CARLTON BYRD
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Devotional<br />
P<br />
FEEL<br />
the<br />
ower<br />
Comparing Peter<br />
at Pentecost<br />
and Saul<br />
at Ramah<br />
BY<br />
HOMER<br />
TRECARTIN<br />
Click, click, click, click, click. With<br />
a sinking feeling in the pit of<br />
your stomach you get out<br />
and look under the hood,<br />
whether or not you know<br />
what to look for. You text a friend, call<br />
AAA, or just stand there gazing longingly<br />
at any approaching vehicle.<br />
Jumper cables? You flail them at passersby.<br />
At last some angel arrives, hooks<br />
up the cables, and signals you to stick<br />
the key in the ignition and turn. Vrrrrrooooommmm!<br />
Ah, power!<br />
We may not understand our cars, but<br />
we understand the need for power. We<br />
purchase gadgets that plug into our<br />
phones or computers to provide a boost<br />
of power. Our heat pumps and cars<br />
often have a setting that gives us a quick<br />
blast of heat or cold. Advertising bombards<br />
us every day, promising us a sudden<br />
rush of energy if we will just eat,<br />
drink, or swallow this or that. Oh, yes.<br />
We believe in power.<br />
There were no cars, power adapters,<br />
or energy drinks in Bible times. And<br />
many of us do not understand the<br />
Bible’s farming language about early<br />
and latter rains. But we do get the talk<br />
about power—Holy Spirit power, latterrain<br />
power. We get the power talk. We<br />
want to hook up jumper cables!<br />
Power for What?<br />
We love to talk about the promise in<br />
Joel 2:28, 29: sons and daughters prophesying,<br />
old men dreaming, servants<br />
Spirit-anointed. But what’s the power<br />
for? Why do we pray for latter-rain<br />
power? What do we think it will accomplish?<br />
A ripened harvest? Not primarily.<br />
The harvest is already ripe, Jesus<br />
declared; we should pray for laborers.<br />
Stirred-up laborers then, His sleeping<br />
church? Now, that sounds good! Like<br />
hooking up to heaven’s jumper cables<br />
for one final jolt of power! Like latterrain<br />
energy propelling us from rocking<br />
chairs out into the world with the final<br />
message! Perhaps.<br />
14 (142) | www.AdventistReview.org | February 21, 2013