Tuesday: Mastery of the Art of Witnessing for Christ
WEEK 16
TUESDAY
MASTERY OF THE ART OF WITNESSING FOR CHRIST
1 Thessalonians 1:2-8
We have seen one thing as permanent in the coming of the Holy Spirit: the cleansing of the heart. And the “heart” included the subconscious. We come now to the second permanent thing: power to witness for Christ.
Jesus said, “Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Here was something permanent that would persist from Jerusalem to the end of the earth, namely, the power to be his witnesses. The first permanent thing was purity; the second was power. Purity for myself, power for others; these two constitute my real needs for successful spiritual living.
But note the power offered here is not “power”—full stop. It is power of a particular kind—the power to be witnesses for Christ. As long as we witness to him, the power is operative. But if we begin to witness to ourselves, our denominations, our groups, then the power is turned off. Many of us want power so we can become prominent and important through that power. So the power never comes. It eludes us. For God withholds it. Only when we begin to witness to Jesus, does the power begin to flow. Then channels are open. God can give all out when we are holding up Jesus. For that is what God witnesses to, “This is my Son, my chosen one. Listen to him!” (Luke 9:35). When we and God witness to the same thing, then the power of God is available for us. It was said of Stephen: “They couldn’t resist the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke” (Acts 6:10). The translators just could not translate the “Spirit” with a small s, for it wasn’t Stephen’s spirit; it was the Holy Spirit speaking through Stephen’s spirit. And his hearers were nonplussed at this Plus.
“What did you learn at the Ashram?” someone asked of “Mary,” and she replied: “I learned that people argue with the ‘Mary’ spirit, but they don’t argue with the Jesus Spirit.” This is power. Apart from this we represent powerlessness.
O Lord, make my eye single that I will see Jesus only, my heart cleansed that I love him supremely, my tongue bold to speak of him only. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Only as I am linked with God’s purposes, can I expect God’s power.