I am delighted as a pastor to have people come serve with a real vision for God and Prayer. Holly Krebs in just such a servant. She moved over in faith and serves in faith and lives her faith in Jesus Christ. She is also blessed in her writing as you are about to read below. I look forward to hearing more of her writing and insight as time goes on.
This is my confession: I have been reading Acts since last October and can`t seem to get past the first few chapters. It`s not that I`m especially dense, but every time I open up the book to read the next chapter I find myself revisiting the first only to be left pondering too much to continue. It`s not that I`m especially spiritual either. I`m not diving into Hebrew-Greek origins of words or cultural connotations. I am just stuck on it, like when you walk through a gallery full of wonderful works but you can`t help but keep coming back to the same picture. The others are no less beautiful or profound, but there is something immediately relevant that makes you want to stand in front of one particular piece all day long.
I opened my Bible up to Acts last October after He gave me two words in regards to Ireland, specifically 24-7 Prayer and “First Church of Acts.” I was in Africa at the time, and only planning to come here for a holiday, a spiritual retreat from the challenges of the Dark Continent. While I took those words to be simply to be an encouragement for any believers I came across while on holiday, it wouldn't be long after arriving that God would show me a vision of FREEDOM being released. I knew then I would be returning to pray and see God do in Ireland as He did in the first church, which brings us to this moment and the first chapter of Acts.
I was discussing this peculiar reading habit with a friend who had just returned from a conference at which the guest speaker discussed nothing, that is to say, our nothingness aside from Christ in us. The two separate topics seemed to make sense together. In the first chapter of Acts, Christ had just ascended and those first Christians were left to wait. They used scripture to direct them to replace Judas, but before casting the lots, corporately prayed. A recurring theme in these first chapters is how prayer preceded action. Prayer was in fact, the first act of Acts, but that topic alone would have me rambling for pages. So here they were, a group of social misfits who had nothing but the knowledge of Christ. It may seem that the book of Acts could`ve started with the day of Pentecost since this is considered the birth of the church, although the term isn't used until chapter five. Instead, it begins in the space between. The days between Christ`s ascension and the Holy Spirit`s descent were more than just transition. There is something integral there. The knowledge of Christ was all they had. I think this is why it has to start here; to be reminded that the knowledge of Christ is the answer. It is the message. It is the beginning...
If you speak to any of the folk in our fellowship you`ll find that we`ve all been challenged lately, seeing ourselves by the light of His day, leaving us shattered with our once favorite clothes of pride, legalism and even dysfunctional paradigms stripped off like the filthy rags they are. Painful, yes. Humiliating, yes. Heartbreaking, yes. Worthwhile, Hallelujah Yes! Because unlike the folk in Acts, we don`t have to wait for an undetermined time before we have the Holy Spirit. He is with us now, so that in that same light of His day, we can also see what`s coming, what God has in store for us, our town, this country. We`ve been pushing into prayer, we`ve been receiving answers. I think part of the reason I`ve been lingering over these chapters is because it`s where we've been together as a community. And it`s just about to get more exciting. It only took one miracle in chapter three and it`s repercussions to inspire the believer`s prayer (ch.4) in which they together prayed not for future deliverance, but the boldness to proclaim Christ and His Word despite the threats. How many miracles have we seen?
Lord let us be bold, in this day and age where governments, economies, and social mores change faster than wind direction. Let us proclaim Your NAME and Your WORD regardless of the cost. Let Your FREEDOM be loosed in this land. Let us remain in unity as believers. Help us to love indiscriminately and without reservation. They knew to leave the consideration of the threats to You, and that Your Spirit can enable us to rise to the occasion. Thank You Lord that You are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow and that the prayer said then is still relevant to pray now. Let this be done in Jesus` name.
Holly Krebs
