While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the Word.
– Acts 10:44
What a great verse. What a powerful picture. As Peter is proclaiming the Gospel to gentiles, to people who he thought were unclean, God is totally turning Peter’s mind and heart and life upside down in this chapter. And as he proclaims the Gospel, while Peter is saying these things, the Holy Spirit falls on the people who are hearing the Word, and it was evident, verse 46 goes on to talk about, as they were speaking in tongues and extolling God.
Acts 10:44 Narrates a Manifestation of the Holy Spirit through the Preaching of the Word
Now, there’s a ton we could talk about here when it comes to the Holy Spirit, gifts of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, the unique instances that we see as the Gospel is spreading and the Holy Spirit is falling in different ways in the Book of Acts. But the big picture I want to encourage us with today and lead us to pray according to, is our need for dependence on and the beauty of the Word of God and the Spirit of God working together. I love it. While Peter’s speaking the Word, the Holy Spirit falls on all who hear the Word.
I think about Acts 8, when the Holy Spirit tells Philip, go to this chariot where there’s this Ethiopian eunuch. And what is the eunuch doing? He’s reading the Word. And he just so happens to be in Isaiah 53 that’s pointing forward to Jesus, and has even parallels with his life as a eunuch. And so the Holy Spirit draws Philip to a eunuch reading the Word. Philip then begins to explain the Word in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that eunuch comes to Christ, ends up being baptized right there, and the Spirit leads Philip away.
It’s all this beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit of God and the Word of God working together in tandem, and that’s exactly what we read in Acts 10:44. And I just want to encourage you. This has such ramifications for our lives in so many different ways. When you and I open up God’s Word in the morning, in the evening, whenever we are spending time alone with Him, we are dependent on the Holy Spirit to understand His Word. We’re dependent on the Holy Spirit to open our eyes and our minds and our hearts.
So to begin our time in the Word just praying for the Holy Spirit’s illumination of this Word, that by the way, the Holy Spirit has breathed and inspired into existence. And then when we go and we have opportunities to share God’s Word with others, to share God’s Word and total dependence on the Holy Spirit to work through that Word.
Acts 10:44 Reminds Us of Our Need for the Work of the Spirit in Our Lives
I think about your conversations today. You can talk about so many different things: weather, current events, sports, just a million different things that you could talk about. But when you speak the Word of God to somebody else today, there is Holy Spirit power that works in tandem with that Word specifically, to bring people to know God.
Oh God, we praise you for the power of your Spirit and your Word, and for the way your Holy Spirit, you work through your Word to bring people to life, to bring people salvation from sin and transformation for all of eternity. We praise you for the power of your Word and your Spirit, and we want to live in it. We want to live in the power of your Word and your Spirit daily.
God, as we open up your Word, Holy Spirit, open our eyes, our hearts to see, understand, and know you truly, to love you wholeheartedly, and to grow in intimacy with you through your Spirit and your Word and our hearts and our lives.
And then God, not to keep this to ourselves. Please help us today to faithfully speak your Word to somebody else, to build up other brothers and sisters in Christ with your Word and the power of your Spirit, to edify others with Spirit empowered, Word-driven, encouragement, and then to share the Gospel with other people today.
God, help us to share the Gospel with somebody today, trusting in the power of your Word and your Spirit to bring life to people who are Spiritually dead right now. Your Word and your Spirit have power to do that.
Praying for the Karakalpak People
God, show that power today, we pray. And show that power among the nations, we pray. We pray for the Karakalpak people of Caucasus regions, of Turkmenistan, specifically today. God, for this people group of about a million globally with so few followers of Jesus, though I know some of them, just a handful of them and people who are working among them. Lord, we pray, we plead for the spread of your Word and the power of your Spirit in a way that all those who hear your Word, your Spirit falls on them and they believe and they trust in you.
God, we pray for Acts 10:44 to happen among the Karakalpak people and thousands of other people who need your Word when they hear it. God, may your Spirit fall and may they be saved. We pray all of this according to your Word and the leadership of your Spirit in the name of Jesus. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
