Good Monday morning (3.14.11),

This week our guest teacher from New Zealand, Michael Turner, exhorted us to light the world (or at least our little part of it). He challenged us to dispel darkness, penetrate and shatter it, as we shine Christ’s presence to the world.

This reminded me of some passages I just studied in Numbers, chapter 11. Moses needed help. So the Lord told him to find 70 men fit for leadership and to bring them to the tent of meeting…in other words, present them to God.

What happened when Moses obeyed is quite phenomenal. It says that God gave to these men a portion of the Spirit that had been given to Moses. We know this was the Holy Spirit because it was given to empower them to do ministry.

Isn’t that why Jesus told us we needed the Holy Spirit? He said when the Holy Spirit comes to us we will receive power to preach the Gospel to the entire world. The Holy Spirit comes in power — not to use for our own agendas, but to reach the lost for salvation, healing, and edification.

The Holy Spirit gives the wisdom of God, a necessary attribute for leaders.

We know these 70 chosen men received the Holy Spirit because when the Spirit came to them they all prophesied. There are signs that attest to the presence of the Holy Spirit.

This incident is so unusual because it occurs in the Old Testament. Jesus had not yet sent the Comforter to all men. So the giving of the Spirit…to Moses, to the prophets, to these 70…was unique and rare. It was a privilege offered to very few during all those centuries, and then only for a specific purpose.

Those 70 men received a foretaste of eternity. They had been called, so they were anointed…with just enough anointing to do the job. It says, “They prophesied just once, and never again.”

Can’t you imagine how many times, over the course of their lives, they relived that moment? How often they reached back to touch that ecstasy, that heavenly instant, eyes closed, longing for the once-experienced sweet communion of human and Divine?

But it wasn’t their fate to know eternity on a day to day basis. It wasn’t for them.

But it is for us! Jesus came, and obeyed, and the result is that every single born again believer can have the Holy Spirit as a deposit promising future perfection.

Moses’ 70 got one taste — a sprinkling, not an immersion.

But we are given, without even asking, we are given, a baptism of that Spirit — an inundation of God’s presence, ability, wisdom, love and power. Otherwise, how could anyone dare challenge us to be a light in such a dark world?

Not by our own authority or power! Not by our own will or ability. We carry within us, each one of us, a Holy Spirit seed embodying all of God’s attributes in embryonic form. Is it an entitlement we cherish…or squander?

As I read about these 70, so uniquely honored with one taste of a divine encounter, I recognized how careless I have been with the kernel given to me. They got the one transcendent moment, but my kernel can be the whole crop…available for harvest and consumption every day, day in and day out, for my entire life.

What I have is not just a small measure; it’s the entire portion. So why do I waste it? Why do I call on God to do what He has already prepared and empowered me to do? I wait and whine and beg and wait and plead for God to do something He has equipped me to do!

In so doing I despise not just the gifts but the Giver.

The 70 received a small amount of the Spirit so they could help the shepherd. The Holy Spirit has made His home in me. Am I now less trouble to my shepherds, those authorities placed in my life during different seasons for various purposes? Am I now peaceful, full of grace and mercy, or do I still fuss and feud and mutter and complain?

Am I exposed as light, or am I cloaked in darkness?

My life, today’s church body as a whole, proves that even God’s Holy Spirit will not change us unless we choose to be changed. We must agree to participate with the Spirit, recognizing the incredible honor of partnering with God Himself.

How can we dispel darkness? How do we light the way for a lost and confused and hurting world?

We can do nothing of ourselves; we can only release the Spirit within us, let the Holy Spirit shine, let Him have His way. I must decrease so He can increase. When that happens, then light will emanate out of my life like a star in the night sky, pointing the way toward Safety.

“But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” Acts 1:8 (Amplified)

“Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.” Rom. 15:19

Laurie Gross