Stir Into Flame

 “When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” Acts 2:1-4

I did not realize that what occurred in Acts 2 was repeated in Acts chapter 4.  Believers who were gathered in one place were filled with the Holy Spirit.  This means that "Pentecost", a feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ did not happen just once, but probably several times.  

Pentecost is the old Greek and Latin name for the Jewish harvest festival, or Festival of Weeks which can be found in the Hebrew Bible. It is also called the Day of the First Fruits. As Pentecost is also known as the birthday of the Church, it is really the day of the first fruits of the Church. In 2 Timothy 1 verse 6, Saint Paul urges Timothy to "kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands."  "To stir into flame" is another translation of this verse.  I remember the first time I was laid hands on. Nothing happened.  I was too interested in the noise and activity that was happening around me.  People were speaking in tongues, and falling over chairs, and wailing.  

I went to several Life in the Spirit seminars after that. It is all right for us to keep wanting to get an infilling of the Spirit. It is all right for us to ask to be laid hands on, prayed over. Just as God breathed on Adam, that "dead" body into life, and the Holy Spirit breathed into the "dead" body of the Church in Acts, so we too can keep asking Jesus to breathe His Spirit into us, that we may not be ineffective in our work as His people.  There is not a single person that God can't use if we have His Spirit in us!