The book of Acts is the story of the continuation of our Lord Jesus Christ's life and ministry on earth after His death, resurrection, and ascension through His disciples. God used Luke to write the book of Acts to record how the ministry and mission of our Lord Jesus Christ continued after His ascension. Luke is not one of the apostles that Jesus chose, but he used much information in his writing from the book of Mark. Luke started the book of Acts with the story of Jesus' ascension. Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He stayed with His disciples over a period of forty days and spoke to them about the kingdom of God. Jesus gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John the Baptist baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 1:1-4).
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is when the Holy Spirit comes in the disciples as an advocate, comforter, counselor, or encourager. Jesus said this about the Holy Spirit in John 14:16-17, "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn't looking for Him and doesn't recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you." Our Heavenly Father knew that the disciples would need the Holy Spirit to live in them so they could continue to live for Him. Similarly, we cannot live for God without the Holy Spirit living in us. Many people tried to know God without the Holy Spirit, but they could never know God in a very personal way. They can know about God, but they could never experience Him in their lives.
As believers of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have the Holy Spirit living in us. We can experience God because the Holy Spirit lives in us. The moment we believed in the Lord Jesus by completely surrendering our lives to Him, we received the Holy Spirit in us, and He will never leave nor forsake us so that He could encourage, counsel, and comfort us all the days of our lives on this earth.
Ask yourself these questions for application: (Think through carefully and meditate on the questions while answering these questions, and let the Spirit of God speaks to you) When did the Holy Spirit begin to live in me? What does the Bible say about what the Holy Spirit does in my life? How should I live today knowing I have the Holy Spirit in me?
Write down all the worries you face today and lift them up to God.
Prayer:
Father in Heaven, thank you for your promise to send the Holy Spirit to live in me. Please teach me to live according to the Holy Spirit. Please help me to connect with the Holy Spirit and rely on Him as my helper, counselor, encourager, and comforter. In Your name Jesus, I pray. Amen.