MONDAY
Today we begin the second week of our conference devotionals. As we did last week, we are simply looking at stories of God filling people with His Spirit. This week we come to the New Testament and more modern church history.
Today, let’s look at Peter. After Jesus rises from the dead, he appears to his disciples who were hiding for fear of the Jewish leaders. He appears to them through a locked door.
In the book of Acts, we read of Peter being filled with the Spirit on multiple occasions. The first time, Peter was among the disciples at Pentecost.
Acts 2:4 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Next, in Acts 4 Peter and John are arrested and brought before the Jewish leaders.
Acts 4:7–8 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them…
Then at the end of Acts 4, Peter and John are released and the believers gather together to pray.
Acts 4:31 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Note, in all of these instances Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit to witness to the gospel of Jesus. This is a fulfillment of what Jesus told them would happen when they receive the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:8 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Then in the peculiar case of Ananias and Sapphira, in Acts 5 they lie about the full amount they received from the sale of their property and claimed to donate all of it to the church. In response to this we read,
Acts 5:3-4 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”
Lying to Peter and the church then was equivalent to lying to the Holy Spirit of God, who dwells within them.
Then in Acts 8 the Samaritans believe in Jesus at Philip’s preaching.
Acts 8:14–17 14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
It’s important not to read all of Acts as normative for today. God is here revealing to the Apostles that the gospel is for Samaritans (whom the Jews hated and didn’t interact with) and the Gentiles (whom the Jews also hated and didn’t interact with). Peter and John needed to see this to accept what God was doing. The normative experience is for believers to receive the Holy Spirit at conversion. Remember from week 1 of this campaign, there are no Spirit-less believers. Taking the teaching texts of the epistles together with these texts, I think this leaves room for Spirit-filled believers to pray for other believers to experience the Holy Spirit more intensely. We do not need to pray that other believers will receive the Holy Spirit, as we have all received the Holy Spirit at conversion, but to experience him more intensely, as I think the term “filled” implies.
For our purposes today this is another example of Peter being full of the Holy Spirit, as we seek to simply see through the stories of Scripture what being filled with the Spirit looks like.