WATCHWORD:
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. […] 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” Acts 2:1-6,12
Meditation:
A Personal Miracle?
Miracle in your home? Think about that. A miracle right there where you live. Have you thought about what God is doing within the ebb and flow of our lives, even as we sit here in our comfortable chairs? Something is different. We can’t put our finger on it, but it just feels different. What has changed?
Sometimes change can be subtle, like a gentle breeze we hardly notice, but it feels…peaceful. At other times change is like an abrupt something that happens, and our lives are upended, redirected. Or, maybe it exposes something of which we were unaware. Perhaps expose is too strong word, maybe reveals, is better. Maybe it reveals something within us that we weren’t aware of because of all the distractions of life. Now that the distractions seem under control, was our blindness lifted?
You know, before that Day of Pentecost the Disciples had to wait for something, they weren’t sure what. What did Jesus mean? Was He talking about His spirit? They had their answers with the imparting of the Holy Spirit. Now they knew. Each one, a personal miracle.
The Holy Spirit has always been here. The Holy Spirit came into this world at creation, and has been here ever since. It is we, that must receive the revelation. We have our own time of waiting for our personal Day of Pentecost. It just doesn’t feel like that same kind of waiting time that the disciples went through, but how would we know?
It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes a person, but the power of Christ coming into our lives by the Holy Spirit that changes us. I wonder if sometimes we read the Bible with blind eyes. The infilling of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was not an experience apart from Christ, it was the evidence of Christ. If we begin to understand what we have read in the Bible, that is the work of the Holy Spirit within us.
Does any of this make sense? Our accepting Christ as Lord and Savior starts as a decision which we think we make, but I wonder. What has stirred within us? Maybe that ‘decision’ we might think we made on our own, was actually God deciding. And in the deciding, a change and a sense of peace.
Sometime ago I read a devotional where the pastor made three points: 1. God doesn’t need anything. 2. God decides to need us, and we become partners. 3. We have to decide to need God. God will not do our part. Our part, deciding, is not supernatural. And we must do our part first. God has fully equipped us to do just that. Never underestimate the power of prayer!
Maybe that is the lesson of our own Pentecost, our own personal miracle. So be it for you and for me. Amen.
— Stan
Mea Culpa:
I need to set the record straight. In the September 1, 2025, Watchword, entitled “Lost, but Found”, I wrote on the side effects of abortion and our response as compassionate people of God. I erroneously identified Post-Abortion Stress Syndrome, as a diagnosed mental condition listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM 5). CORRECTION: It is not a classified and diagnosed mental condition. Abortion stress (PASS) is mentioned in DSM III in the discussion of reactive anxieties, as a temporary conditions. In subsequent volumes of DSM (IV, 5 and 6), there is no mention of abortion stress or anxiety mentioned. Mea culpa, my error. Sorry. Stan
Closing Prayer:
We thank Thee, O Lord, that this land is still governed by the people’s representatives. Let democratic processes be seen at their best in this time of testing. As these chosen men (and women) discharge their duties, guide them, O God, in the decisions they must make today. Give them the grace of humility, and shed now Thy guiding light into every mind. Break down every will that is stubbornly set against Thine or that has ignored Thee. May that which is done be so clearly right that it needs no incendiary justification. Soothe our still-smoldering hearts and minds with the spirit of forgiveness. Let us be swayed not by emotion or ambition but by calm conviction. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
(Peter Marshall, Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, offered this prayer June 23, 1947. And we offer it again in the name of Jesus.)
