From My Daily Reading #11: Wake Up, Get Up, Get to Believing!

It is time that we as Christians wake up to the truth of God’s promises.

It is time that we as Christians wake up to the power of God to still work in this world and change peoples lives.

Far too many of us far too often allow the lies of the devil to deceive us into thinking we are losing the battle.  We see attendance in many church’s dwindling, or we see the direction the world is heading farther and farther from God, and we want to throw up our hands in defeat.

Yes we pray, but we fail to some power in our prayer lives, and it leads to a diminished amount of time in prayer.  We often fail to believe that God hears much less answers our prayers and it leads to heartless, lifeless, life and even worship in church.

We find a similar situation in Acts 12.

The church had face persecution and was being scattered.

James the brother of John had been arrested and then killed by King Herod Agrippa,

And now, Herod had arrested Peter and planned to execute him as well.

It must have felt like the world was falling apart for the early church.

When word arrived about the arrest of Peter, the church had gathered at the home of Mary, the Mother of John Mark.  But, even their prayers lacked conviction and faith.  (As we will will soon learn.)

As the Bible account tells us, God uses an angel to miraculously deliver Peter from prison.  He then walks to the very house where people of the church are praying.  Upon being let in the house, Peter tells them all that God had done in delivering him free and alive.

But did you miss what happened.

Peter had to be struck in the side to wake him up.  Then he had to be told to get up.  Finally he had to be led by the angel out of the prison in what Peter thought was a dream like state.

Only after He was out of prison altogether did actually come to his senses, and wake up enough to realize what he though was a vision, was in fact reality.

Whether it was a God given peace which passes all understanding that allowed Peter to sleep that night, or that he had simply resigned himself to the fact that He was going to give His live for His Lord the next day, we can’t be sure.  But we do know that Peter did not believe he was going to be miraculously delivered by an angel.

The church members that gathered to pray, were so full of faith and conviction that God would answer their prayers, that they did not even believe it when Peter walked up to their gate.  Even to the point where they accused the girl Rhoda of being crazy when she told them Peter was alive and at the door.

Doesn’t that sound just like many of us today.

We are resigned to things being just they way they are.  We expect no miracles, and don’t often believe that God answers prayers.  Even when we have the proof right in front of us.

Christian it is time to wake up, get up, and get to believing.

God is still a prayer answering, miracle working God.

We must wake up and open our eyes to see what God is doing around us and in our lives.  And then we must brave enough to tell the world of that very goodness and power.