As I wrote yesterday’s blog I didn’t write something which was in my mind but I needed to process it a little. Today I want to write about it. In John 20:22 it say, “And having said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” This I mentioned yesterday. What was puzzling me somewhat was the fact that in Acts, the next book of the Bible, the disciples were coming together and waiting to receive the Holy Spirit. Doesn’t this sound like a contradiction? Didn’t they already receive the Holy Spirit from what John 20:22 says?

This morning in Acts 1:8 it says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” Jesus had already breathed on them and told them to receive the Holy Spirit before He ascended into Heaven. The word which seems to stand out is “power”. In Acts it says you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. I’m going to need to do some questioning on this to have someone with more Biblical depth of knowledge talk me through this. I know the disciplines and other followers of Jesus stayed in the upper room (a total of 120 of them) until the power ascended upon them. It makes me think I have the Holy Spirit but I may not have the power of the Holy Spirit as Christ would want me to have.

I’m writing today’s blog as a personal inquiry but also as a challenge to readers. If you know something along this line I ask you to share it with me and any other readers. I sure don’t want to inhibit God’s use of my life.