Because Of The Holy Spirit, We Will Experience Jesus In Unexpected Ways
But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Acts 7:55 -56, NIV
Stephen was accused and condemned before the Sanhedrin. People treated him as a threat. They felt furious the moment he finished explaining himself. He was in the middle of an interrogation, and when he was full of the Holy Spirit, he chose to look up to heaven. That’s when he saw the glory of God. In the midst of a difficult situation, Stephen fixed his gaze on Jesus and saw Him standing at the right hand of the Father.
The first thing I observed about this passage is that Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. It means that he wasn’t doing things according to his own effort and strength. He was dependent on God’s mighty moving. He relied on Him for strength and wisdom. And that’s when the Holy Spirit led Him to look at heaven and fix His gaze on Jesus. Through God’s help, Stephen did what He was called to do. He allowed the Holy Spirit to move. He listened and obeyed.
Sometimes, just like Stephen we also go through difficult moments in life. We will encounter people who would break our hearts and wrongly accuse us for the things we didn’t do. We will go through pain and rejection. But let’s remember that we can always rely on the Holy Spirit. We can ask for His help. We just need to open our hearts and trust him.
When we slowly learn to be dependent on the Holy Spirit, that’s when He will lead us back to Jesus. He is the one who can point us to our Savior. Just like what He did to Stephen, the Holy Spirit can take over and give us the faith we need. He will teach us to look up and focus on heavenly things. And by His grace, we will be able to see His glory even in the midst of suffering. Because of the Holy Spirit, we will experience Jesus in unexpected ways.
Prayer: Father God, thank you for the difficult moments that you allowed us to experience. Thank you for giving us the chance to activate our faith. As we keep walking on this journey, please teach us how to depend on the Holy Spirit so that we will be reminded to fix our gaze on Jesus. Give us a humble heart to acknowledge your presence even when we are struggling. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen.
