"I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."
(Luke 24:49 TNIV)
We continue our season following Jesus' teachings from the Gospel of Luke. This edition, we find Jesus on the Road to Emmaus and leaving his final instructions to the eleven.
Reading: Luke 24: 13-53
Focus: waiting with the Disciples
Sometimes the hardest thing is to wait. It shouldn't be so. If you think about it, to wait is a licence to do nothing, an invitation to rest. Consider a doctor's diagnosis that says, the only treatment is some rest and then you'll be fine. How wonderful! And yet, it often proves so difficult, a command that we resist.
In today's passage, Jesus assures his disciples that he will send them what the Father has promised, but first they must stay in the city until they are clothed with power from on high. First, they must wait.
To be clothed with power from on high is something we all need. To receive what the Father has promised, equally. When we read this verse, it makes sound sense for the disciples to wait for the equipping they require to fulfil Jesus' great commission (see also Matthew 28:19-20). But here's the thing: this great commission, that great task to build the kingdom of God was left to all Jesus' disciples. Not only the first century disciples of the early church, but to all who followed. That means you and that means me. So ask yourself, why do we not wait?
How often do we serve without God's power or instruction? Diving into our ministry before being guided, anointed or equipped. There is the apostolic tradition of being filled, then sent out, and returning to be filled again. We can only pour out of our overflow, yet we aim to serve God with empty or half-filled supply. In my own writing ministry, there are times when Jesus calls me to down tools and simply sit at the well.
This command to wait applies not only to what we recognise as ministry, but to all that we do as Christians, even our prayers. Seeking discernment about how to pray for a situation, whether we send that message to someone, what we say before speaking, all of these things are a form of waiting to be clothed with power from on high.
And we need not fear what the Father has promised because the Bible tells us that: "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17 TNIV).
Wait to be clothed and operate from his power. Amen.
Further reading: John 7:37-38 and Matthew 10.
Copyright © Sharmila Meadows 2022
Scripture quotations taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 2004 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, a division of Hodder Headline ltd. All rights reserved. “TNIV” is a registered trademark of International Bible Society.
Do you recognise a reluctance to wait? How might accepting the wait change you? Please share your struggles and experiences of waiting! Thank you sincerely for checking in.