Empowered to Witness

But 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 ends of the earth.  Acts 1:8

As Jesus prepared to leave the disciples and ascend into heaven, he first offers them a promise and a mission.  The mission or task that they are given is to be witnesses of what they had seen and experienced to the ends of the earth.  They are told to share the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and tell the world of God’s amazing love and grace.  They are called to do this work, but are given the promise of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit will give them the power to be witnesses, the power to go all over the world and share the story of Jesus.  On their own, the apostles may not have the courage, strength or faith to go and tell, but the Spirit will give them what they need to accomplish this divine calling.

We too have a divine calling to be witnesses for Christ in the world.  While we may not have firsthand experience with Jesus’ death and resurrection, we do have experience with God that we can share.  Whether we are in the beginning of our faith journey or been walking with the Lord our whole life, God has been present in our lives—God is at work in us and if we have open eyes and hearts we begin to see the awesome ways God has always been there.  We can witness to our faith by sharing our blessings, telling of times of deliverance or instances when God helped us endure suffering and loss.  Too often we believe the lie that we have nothing to offer and nothing to say—but we do!  God has called us to bear witness to God’s work in our lives and promises to provide the Spirit to give us the power to speak.  In fact, God will often send people into our lives at just the right moment when our witness can be God’s word to them.  God will use us to bring light into the world if we will follow the nudge of the Spirit and trust God to give us the words to speak. 

The story of Pentecost illustrates God’s opportunistic empowerment perfectly:

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Acts 2:4

God promised the apostles that the Spirit would give them power to be witnesses and then at just the right moment (the festival of Pentecost) the promise of the Spirit is fulfilled in a miraculous and life-changing way.  The Jewish pilgrims from all languages and countries who gathered in Jerusalem were able to hear the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection in their native language (2:6) This was the beginning of the church as 3,000 people heard Peter’s sermon and became followers of the Way of Jesus.  But the miracle is also that the disciples believed that they could speak and the people would hear.  When they opened their mouths to share their witness expecting that God could and would do something powerful is a miracle of faith.  May we too believe that our witness might be life-changing; that our words might touch the lives of those who hear; that the Spirit might show up in our conversations and help others know the love, mercy, and grace of God.  May God give us the faith and courage to be witnesses and may those we meet receive God’s word and be blessed.