Luke 4:21 And he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

It takes a great deal of assurance, not just generalized faith, to proclaim that you have just fulfilled Scripture. However, believers today are fulfilling Acts 1:8 all the time. Realizing we are doing so can be an enormous encouragement! However, saying so can be risky, just as Jesus found. In His case, it was important that He make it clear that everything about His life was a fulfillment of Scripture, but we aren’t in that position. Jesus’ greatest opposition came from the very people who were most familiar with the Scriptures He was fulfilling, which is ironic in the extreme. In our case, pointing out that we are fulfilling Scripture comes across as holier-than-thou, at the very least. However, it can be very helpful to point out to a brother or sister in Christ how they are fulfilling Scripture, because most of us have a very low expectation of being used by God, to the point that it can make us unavailable for His use. Charismatic believers often come across as conceited to non-charismatic people because they have experienced God working through them to do things they couldn’t do otherwise, and that gives them the expectation of His doing so again. All specific manifestations aside, God wants every believer to have that expectation! It’s not that the gift of tongues, for example, is essential to anyone, but that every believer should desire and expect God to use them for His glory. When we start demanding a specific spiritual gift as proof of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, we are putting all sorts of limits, in our minds, at least, on how God can use us or anyone else.

This is something I’ve struggled with for over 35 years. I was slow to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit because I connected it so strongly to the gift of tongues, and I was essentially demanding that God give me that gift. Once I got past that barrier and stopped demanding, He was more than faithful, and in the years since then I have experienced, I think, all of the gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 at least once. That doesn’t make me better than anyone else, but it certainly gives me an expectation of being used by God in various ways. As a pastor, it is my heart’s desire that every believer in the flock have that same expectation, but to this point I haven’t been so successful in communicating that. Several are starting to get the idea, but I want them all to be fully available to God for however He wants to use them. For that matter, I want to be more available myself! The answer, of course, is to rely on God rather than on my own ability, for others or for myself.

Father, thank You for this reminder, as well as for all You have been doing in, around, and through me in recent days. Thank You for the strength to get through things to this point, and that You will continue to carry me along. Thank You for the beautiful opportunity to express Your Gospel to my speech therapy students, and for the thoroughly enjoyable Christmas party that was the context for that. Thank You also for the unexpected fellowship with believers in the afternoon. Help me leave my schedule in Your hands, emotionally as well as mentally, so that I may be available and responsive to You at all times, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!