The Voices of Promise
King James Version (KJV):
“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” .
God’s Word Translation (GW):
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you. Then you will be my witnesses to testify about me in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” .
The Passion Translation (TPT):
“But I promise you this—the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and you will be seized with power. You will be my messengers to Jerusalem, throughout Judea, the distant provinces—even to the remotest places on earth!” .
New King James Version (NKJV):
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” .
Good News Translation (GNT):
“But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” .
The Message (MSG):
“What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world” .
The Unfolding Tapestry of Grace
Your Jerusalem is here. In the clutter of your doubts, the ache of your unspoken failures, the silent tears in midnight’s grip. You, hiding behind curated smiles, trembling at the edge of your own possibilities—this is where the Spirit breathes. The disciples knew such frailty. They huddled, orphaned by Christ’s ascension, their dreams of a political messiah shattered. “Will you now restore the kingdom?” they begged, still clutching old maps of power . Jesus redirects their gaze: not to thrones, but to hearts; not to timelines, but to transformation. “It is not for you to know times or seasons,” He says. “But you shall receive power…” . Power not to dominate, but to testify. Power not for prestige, but for presence in the places that scare you most.
Judea and Samaria await. The disciples balked. Samaria? Land of half-breeds and heretics? Yet grace dismantles barriers. Philip preached there, and the “unclean” danced in deliverance . Peter, the orthodox Jew, ate with Cornelius, the Roman—the Spirit melting centuries of animosity . Your Samaria is that grudge you nurse, that tribe you disdain, that addiction you shame. God says: My power is perfected in the terrain you avoid. In Nigeria, a woman in Kano whispers Christ’s name to her Hausa neighbor, her voice a fragile bridge over chasms of fear. In Lagos, a banker trades profit margins for prison ministry, holding hands with the forgotten. They are seized, not by ambition, but by the Spirit’s wildfire .
The ends of the earth are closer than you think. Paul, breathing murder, became love’s scribe to the Gentiles. The same Spirit that flung stars into space now fuels Nigerian missionaries in Niger, Korean pastors in Berlin, Colombian nuns in Syria. In Makurdi, a grandmother gathers orphans under a mango tree, teaching them of the Jesus who “seizes with power” (TPT). She has no seminary degree—only a heart ablaze. Her “uttermost part” is a dusty courtyard, yet it echoes eternity.
Poems for the Weary Pilgrim
From a Nigerian Psalmist:
Breathe on us, Wind of the Niger Delta,
You who hovered over chaos at creation’s dawn.
Turn our wounds into witness,
Our scars into stories,
Our fear into fire.
Seize us—
Not for greatness, but for grace.
From the Shadows of Auschwitz (by Etty Hillesum):
“You cannot help us, but we must help You
And defend Your dwelling place inside us to the last.”
Even here, in the camp’s despair,
She became a witness—not to deliverance from death,
But to Presence in death.
Homily for the Human Condition
You long for miracles? The greatest is this: that the Spirit still chooses us—the fumbling, the fractured—as His vessels. You feel unworthy? So did Peter, who denied Christ three times. Yet the same man stood in Jerusalem’s streets, “filled with power” (GNT), and 3,000 souls awoke to grace . Your weakness is the Spirit’s theater. Your voice, however quivering, is His instrument.
In Onitsha market, a trader prays over her ledger: “Holy Spirit, come.” In a Brooklyn studio, an artist paints crucifixions for the doubters. In a Syrian refugee tent, a mother sings “Great is Thy Faithfulness” as her children sleep. They embody Acts 1:8—not as superstars, but as witnesses. They prove that the gospel advances not through perfection, but through surrendered fragility.
The Narrowed Path: Jesus
All roads of this meditation converge on Him. The Spirit’s power? It testifies of Christ (John 15:26). The ends of the earth? They are His inheritance (Psalm 2:8). The grace that holds you? It flows from His wounds. Jesus is not a means; He is the End. The disciples didn’t receive a what—they received a Who. “You shall be witnesses to Me” (NKJV, emphasis added) .
If He feels distant, hear His whisper:
“I am not lost in the clouds of my ascension.
I am in the Nigerian dawn you weep through,
In the bread you share with your enemy,
In the courage to speak My name
When the world demands your silence.”
A Prayer Through the Ages
Yahweh, Ancient of Days,
Breathe Your Spirit on us again.
Not for spectacle, but for surrender.
Seize us with holy fire.
Make witnesses of the wavering,
Prophets of the broken,
Lovers of the unlovable.
From Jerusalem to Abuja,
From Calvary to Kano,
Let our lives echo one unbroken testimony:
Jesus. Only Jesus.
For the doubter: reveal Him.
For the wounded: heal in Him.
For the wanderer: lead home to Him.
Amen.
The Call
If you know Him—rekindle your first love. Return to your Jerusalem: the place where you first met His grace. Forgive the unforgiven; embrace your Samaria.
If you don’t know Him—His arms are open. The power that raised Christ from death can resurrect your buried hopes. Whisper His name: Jesus. The Spirit waits to seize you with mercies as endless as the ends of the earth.
“The aim is not to make you a better person,
But a new creation.
Not to fix your map,
But to give you a compass:
His heart, beating in yours.”
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