What book of the Bible are you reading for your devotions?  I'm in the book of Acts, I just finished chapter 20.  Whenever I read the book of Acts, I come away inspired.  The book is known as the Acts of the Apostles, but in reading it, one should see the crucial role of the Holy Spirit in the growth of the church and so some have commented that a more fitting title would be the Acts of the Holy Spirit.  I marvel at how the Holy Spirit empowered the early church with boldness, courage, and perseverance to testify to the Gospel.  At the same time, the Holy Spirit did not keep the early disciples from intense trial and suffering.  Paul, for example, was stoned, whipped and imprisoned.  Today, we take so few risks for the spread of the Gospel, and I dare say, we don't see the same power of the Spirit displayed as we read about in the book of Acts.  But, I think that the God we worship today is the same God of the book of Acts, and His desire is to see the Gospel spread in the same way as in New Testament times, so I'm encouraged to pray and ask God to empower His church and to display His power through us so that His church would grow as it did with the early disciples.  Will you join me in that fervent prayer?