Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 24:46–53

Jesus disappointed me. I asked Him to do one thing—just one! And did He do it? Nope! In fact, He did the opposite. I thought He was trustworthy, a God who kept His promises. I was beginning to have my doubts. And I might have continued to feel this way if I hadn’t joined a Bible study and taken the time to read Scripture, because as it turned out, the issue wasn’t that God didn’t keep His promise, but that I had held Him to a promise He never made.

I wonder if you can relate. I suspect that you do. After years in ministry and the honor of hearing the hearts of God’s daughters, I can confidently say that most of our frustration and disappointment with God is based on our distorted image and misunderstanding of who He is and what He promises. And so, it begs the question:

What does God promise?

We find our answer in today’s gospel, moments before Jesus ascends to heaven, when He tells his disciples, “I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). Did you catch the promise? The promise is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, one of the three persons of the Trinity, alongside the Father and the Son. The promise is that the same Spirit that filled John the Baptist (John 3:30), the Blessed Mother (Luke 1:47–48), and Jesus (Philippians 2:6–8) will fill us.[1] The promise is that we will forever have a Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, and Strengthener, so we will never be alone. The promise is God’s personal breath breathed into us. 

Let that sink in if you can. The breath in your lungs is the same breath that breathed the universe and everything in it into existence. If we could grasp this, we’d never breathe the same way again.

But grasping the Holy Spirit is not so easy. In fact, as instructed by author Lisa Brenninkmeyer, “It’s important to understand that we will never completely figure Him out.”[2] So, why bother talking about Him? Why does the Holy Spirit matter? 

He matters because God has placed a specific call on our lives, and we need Him to answer the call. Just as the apostles were “clothed with power on high” (Luke 24:49) to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins to the nations, so are we called. But let’s be honest, very few of us feel up to the task. We see other people capable of the job, but not us. And this is a bold-faced lie. 

God is calling YOU.
He is asking YOU to step up and witness.
He desires that YOU preach about the good things He has done.
He is waiting for YOU to respond. 

How do we respond to the Holy Spirit? Our response to the Holy Spirit should always be obedience. This means yielding to the gentle nudges and promptings we hear, allowing the Spirit of Truth to guide us in all matters. To do this, we must actively seek His guidance. We must draw near, believing He exists and that the reward will be given to those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). But we are masters of self-deceit, are we not? When we hear the Spirit instructing us to go left, but we desire to go right, how often do we ignore the Holy Spirit and choose our own way? “Do you know,” asks Priscilla Shirer, “that the more you ignore that still, small conviction, the quieter that voice will become? Not because He is no longer speaking, but because you’ve built a callous of disobedience. You have muffled the voice of the Holy Spirit.”[3] 

If “a callous of disobedience” grabs your heart the way it has grabbed mine, today is a beautiful day to submit to the Holy Spirit—to pray for forgiveness for the times we choose to hear only what we want to hear and not what God has to say. To beg for the strength to answer the call on our lives and preach the good news of Jesus Christ to the nations; to recognize the great privilege of worshipping a God who speaks to us daily, whose voice we can hear.

The Holy Spirit is speaking. Are you listening?

After the ascension, when the apostles made their way back to Jerusalem, Scripture says they returned with “great joy”(Luke 24:52). Their joy wasn’t because God promised them everything they wanted; their joy was because the promise of the Holy Spirit was all they needed.

And it’s all we need, too. 

Food for thought or journaling …
Is there an area of your life or situation where God has let you down? Could you be holding Him to a promise He never made? Are you choosing to ignore the prompting of the Holy Spirit? What is your callous of disobedience?

O Lord Jesus Christ, who promised to send the Holy Spirit before ascending into heaven, help me to be sensitive to the Spirit's promptings and obedient to Your call. Amen.

P.S. Hey, friend! The Walking with Purpose Bible study lesson that changed my life is Lesson 6 in Opening Your Heart: Who Is the Holy Spirit? If you want to learn more about this powerful promise we’ve been given, I highly recommend it!

[1] Lisa Brenninkmeyer, Opening Your Heart, (United States, 2010-2019), 59-60.
[2] Lisa Brenninkmeyer, Opening Your Heart, (United States, 2010-2019), 56.
[3] Priscilla Shirer, “Are You Obeying the Voice of the Holy Spirit?” YouTube, Accessed May 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1qVkRvpA5Y.

Note: The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is traditionally celebrated on Ascension Thursday, the fortieth day after Easter. Most dioceses in the United States transfer the feast to the following Sunday.