feared for their lives. Afterwards, not only were they bold in their witness, they spoke with authority, and they could not be silenced. They had an eagerness to share Jesus. If you take seriously this verse (Acts 1:8) and the accounts in the balance of the book of Acts; you would have to conclude that the evidence of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is not speaking in tongues or the fuzzy feelings; but eagerness and boldness to effectively share the gospel of Jesus with the lost. The tongues and the fuzzy feelings are fact; but the sharing of the saving grace of our beloved Savior is primary.

Power for A Purpose