From Passover to Pentecost with Anticipation and Expectation - Morning by Morning, May 28, 2025

“While staying with them, (Jesus) ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for the promise of the Father. ‘This,’ He said, ‘is what you have heard from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now’” (Acts 1:4-5).

Written and sent out from the morning prayer time of Tommy Hays each day.

God bless you and may you have a great day!
—Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

http://messiah-ministries.org

Transcript

Morning by Morning, May 28, 2025 - From Passover to Pentecost with Anticipation and Expectation

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be high and lifted up, here in my heart and every moment of my day (John 12:32). ...

In the rhythms of the Biblical Calendar we’re between the Day of Passover and the Day of Pentecost. We’re between the day You offered up Your life as our Sacrifice on the Cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and the day You poured out Your Holy Spirit with Your power and love upon the people of God, that we might be Your hands and Your feet as the Body of Christ, filled with the Spirit of Christ, in our world.

During those days of anticipation and expectation, between that Passover and that Pentecost, Your first disciple waited together in an “upper room” in Jerusalem (Acts 1:13). “All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer” (v. 14).

In that upper room, those first disciples were longing for a deeper experience of God. They were hungering and thirsting for more. And You were the One who had fanned the flame of their spiritual hunger and thirst. You were the One who had told them not to leave that place until their power encounter with Your Holy Spirit:

“While staying with them, (Jesus) ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for the promise of the Father. ‘This,’ He said, ‘is what you have heard from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now’” (Acts 1:4-5).

Then You told them the purpose of their waiting, and the power to come of their spiritual pursuing:

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Each one of those disciples knew You. Each had a deep and personal relationship with You as Lord and Savior. Each knew of and believed that You were crucified, dead, buried, and raised from the dead. Yet, there was more. You had more for each one of them. More was necessary for each one of them to be Your witnesses in their world to the ends of the earth. They needed “the Promise of the Father” (v. 4). They needed to “be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (v. 5).

As we approach this coming day of Pentecost “not many days from now” (on June 8th this year), I sense You drawing me into the “upper room” of prayer, of spiritual anticipation and expectation, of deeper spiritual hunger and thirst for more—more of You, more of Your Spirit, more of the expressions and manifestations of Your power and love, of the Person and Presence of Your Holy Spirit.

Prepare my heart to be “baptized with the Holy Spirit”—to be saturated, immersed, soaked, filled up and overflowing, again and again with the Holy Spirit of the Living God. Not just on that day, but on every day. Not just on the day we remember and celebrate what happened long ago with Your first disciples, but in every moment of every day, that we can embrace what You desire for every one of Your disciples every day, everywhere, throughout all our hearts and throughout all our world, to the ends of the earth. It’s one of the ways Your Word will be fulfilled in these last days:

“The earth will be filled
     with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
     as the waters cover the sea!” (Habakkuk 2:14)

“Arise, shine;
 For your Light has come!
 And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
 And deep darkness the people;
 But the Lord will arise over you,
 And His glory will be seen upon you!” (Isaiah 60:1-2)

“This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come!” (Matthew 24:14)

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.