Paul encountered 12 disciples in Ephesus who never heard of the Holy Spirit! This may not be as strange as it sounds. There was a tradition in Judaism that Israel had grieved the Spirit until He finally withdrew from the land. So the Prophet Malachi had no real successors – until John the Baptist.

These Ephesian disciples had received John’s baptism. But they had never heard that the Spirit of God had returned to Israel with earth-shaking power, as John the Baptist had predicted. Like Apollos before them, they were pre-Pentecostals (Acts 18:24–28).

Paul didn’t lecture them on Pneumatology, the theology of the Spirit. He introduced them to the Holy Spirit in Person. The initial evidence that they had received the Spirit was tongues and prophecy (Acts 19:6).

The ultimate evidence, however, was power and witness, as Jesus promised in Acts 1:8. Within two years, all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks (Acts 19:10). Ephesus became the next great centre of Christianity and missions after Antioch.

Ever heard of Azusa Street? We all have. Our problem is not ignorance of the Spirit but ignoring the Spirit. We are not pre-Pentecostals, like Apollos and the 12 Ephesian disciples. We are post-Pentecostals. We embrace the doctrine of the Spirit. Some of us make a big deal of initial evidence.

But where is the ultimate evidence of Acts 1:8 and Acts 19:10 – power and witness? How often do we encounter the overwhelming presence and power of the Spirit in ways that the great physicist Stephen Hawking could not have explained?

Some years later, Paul had to remind the church at Ephesus to stop drinking wine and to drink deeply and constantly of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). One generation later, the Ephesians had drifted away from their first love and their first works (Revelation 2:4).

From then until now, the vast majority of Christians have never experienced the gifts and miracles of the Spirit that empowered witness and missions in Acts.

The Spirit has not withdrawn from us. We have withdrawn from Him – not in principle, but in practice. The modern Pentecostal-charismatic movement grew out of a deep dissatisfaction with this great omission and a fervent cry for the fullness of the Spirit: O God, fill me with Yourself and Your power or I die (Gordon Fee). May this be our cry!

Fast and pray

• Something is missing. Who can deny it? The Early Church experienced the Holy Spirit as an overwhelming presence that empowered evangelism and world missions with signs and wonders. But for most Christians today, the Spirit is little more than a line in the Creed or a quiet, unobtrusive presence (Gordon Fee). Pause. Ponder and pray. Are you pre-Pentecostal or post-Pentecostal? Being baptised with the Holy Spirit means being filled with God. It is not “getting high” on God, a sort of euphoric, giddy happiness, all froth and bubble … He does not come to give us an emotional experience. But make no mistake about it: His presence is heart-moving. … He is the original life force meant to empower us to live victoriously, abundantly and to be a witness to the world (Reinhard Bonnke). Ask God to fill you to overflowing with His Holy Spirit again and again.

• Something is amiss. We like to sing Holy Spirit, You are welcome here. Do we really mean it? Pray: Lord, forgive us. We are often oblivious to your Spirit’s promptings in our gatherings. Even when we sense Your promptings, we sometimes ignore them. We foolishly think our well-thought scripts and event run sheets are better. We are hard of hearing. We are void of power. We are empty. We repent. We desperately need a new Outpouring. Fill us again to overflowing. Fuel our prayers. Fire up our hearts to turn the world right side up as in the days of Acts. Confirm our witness with signs and wonders following.

• Something is brewing. Many sense that we could well be on the cusp of a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Bishop Rennis Ponniah). God always has His catalysts. It only takes a spark to get the fire going. Paul was the spark for Ephesus. Will you be a spark for your church? In the revival meetings at Azusa Street, the one-eyed preacher, William Seymour, would keep his head down in a shoebox and commune with God until the Holy Spirit moved him to speak. Miracles were happening all around him. But that was not enough. He waited on God for the Message to be birthed within him like a fire in his bones. Pray! What the Church needs today is not more media frenzy or clever theatrics or goofy parties, but more shoeboxes, and more self-emptying servants whom the Spirit can fill to the max for His purpose.

• Some things are worth repeating. Such as this declaration adapted from the Lausanne Covenant: We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. … The Holy Spirit is a missionary Spirit. Evangelism arises spontaneously from a Spirit-filled church. A church without missions contradicts itself and quenches the Spirit. World evangelisation will become possible when the Spirit renews the Church in truth and wisdom, faith and holiness, love and power. Therefore, we call on Christians everywhere to cry to God for a visitation of the Spirit. Only then will the whole Church become a fit instrument in God’s hands to take the whole Gospel to the whole world. Turn this declaration into intercession for the Singapore Church.

Read the devotional from Day 21: From Corinth With Love here.