Rhemalight

by Hillary Turyagyenda

PART A

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Read Acts chapter 2

The increase also has to be looked at on another plane. Not only do we see the baptism in the Holy Spirit taking a wider coverage in the known world of then and also increasing in quality, we see a third dimension. Paul says he spoke in tongues more than they all at Corinth (1Cor.14:18). That meant both they and he were speaking in tongues long after being filled with the spirit. In other words Pentecost was not just a beginning of the experience going to the ends of the world but also a beginning of the experience going on throughout one’s life. it is a flowing stream that should never dry up.

Then we see certain individuals in the Acts operating in the flow beyond the initial experience. We are told of certain brethren at Tyre who spoke to Paul ‘through the Spirit’ Acts 21:4. Then also of the four daughters of Philip who did prophesy (Vs.8). That is past simple tense. It would be like saying, ‘they did go to school’. They did not do it once or twice: it was a usual thing with them.

Joel’s prophecy said that the sons and daughters would prophesy and that the young men would see visions. Pentecost was the beginning of that. Eventually some prophesied and a few saw visions but it still has not flourished like Joel saw it. To prophesy means to speak by inspiration. A vision is a divinely granted appearance. These two phenomena (and they were to be frequent) were to be so widespread and so common that they would become a byword among Christians.

This was a family plan. God had this in mind not just for individuals but for families. He did not say, ‘My sons and daughters will prophesy.’ He said, ‘your sons and daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions.’ That seems to say that if you see to it your family can have it. Philip’s family got the closest to this of any other recorded in the scriptures. If we go by what it doesn’t say as much as we go by what it says we could say that the four girls were all the children he had. They all prophesied. Imagine if every Christian family were like that.

Then imagine a family where they all saw visions from time to time. That would be something! Joel said families are supposed to be that way. Speaking in tongues was designed to help us get acquainted with that other world so that we could then begin to speak supernaturally and to see supernaturally. The two go together - speaking then seeing. Little wonder that much time is given to teaching on prophecy in Paul’s letters. The whole fourteenth chapter of 1Corinthians is devoted to this. He says to desire spiritual gifts but especially to prophesy. (1Cor.14:1). He gives no instructions to the church about visions yet the two are jointly promised in Joel’s prediction. It seems the reason for this is that if you take care of the one the other will naturally come. Prophesy long enough and then you can expect to begin seeing visions. During the early church days the body of Christ was still in its infancy. Paul had to get them started where we all start.

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Hillary Turyagyenda T

P.O Box 33224,

Kampala, Uganda

Tel: 0712-121170

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