What confusion they must have felt - the disciples, that is, after watching the risen Jesus ascend into heaven. Again, they were alone, without the direct presence of the Lord close to them. These next days would be an experience new and different, unlike any previous period of their lives.

They had known intense grief. For days, they were locked into the reality where their master, their leader, their mentor had been brutally slain at the hands of godless men. The remaining teachers who claimed to unlock right standing with God were hostile, ready to hunt them down.

Jesus had died, then rose again to unlock life and freedom for those who would trust him. The disciples knew the risen Christ had spread immense light of life into the universe - but now he was going away for longer. This wasn't grief so much as wonder at what comes next. And Jesus had said he would send another.

And another came - with power! The wind sounded, the flames descended, language and communication were going a mile a minute in a sudden reversal of Babel. Thousands came to new life through the powerful preaching of the man who not so long before had denied even knowing Jesus. Social norms were turned over, possessions were willingly sold, missionaries spread the gospel to foreign lands - and people were executed by the Spirit.

A new age had dawned in creation: the age of the Holy Spirit descending in power to dwell in the children of God.

We have been on a journey through history, exploring the ways in which God has interacted with and related with people since the dawn of time. Christianity is a relationship, not a religion - or so we Christians often say. But how do we relate? How does God relate with us? Well, he has done things a little differently at different times.

We looked at ancient times, when paradise was lost. Then, with the giving of the law, God emphasized his otherness. He did not often walk with men, as one man walks with another. And we can get stuck in feeling as though God is inherently inaccessible - that he is far away. We function from a scarcity principle of spirituality.

Then we came to the life of Jesus, who submitted himself to the limitations of being human. He interacted very directly with the people around him, but there were those who watched from afar. The space close to Jesus was not unlimited. We get stuck away from that space, assuming that Jesus is more devoted to other Christians. We picture ourselves farther away, not being pursued by the savior.

And now, we consider the age of the Spirit. And we have the Spirit indwelling in us, if we belong to Jesus. The progression of the ages is undeniable: God seemed far, then God is near, and now God has taken up residence inside.

So the type of interaction I described above, how the Spirit descended in power and prompted all of those things - surely that is the age we're in now, right? Well, not so fast.

True, the Spirit has come, and he is still here. Also true, he dwells within believers. And, he does still at times act in power, bringing revival among groups and pockets here and there. But the kinds of things that happened regularly in those chapters of Acts - they don't really happen so much now. There is a distinct difference between the way God related to them, versus how he is relating with us.

There is no denying that would have been an exciting time to be alive. Visible miracles were the norm in those days. God was revealing his word through his Spirit's prompting. The detachment believers had from earthly possessions was certainly worthy of emulation.

Two times in the believer's life will look the most like that Spirit-power age: newness of life, and revival. When someone is dead, and that sea change happens in their souls where the light of Christ shines forth to banish the darkness, the new creation shapes up very quickly.

New believers have a zeal about them, don't they? They're deadly serious about dealing with sin in their lives, they are most often excited about sharing their new-found faith, and they can simply devour God's word to learn more and more.

And when revival happens, old doubts and confusions can fade away into the background, while renewed focus brings back some of that infant-faith zeal. In these periods of clearly-felt presence of the Spirit, though, a deepening is happening to bring the believer to yield more, ever more of the reservations of the soul.

But just like the ancient times, and just like the earthly life of Jesus, we can functionally get stuck in the early Spirit age too. Those phases of the Christian life that look most like the early church? They are intended to be sprints, not marathons. And as a microcosm of the church age, the believer must settle in for how long life can be.

Quite often, though, our devotional life feels wrong if we can't drum up that passion or energy anymore. We feel like something fundamental is missing - it used to be one way, now it is another. We sense that the zeal is off somewhere beyond the horizon, and if we just spoke the right words to ourselves, if we would just pray with the right spirit and energy, we could feel that flood once again!

We bring this devotional assumption with us to our churches, that if worship does not have that zealous energy behind it, it is automatically wrong. So we play psychological games with ourselves and in our community to build the energy.

We ensure only the most charismatic individuals lead the enterprise. Pathos becomes key to every activity. Choruses get repeated, the music gets louder, light and darkness are harnessed to palpably alter the collective mood.

Don't get me (too) wrong - there's nothing inherently wrong with these activities, or with the art, or with the music. But we do get this idea that we can schedule revival, don't we? That with the right songs, the right sermon illustrations, the right artwork - these will be the things that twist the Spirit's arm to move.

And those of us in the fog are desperate for that movement. We so want that horizon to dawn, for new light and life to shine in us. We want the confusion, the remaining darkness, the clouded way in front of us to all fade to nothing, blazed away by the fire of a reviving Spirit.

Desperate, yes - and also afraid when that light still does not come. We are so tired of seeing other people revived, while we remain in fog. We're over the continued depression, and the anxiety, and the inability to relate well with God and those around us.

We get stuck in thinking that the way the Spirit worked in the early church is the normal way he should interact with us. We want that to happen, we want it to be the everyday experience for the rest of our lives, and we're going to keep beating the drum until it happens.

There is nothing wrong with that desire - we should be desperate for the Spirit and for revival. But in our tunnel vision to that end, we lose sight of patiently waiting on the Spirit. With our blinders on, where nothing truly matters except that mountaintop experience, we can forget to act in daily faithfulness where we are now - with the grace that has now been given to us.

We can be so dedicated to one type of interaction with the Spirit, that we will actively resist him working in our lives in any other way.

If you are a new believer in that fresh faith phase, or if you are a child of God in revival, praise God! Enjoy that closeness and warmth while it lasts. When it fades, remember that it does not mean the Lord loves you less than he did yesterday. And remember that life has these ebbs and flows. Often, the revival fades not because you did something inexcusable, but because God has satisfied his purpose for that time.

And if you're in the valley, yes, be desperate in longing for revival. But remember that the God who loves us more than we can love ourselves has us where we are. There are no shortcuts in spirituality. The Spirit will revive in his time, not ours, and we must say in response, "Not my will, but yours be done."

Before we get to what's next, my question I leave to you for now:

How will I let go and allow the Spirit to work in my life in the way he wants?

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• Photo by Aldo Prakash on Unsplash