"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." (Joel 2:28)
You might be thinking; I've never prophesied or seen visions; does that mean I don't have the Holy Spirit? Remember, prophecy is first and foremost not predicting the future things; it is only sometimes that, but above all, speaking forth the words of God and the visions those words give us of God's will and the perfect fulfillment on the day of Jesus' glorious appearing.
In the great initial fulfillment of this verse on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit comes first on the twelve and those with them, but then before the days' end, Peter had directed no less than three thousand to the water where they too would receive the same gift, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” (Acts 2:38-39)
What happens to these people? They are filled with the Spirit, and they attend to the apostle's word, and they begin speaking it among themselves; they prophesy and sing their joy in the word of God into each other's hearts and minds. So it was that day, so it has been in all the years since as the baptized receive the Spirit, give themselves to the hearing and speaking of the word, and sing out their joy in the Lord.
-Pr. Will Weedon
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