Carriers of His Presence

This morning I am reflecting on some verses from Acts 19:1-12 NIV:

[1] "While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples [2] and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

[3] So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”

“John's baptism,” they replied.

[4] Paul said, “John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” [5] On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. [6] When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. [7] There were about twelve men in all.

[8] Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. [9] But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. [10] This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

[11] God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, [12] so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them."


Recently we had a Baptism Sunday, and the Holy Spirit was definitely manifesting His presence on some of the individuals.  I am moved by the impact that we saw, and is echoed here is scripture.  I love how in one passage the Holy Spirit lays out an encouragement towards baptism here, through a simple experience, without going into great details.  Baptism isn't just about public acknowledgment of one's need for salvation, it is about entering into new life, and the Holy Spirit is supposed to be involved, clearly of His volition.

I am reminded of some of the stories from early in the Vineyard movement, where the Holy Spirit would fall during services, with the simplest of hand gestures of those involved.  There were times that whole sections of people in the services would come under the power of the Holy Spirit when someone inadvertantly waved their hand in that sections direction.  I love stories where the Holy Spirit just jumps in and starts moving.  Oh, that we would unfetter Him in our minds and hearts, that He might do the same or more again! 

As I reflect on these verses this morning, I am once again reminded of the radically supernatural stuff the Lord has done, and will do again.  I am reminded of times His manifest presence did amazing life-changing miracles, spontaneous healings, even demonstrations of real power!  Imagine if we, the church, were so filled up with the Holy Spirit that our spare clothing was literally a carrier of healing and deliverance.

I am reminded of how the Holy Spirit's presence can be spread from one body to another, by those that have visited someplace where He is moving!  We had a time, many years ago, where certain non-leaders in our congregation went to a John Wimber (He was the leader of the Vineyard Movement) conference.  While there they experienced an amazing outpouring of power and blessing over the weekend.  The next weekend at our normal worship gathering the Holy Spirit showed up in our gathering in ways we had never experienced before.  It was almost like they were carriers of His Presence.

We see here in Acts, how handkerchiefs and aprons were brought to Paul, and "infected" with the presence of the Holy Spirit!  This is the same principle we experienced back in the late 80s.  More recently, we have had outpourings of the Holy Spirit in places like Brownsville FL, the Toronto Vineyard, even Smithton, Missouri that greatly impacted other bodies of believers.  The outpouring that occurred n Toronto has become known as the Toronto Blessing.  People, upon hearing about the ongoing outpouring, came from around the world, and visited, and often on returning to their home congregations would see similar manifestations of the Holy Spirit breakout their, among people who had not visited Toronto.  For more on this please refer to the following link: https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2018/june/toronto-blessing-the-greatest-thing-thats-happened-in-the-church-in-the-last-100-years

What I see in this reflection this morning is the very evident will of the Holy Spirit to impact our lives.  He wants to break out and move in our lives, in the lives of those in our congregations, in the lives of those around us!  He wants us to be carriers of His presence, so that even people who bush against us are impacted by the Power of the Holy Spirit.  Oh that we would be known as a body that bears the Holy Presence!   We want to radiate Your love Lord, to those around us!  We want to be bearers of Your Presence, that You might be glorified and Your name be lifted up!

As I look back to the scripture reference this morning, it was was when they were baptized in the name of Jesus, that the Holy Spirit manifested in them!  Let us lift high the name of Jesus, let us embrace salvation in Him, and let us pursue Him in our lives, that we might know Him more, that we might effectively represent Him and be carriers of His Presence, for He lives within us!

Finally, I am reminded of the outbreak of the Coronavirus, that seems to be spreading to all the world.  While this virus seems to have captured the attention of all the world, we have within us, something greater, the Very Spirit of God!  I pray for the day that the Name of Jesus would be more greatly exalted and known than this virus in the day to day headlines.  That the world would embrace salvation and rejoice, rather than hiding in fear.

Amen and Amen!