Can you imagine? Imagine the excitement! The anticipation!

Christ is risen and you have seen Him!

You know the whole world will never be the same!

What is going to happen next?

As I started my study in Acts this morning the passage that stood out to me was this one particular verse:

He said to them, it is not for you to become acquainted with and know what time brings [the things and events of time and their definite periods] or fixed years and seasons (their critical niche in time), which the Father has appointed (fixed and reserved) by His own choice and authority and personal power. Acts 1:7 AMP

You see, they knew that exciting things were going to happen, and they wanted to know what, and when. They wanted in on His plan. Was Christ going to come and restore Israel? (Acts 1:6) That was still so much on their hearts, the restoration of their nation and deliverance from Rome.

They still didn’t really get it, the Apostles were on the cusp of something incredible and new but were still operating out of the past they understood.

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What is going to happen now?

Instead of an explanation Christ asks them to wait, to pray, to trust. Instead of sharing the game plan now, He tells them just their next step.

Wait for the Holy Spirit.

But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth. Acts 1:8 AMP

Christ has a big mission ahead of them, but He isn’t telling them how it is going to happen, or when, He is only telling them as much as they need to know for this minute.

And after that? He leaves them. Caught up into Heaven away from their sight.

How they must have felt! What just happened? We were about to run to our victory! Christ was risen! Now He’s… gone?

How often must we feel similar. We were expecting one thing, and God answers with something else, in another way. In a better way certainly, but often God doesn’t explain fully to us how His way is better, He only asks that we Trust Him that it IS.

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And so the age of the Church begins, the age where God has changed the rules. No longer are we limited in coming to God through a Priest, but we now come to God ourselves, under the redemption offered by Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit.

This Church age begins, and it begins in prayer.

In just the next few chapters huge things will take place. These same people will begin to speak in power, declaring a message that is going to rock the foundations of the world, they will reach out, like Jesus, and through the power of the Holy Spirit see people healed, and they will see the beginnings of persecution.

But in those first days they are secluded, in prayer, waiting for the Holy Spirit who is going to give them those marching orders.

It’s how each of our lives needs to operate. God has so much in mind for each of us, so much in mind for His church. I like how my pastor refers to Acts, he says it is the one book in the Bible without an ending, it reads like there should be more, because we are still in this story of Acts, it is still playing out in our lives.

But this story God has for us? It begins in prayer, it begins in trusting Him and learning to follow His voice and His Spirit, because He still isn’t telling the days and the hours, but that doesn’t mean He doesn’t have a plan.

We’re not meant to know all the answers, but we can have faith in following His voice in this next step before us, and like the Apostles from long ago He will lead us into the fullness of His plan for our lives, for our world.

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I pray today that each of us learn to trust God with every next step. That we learn to listen and pray before we move, relying ever on His voice, so He may lead us into every victory He has for us in our lives.

Joy Aletheia Stevens

Do you want to Study Acts with me? I’m Blogging through the Bible with Good Morning Girls! Want to jump in? Check out their post introducing Acts!

Share about your study time in the comments!