Is This For Real

If you are a true believer, you believe the Word of God is true, as I do, but I am sure there are things that you read that sort of baffle you at times.  One of them for me is Acts 5:12-23, “At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico. But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem. And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number, to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them. Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed

But the high priest rose up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy. They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and taking them out he said, ‘Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.’ Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple about daybreak and began to teach.

Now when the high priest and his associates came, they called the Council together, even all the Senate of the sons of Israel, and sent orders to the prison house for them to be brought. But the officers who came did not find them in the prison; and they returned and reported back, saying, We found the prison house locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors; but when we had opened up, we found no one inside.”

Many people saw the signs and wonders and brought all kinds of people to be healed and delivered; what a sight that must have been!  Can you just imagine the excitement and the joy the people experienced, as they ran to get all their family and friends that were sick and tormented to be healed and delivered?  Could you imagine if this happened today?

Let me say this before I forget, just because people were healed when Peter’s shadow fell on them there was no healing power in his shadow, it was the power of God in Peter that brought about the healing, praise the Lord for His healing and delivering power.  These miracles showed that the Lord was with them.  You would think that the religious leaders would have supported Peter and the other disciples, but their pride, jealousy and negativity overruled their emotions and robbed them of their joy and they were filled with indignation as you have already read.  It never fails, whenever the Lord does something amazing, man always gets in the way and hinders the work in progress.  These men were the religious leaders; you would think they would have rejoiced in the movement of God, but not so.  These men were full of themselves and lacked the relationship with the true God and Jesus, His beloved Son.  

Some of these may have instigated the crucifixion of Jesus and now they wanted to kill these men also, read verses 24-33, “Now when the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what would come of this. But someone came and reported to them, ‘The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!’ Then the captain went along with the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence (for they were afraid of the people, that they might be stoned).

When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, saying, ‘We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.’ But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.’”

  

Envy, jealousy and pride are very dangerous in a person’s life and so is a critical spirit; these attributes we should try to avoid at all costs because in the end they can destroy us!!  These people were frantic, not knowing what would happen next or where this would end and they wanted to put a stop to it.  

What about you, when God is doing something you don’t understand, do you get all bent out of shape and try to stop it?  I think we all get in the way of God’s work at times but we must be careful that we don’t continue in this and end up grieving the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes we don’t understand how the Lord is working and we need to be careful not to make a bad judgment and stop the flow of God.  That seems to happen with every revival; man seems to get in the way and hinder the work of the Lord.  Something to think about!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!