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Acts 1:1-9 NIV
When I read these first few verses of Acts, I once again am envious of those people who were alive at that time. For three years, they had walked and talked and learned from Jesus. Now, they had the opportunity to sit with the resurrected Christ, to see Him in His glory, to hear the things He had to say to them before He was taken up into heaven. For forty days, He showed them that He was truly alive. He taught them about the kingdom of God. He revealed to them that the Holy Spirit would come upon them soon. He sat with them and ate with them and let them know what was to come for them and the rest of the world. They had the wonderful privilege to once again sit at the Master's feet. to hear His words. to receive His teaching. to feel His love first-hand.
But there's no real reason to be envious. because you and I have the same opportunity. the same privilege. We can sit at His feet every day through prayer and meditation upon His Word. We can hear His words through the power of the Scripture and the Holy Spirit's witness to us. We can receive His teaching and learn from it, just as those first disciples did. and in an even better way. because before the day the resurrected Jesus breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit (John 20:21-22), not one of them had the power of the Holy Spirit to guide them. Not one of them had the opportunity you and I have - to have the constant, 24-hour-a-day presence of the Holy Spirit within us. And through this power, we can turn the world upside down just like they would later do.
Take this challenge today. Commit to spend fifteen minutes a day for the next two weeks doing nothing but reading the Bible and praying. Just fifteen minutes. Pick a time of day that you know you will be able to do it - every single day. I like early morning best. It gets me off on the right foot, putting me in tune with the Lord from the earliest moments of the day. Plus, there's no one around to bother me or interrupt me at that time of day. My phone doesn't ring, and no one will knock on my door at 5:30 in the morning! But you choose your time. Just fifteen minutes. You have time to do that, don't you? If you commit to do that, and if you carry through with it, a very interesting thing will happen. For instance, if you choose morning for your fifteen minutes, you'll find yourself getting up earlier and earlier, because fifteen minutes soon will prove to be just too little time. So you'll go to thirty minutes, then forty-five, then an hour. Pretty soon, you may find yourself in another predicament - you may find that you resent having to stop spending time with the Lord because you have to get ready for work!
One word of caution. During this two weeks, if you should miss one of your 15 minute blocks of time, do NOT beat yourself up for missing it! You are NOT under the "Law of 15 Minutes of Prayer and Bible Study"!! You live under grace and are not under bondage to the Law in the Bible, nor can you be under bondage to the "laws" you create for yourself. If you miss a day, you miss a day. Start again the next day, with no recrimination against yourself for missing that one day!
Give it a try today. You'll find that sitting at the feet of the Master is the most joyous thing you can do.
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