But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses. Acts 1:8
I find the apostle Peter such an interesting character to follow through the New Testament. He inspires me, challenges me, and frustrates me by turn. From a fisherman with nothing else in mind except turning a profit for the family business, he moves to a disciple and then on to become a fiery spokesman for the church.
What happened?
When I read about Peter, I want to crawl inside his mind. What made him leave everything he’d ever known to follow this teacher and healer? Jesus’ message had very little to do with the demands and economy of a fishing business. There must have been something about Jesus and what he offered that satisfied Peter in a way that his current job did not.
And then when I watch him make the honest attempt to walk on water, I want to get inside his heart to find out just what was going on in there. Fear so easily clouded his image of the man he’d left everything for and sank him in doubt.
But he tried. And for that I admire him.
I can’t think of any reason why I would be courageous enough to leave the safety of the sturdy boat and take on the wind and waves.
Unless the Holy Spirit got a hold on me. Only then would I try something so daring.
This happens to Peter later on. After he’s gone through the grievous night in the garden and then his betrayal of Jesus in the High Priest’s courtyard, Peter stood at the foot of the cross and then raced his buddy John to the tomb. He sees Jesus again, several times in fact, over the course of the next forty days.
But the game changer for Peter may have been at Pentecost–that moment when the Holy Spirit Jesus promised came upon him. A fresh wind. A blazing fire. A warm love that coated his heart and redefined his very person. The Holy Spirit had gotten a hold on Peter. “You will be my witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes on you,” Luke writes in the scene when Jesus returns to heaven. This proves true in Peter’s life because already in chapter two we catch a glimpse of Peter preaching to the crowd giving witness to the resurrection.
The power Jesus spoke of in Acts 1:8 came natural to Peter. He operated out of it, lived in it, and wore it to such a capacity that even his shadow carried healing. People brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by (Acts 5:15).
The Holy Spirit so permeated Peter’s life that the gentle power of healing flowed from him without him even needing to do anything.
So it is with us. When we live in a relationship with Jesus, his spirit lives in us, changing us, moving us from a worldly focus to discipleship to service. The supernatural starts to feel natural. Our hearts become aligned with the word of the Lord. Our motives and priorities reflect the gradual take over of the Holy Spirit on our lives.
I’d like to think that at some point after Peter received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he went back to the Sea of Galilee alone, with none of his disciple friends around, only the Lord watching from heaven. He stood at the water’s edge–the place where Jesus taught him about faith and power, and about how to walk on water.
And then, with the waves lapping at his toes, he took one tiny step out onto the water. Maybe Peter tensed waiting for the strong winds of a storm to come and knock him down again. But even if one did come along and blow fury and fear into more doubt producing waves, Peter would have made it. He wouldn’t have just tiptoed across and expanse of water, he would’ve danced. He was the Rock, the one on whom the church was about to be built. Peter had learned how to put his faith in the Spirit that now lived in him, upholding him and keeping him afloat.
Now Peter knew he could go into the world preaching about Jesus and proclaiming the resurrection because he’d made it. He finally had what it takes to walk on water.
