Weekly Watch Focus: Pentecost—Welcome Holy Spirit!

FRIDAY, May 13, 2016, Pentecost is a season of hope, revival, and refreshing. As we look at our nation, Western Europe, the Middle East, and the nations, we are led to cry out, “Come Holy Spirit!” With contrite hearts we raise our eyes to the Lord, filled with hope and faith on the basis of His promise: “I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy…It shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (See Acts 2:17-21, Joel 2:28-29).

Even as the early disciples gathered together and asked for the Promise of the Father, we lift our voices together in one accord for the outpouring of the Lord’s wonderful Holy Spirit. We welcome You Holy Spirit to visit America and the nations so that we may be transformed, cleansed, refreshed, and revived. Send fresh fire on us, our families, our church, our city, and our nation. We humbly make supplications to the Lord, “Give us a transformative national awakening.” May we steward this outpouring to bring those around us to a knowledge of the Savior and to bring glory to the Risen Christ.

Part 2: Happy 68th Birthday Israel

The joy that came on the day Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, declared the country’s independence in 1948 is something for history. We honor this day on which God, after 2,000 years, brought scattered Israel back home in keeping with His promise. We bless Israel and wish her a happy birthday. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem as we celebrate God’s word and miracle power displayed in Israel.

Luke 24:49, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

Acts 1:8, “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.”

Acts 2:4, 38, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Joel 2:28-29, "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.”

Acts 10:44-46, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.”

Acts 19:2-6, “He said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ So they said to him, ‘We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.’ 3 And he said to them, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ So they said, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ Then Paul said, ‘John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.’ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.”

Rom. 8:11, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

Heb 2:4, “God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”

2 Tim. 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”