Your in Jerusalem

Acts 1:8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (ESV)

First thing I want to note is the word upon in this verse. In the Greek the word is Epi, which means power. In John 20:22, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit into the disciples. At the point they had they holy spirit dwelling within but they had not yet been empowered with the Holy Spirit, or as Jesus calls it in Acts 1:5, baptized with the Holy Spirit. We associate the baptism of the Holy Spirit with boldness, confidence, meekness, discernment of Gods word, conviction and so on. We know this because right after Peter is baptized with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost he is no longer his fearful self. Yet he stands up and preaches the word with boldness and conviction, rightly dividing the word of God with authority and power. We know that once the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in you He is always within in you. But the baptism is something that needs continually renewed, Galatians 5:18 says “but be filled with the Spirit.” In Luke 11:9, Jesus says “ask and it will be given”. Who is it you ask. We see in verse 13, it is the Holy Spirit, “how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” The Lord is will to pour his spirit afresh upon us, all we must do is simply ask and receive with an open heart. So from here I want to talk really quick about the ladder part of the verse. Most the part of Jerusalem, commonly associated with your home, which is partially correct. But what we know about this portion of scripture is that Jesus was addressing men of Galilee. So for him to say Jerusalem would have been him talking about where they were at, at that moment. Not their home, but their current location. We need to take on this mindset, being a witness for Christ starting with right here, right now, your Jerusalem.

Application:
Today I will allow the guiding of the spirit, looking for an opportunity to witness to someone today at the mountain.