The Holy Spirit & Desert Roads

Crowds throng to the flash, the pomp, the explosive, the sensational. We want to see the explosive (dunamis) power of the Holy Spirit. We equate the Holy Spirit with explosive and immediate power. Well, we should. Holy Spirit power is explosive power!

But, it is not only the power to see the extraordinary or Acts 2 revival where thousands are ushered into the Kingdom of God.  Holy Spirit power is also the power that compels Philip the Evangelist to leave an explosive Holy Ghost outpouringwhere 3,000 were saved to a desert road between Jerusalem and Gaza where he stumbled upon an Ethiopian eunuch and led him to Christ.

Philip probably never realized the impact of that moment…perhaps even questioning why God would move him from a fertile Gospel explosion to the desert. But, history shows us that this Ethiopian eunuch likely is the seed that germinated the Gospel in Africa with the Coptic Church tracing it’s origin back to this eunuch.

The continent of Africa can thank God that the Holy Spirit isn’t confined to acts of ecstasy but is free to express Himself on desertous trailways and through men and women that are digging out works in Gospel-hostile lands.

All of us want and crave great spiritual results. But, we ought to desire more greatly to be vehicles that communicate the Gospel where the Gospel most needs communicating.  If the tools of that trade more greatly resemble trail boots and a travel sack than a great stage with plenty of “atta-boys”, by all means, let’s embrace a pioneer’s life.