Set off some fireworks in the Spirit realm!  Tell someone about Jesus today!

Don’t you just love fireworks? I don’t think you can get tired of them. We spent a rare weekend at home here in Birmingham to celebrate the 4th of July one year and enjoyed setting off our own fireworks (which are legal in Alabama by the way). What a spectacle of color and noise! They cannot be ignored. Every time one explodes it’s exciting.

 

Acts 1:8 says, “but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (NAS) The Greek word translated power there is dunamis; the closest thing to that in English is dynamite. FIREWORKS! When we receive the Holy Spirit, we ought to “explode” on other people. We ought to have something they want- something powerful.

 

When I was a child, we spent every 4th of July at a family cottage in Wisconsin. The anticipation of the evening’s fireworks over the bay made the day seem endless, as if it would never turn to night! What could make our waiting more bearable? Firecrackers! Our cottage was right on the water, and occasionally dead fish would wash up on the shore. We’d find a big carp, dress it up with seaweed and sticks, take a couple of firecrackers, twist the fuses together, light it and….RUN! We had more fun watching fish guts go everywhere! The only thing that makes it not fun is when you find a “dud”. It’s supposed to explode, but doesn’t. You got all excited and then – nothing. 

 

Sometimes I wonder if that’s how God feels. He invests all of His power in us, and we fail to explode. DUD! Duds are no fun. It takes faith to explode, to step out, and to be a witness. And just like a crowd watching the big fireworks displays: everyone “oohing” and “ahhing” after each round, the Bible tells us we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1). They’re watching our progress. I can only imagine that they “ooh” and “ahh” when we obey God and advance His kingdom. Let’s use that power on the inside of us and explode!