(Jesus said) "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

The salvation story of Jesus Christ reaches around the world. So that the readers of our Daily Devotion may see the power of the Savior on a global scale, we have asked the volunteers of our International Ministry Centers to write our Friday devotions. We pray that the Spirit may touch your day through their words.

In Christ, I remain, His servant and yours,
Kenneth R. Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour



In the book of Acts we see after the disciples had received the Holy Spirit they began to use their lives to witness boldly for the Christ.

Luke, the author of this book, recorded the most important factors that brought about growth in the early church. The individual who studies this book will understand that the Lord used ordinary people to build His Kingdom on this earth.

In 1 Corinthians 1:28 Paul says, "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." God used sinful and pathetic people to spread the Gospel by enabling them by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We see wonderful changes in Peter, the disciple who doubted the Lord when he attempted to walk on the Sea of Galilee; the same disciple who denied Jesus three times in the high priest's courtyard is transformed. After he had received the power of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Day, Peter stood up with the other remaining disciples, raised his voice, and addressed the crowd.

For the first time the world heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ being preached. This was the first Gospel meeting held in the early church.

Truly, God has called each of us to a purpose. We have become His children not by an accident but according to His will and heavenly plan. In our Baptism we received the power of the Holy Spirit to witness for Christ in our family, church and community. God wants our faith to be a living, active thing. He knows that faith without any kind of expression is a dead thing.

Recently, we heard a sad news story from the media about the killing of three people in a house in Colombo. They were all from the same family.

The police investigated this incident and finally found the killer. The fellow who was caught had murdered his own father, mother and his sister, so he might collect their insurance money to help him escape some financial problems. This is the kind of thing which happens every day. Look around and you will see people are becoming very cruel. We are living in a very dangerous world.

All of this gives evidence to the fact that people need Jesus to provide salvation and forgiveness from their sins. They need the Savior. Understandably, if they do not know the Gospel, they will never receive the Holy Spirit, who can lead them to faith and forgiveness.

To reach out to them is why we do our best to share the Savior. He came to seek and save the lost, and now He has asked us to share that news with every time and every nation.

My brothers and sisters, now is the time for sharing the Christ of our lives. In this endeavor we are servants of the Holy Spirit. As the Lord has said, "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord Almighty" (Zechariah 4:6b).

May God bless you to be His witness in this world.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, we thank You for calling us as Your children and trusting us to be witnesses for You in this world. Lord, please help and guide us, so we may show Your love to others in every aspect of our lives. This we ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Biography of Author: The author of today's devotion is Mr. Sathiyabalan who has served as director for the Sri Lankan office of Lutheran Hour Ministries since it opened in 2001. Over the years hundreds of non-Christians have been reached by our programs amongst which are listed, Weuses, a Bible Correspondence Course (BCC) in Sinhalese, Tamil and English languages; Equipping the Saints (ETS) workshops; youth gatherings; and special events in fellowship with local congregations. Known in-country as Lanka Hope Media, this ministry center operates in Colombo. It uses literature displays and rallies as an effective way to reach people in this country of more than 20 million people. Staff and volunteers also use videos, musical events, and puppet shows to promote their programs and to teach people about Jesus Christ. You can check out what's happening in Sri Lanka by going to its blog at lhmsrilanka.wordpress.com.


To learn more about our International Ministries, click here or visit www.lhmint.org.

In Christ I remain His servant and yours,

Today's Bible Readings: Numbers 9-11    Mark 14:1-26

To Download Devotion MP3 to your computer, right click here and select "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" or "Download Linked File As"