REFRESHING CHANGE

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what He had foretold through all the prophets, saying that His Messiah would suffer.”

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that He may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. Heaven must receive Him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as He promised long ago through His holy prophets. For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything He tells you. Anyone who does not listen to Him will be completely cut off from their people.’”

“Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ When God raised up His servant, He sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.

Acts 3:17-26, 4:4

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Many people are trapped in the day to day doldrums of this world. They get up. They get ready and then go to work or school or just do general things around the house if someone is retired or a homemaker. Then they relax and usually watch television or play games or read in the evenings before going to bed and getting ready to get up and do the same thing in the morning.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

You know, people get into spiritual doldrums as well. In fact, they get so caught up in their worldly life schedules that they often completely ignore their faith side of things. The Lord becomes squeezed out of one’s daily routine because a person simply believes they lack time for Him. There are too many other things that need attention and unfortunately the Lord is an afterthought anyways, unless the difficulties of life become so great that a person is driven to Him by their circumstances.

So how can these mundane routines get broken? How can someone find refreshing change in their lives?

Well, as we see in our scripture passage today, Peter offers us some recommendations as he continues to address a predominantly Jewish crown that had gathered after he healed a lame man at the Beautiful gate by way of the power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

In yesterday’s devotion, we found Peter giving credit where credit was due as the people were praising him for the act of healing. Peter makes sure the crowd knew that the healing happened because of the man’s faith and belief in Jesus, and it was that faith which healed him. Peter also made it a point to let the people know that they deserved the credit for putting Jesus to death, chronicling how they had handed Him over to be killed before disowning Him, even asking for a murderer to be released instead of Jesus. Ultimately, they were responsible for killing the “Author of life” and Jesus’ blood was on their hands. It would be something they would have to wake up and deal with day after day after day. The guilt would have to have been unbearable, leaving one yearning for some refreshing change that might bring forgiveness and pardon.

As we look at Peter’s words in today’s passage, we see him providing the pathway to relief, the pathway to break out of our daily monotony and enter into a more exciting way of living.

First, we see Peter give his Jewish listeners a little break. For he acknowledges that the people acted the way they did toward Jesus because of ignorance. They didn’t truly understand who He was or they would have never done what they did.

Second, Peter reminds the people that their ignorance wasn’t just connected to Jesus. It involved the prophets as well. Had the Jewish believers invested time to study and know the words of the prophets, then they would have embraced Jesus as the long predicted Messiah, the Son of the God Most High. But it was God’s will for His Son to die, an atoning sacrifice to pay the ransom required for the sin of all mankind.

So first, the people acted out of ignorance and second, Jesus’ death was all orchestrated by God to happen just as it did. No one could have changed it because God willed for it to occur.

But note here that this didn’t let Peter’s listeners off the hook. They didn’t get a free pass. Rather, Peter called them to do specific things which would lead to change and a refreshing from the Lord.

First, the people were to repent.

Breaking the daily commitment of sin only happens when someone recognizes their transgressions and how it places them in a place of opposition to God. Then, not wanting to remain in that position, a person decides to repent, to come before God, confess their sins, and willingly opt to live differently in a way that honors the Lord.

Then, having come clean before God with hearts wanting to turn from sin and toward righteousness, a person needs to turn to their Lord, to place their heart’s devotion and mind’s affection on Him and Him alone for only the Lord can wipe out the sins of His people.

Friends, this is the way to refreshing change, a refreshing that can only come from the Lord God Almighty, who not only wishes that you be right with Him but that you would be saved through His Son who He raised from earth to heaven until the time comes where God will restore everything and make all things new.

There’s no question that the Lord, speaking through Peter, called His people to repent and then to come clean before Him with a renewed sense of dedication and loyalty so that He could bring them the kind of refreshing change He desires everyone to have and the salvation He offers through His Son.

What was the impact of Peter’s words?

We read where many chose the refreshing change found in the Lord and believed in Jesus as Savior so that “the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand”.

And this brings me to you, the reader.

Do you find yourself trapped in the doldrums of life?

Are you in need of the only true refreshing change, the change that comes from the Lord?

My prayer today is that Peter’s words have as much an impact on you as they did the people who listened to him that day in the temple courts, the day when the number of believers grew exponentially in Jerusalem, the day when thousands found refreshing change.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com