When the Holy Spirit’s wheels are in motion, every purpose of God rolls. As someone who has been graciously blessed to both see and experience supernatural encounters, I must confess that two questions perplexed me.
The first revolves around the concept of ‘continuity’. More simply, the issue of ‘what next?’ How does one reconcile spectacular and unmistakably genuine divine encounters, which seemingly dissipate to no tangible effect? The other concern is when the wagon wheels of exciting and linked events apparently come to a screeching halt, thus imparting a sense of being suspended in a meaningless vacuum.
I will try to explain from pages of Gods word, employing two stories from the Book of Acts, which shed light on this predicament. The first is the story of Philip, who was led to reach the Eunuch with the Gospel of Jesus Christ ( Acts 8). The second is Peter’s journey to the house of Cornelius, which unleashed the greatest move of God among the Gentiles, as of yet (Acts 10).
In both narratives, it appears that the spectacular becomes severed somewhere along a chain of events. After the Angel of the Lord instructed Philip to visit Gaza (a wilderness bereft of angels or anything supernatural), it was for some time that the only events which took place were those that God orchestrated from behind the scenes. The Eunuch who travelled through the same deserted place, reading the right scriptures at the precise moment were all examples of divine positioning. Even the Eunuch questioning Peter about baptism was supernaturally led. That being said, the Holy Spirit did not directly manifest, except in two instances. First, when He asked Philip to merge closer to the chariot and secondly, when Philip was transported after conducting the baptism, so that the Eunuch ‘saw him no more’ . What are we to summarize from this? Did the Holy Spirit retreat and become a missing link in this special narrative? Not at all. The Holy Spirit was ever present and responsible for directing the godly conclusion of that entire journey. Even though He didn’t appear to be speaking at every step and was seemingly hidden, He continuously worked alongside Philip. Truly, the Holy Spirit is a our faithful and forever companion.
The same applies to the chronicle of Peter and Cornelius. After receiving a mighty vision, the Bible says that Peter was ‘perplexed’. As the three people stood at his gate, Peter remained pondering until the blessed Holy Spirit gave him assurance to join them. Take notice that no blue print was ever given (the ‘what next?’) This struggle of Peter was made evident when he shared his dilemma with Cornelius, before preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Howbeit, the following steps would prove to be even greater challenges. Accepting these strangers into the Christian fold was controversial to say the least, and would undoubtedly rock the foundations of Jewish – Gentile relations. Furthermore, could they be baptized? Would the present company of believers accept this diversion of protocol? Would both parties be able to fellowship without sabotaging kosher laws? So here was the mother of all ‘what next ‘questions.
Thankfully the blessed Holy Spirit took the helm and ensured an undisguised and effortless decision process. He baptized them with Himself thereby reversing the order between water baptism and Spirit baptism. The question was no more ‘how can they? It became ‘how can they not? Baptizing them and accepting them into the fold became saliently obvious and evidently logical to the most ardent critics. The Holy Spirit is always the link and in Him and through Him, is the crisis of continuity solved .
After this weighty move of God, Philip was left at Caesarea. No Ethiopian church was planted. Nor was there an invitation to preach, meet the Queen or secure financial support from the government. Phillip was seemingly left in Caesarea without a plan. Praise God that the Holy Spirit is not aborted mid term. The next major supernatural encounter happened in Caesarea between Cornelius and Peter which affected the entire Gentile population for generations to come. It didn’t stop there. We see how Paul’s journey to Jerusalem and then to Rome commenced from Caesarea after almost twenty years (Acts 21:8). Prophets arise from and are drawn to that same place where Apostles are also ministered to and dispatched.
When it appears that the culmination of God’s glorious encounters have left you stranded in Caesarea, think again. Where Philip was abruptly stopped, Peter’s ministry began which was followed by Paul who touched the ends of the earth.
In Galatians 3:3, Paul rebukes the Galatian church for attempting to finish in the flesh, what begun in the Spirit. In simple terms, what Holy Spirit began, He will complete. Yes, 2018 is the year of divine and speedy completion and through it all, the Holy Spirit is present in the spectacular and the quiet. At times, He is vocal in His leadings and in other instances, is seemingly reticent. Sometimes it is from spectacular to spectacular and other times it seems it is from spectacular to the ordinary. Never forget in any situation, if He began it, He is and will always be the ‘link’