Believe It Can Happen

When king Herod captured Peter and threw him into prison, the people of the church prayed continually unto God to free him.  God answered their prayers and sent an angel that led him out of jail.  Peter then went to the house of John, where they were all praying.  He knocked at the gate and a small child heard his voice.  She excitedly ran and told everyone that Peter was standing at the gate.  This is how they reacted: 

 "And they said unto her, Thou art mad.  But she constantly affirmed that it was even so.  Then said they, It is his angel.  But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished" (Acts 12:15-16).  

These people did call upon God to help Peter.  But it is clear that they did not ask in faith.  They were praying for something that they did not believe would happen, or was even possible.  When God answered them and released Peter from prison, they did not believe what the child told them.  

I know that God hears our prayers.  I know that He can make miraculous things happen if we just ask in faith.  Let us not be like these people who could not believe that God answered them.  When God answers your prayers, be fully grateful and prepared to receive that answer.  Don't just pray for something--believe that it can happen.  Because all things are possible through God.  

On a side note, I think something can be taken from the fact that it was a child who was able to see that Peter had returned.  It was a child that had the faith and courage to share with people who did not believe.  

"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:4).

 

Change

This week I want to talk about change.  It is a common debate in the world today of whether or not people can truly change.  But I know that we can all change.  We can all do better and we can all become better people.

The apostle Paul, formerly known as Saul, is a great example of this.  Saul persecuted the apostles of the Lord, and witnessed the murder of the apostle Stephen.  He was on his way to Damascus to get letters that would allow him to capture apostles, tear them from their families, and bring them to Jerusalem.  He was on his way when suddenly a light from heaven shone round about him.  Saul fell to the earth and heard a voice saying: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Jesus Christ talked with him and Saul answered him, saying, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"  

On this earth we are given agency, or the power to choose.  We are not bound by some predetermined destiny to be good or bad.  Yes, God has a plan for us, but we have the power to use our agency to do right or wrong.  Paul used his agency here to follow the Lord.  "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"  The very Lord he was persecuting, he chose at that moment to follow.  

When Paul was taken into the city, the disciple Ananias recognized him and remembered the evil he had done to the saints in Jerusalem.  But the Lord answered him in Acts 9:15: "Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel."  

This is such a powerful statement.  The Lord is not bound by time or by our pasts.  Ananias only saw the man who had done so much evil, but the Lord saw only Saul's potential.  

No matter our pasts, no matter how many mistakes we have made, the Lord sees what we can become.  We all have the power to change, and we have the choice to be better.  At any point, we can do as Paul did, and we can use our agency to follow Him.  

Faith in God's Plan

This week I read a story in Acts 3 about a man, lame from his birth, who was healed by Peter and John.  Jesus and His apostles preformed many miracles throughout the New Testament, and it is easy to overlook this one.  But I learned in class that there are some valuable principles if you take the time to look just a little deeper, and make "history," "ourstory." ....get it?  :)

This lame man laid at the gate of the temple every day since the time he was born, asking alms of them that entered into the temple.  One day Peter and John crossed his path and he most likely asked them for money or food.  But Peter replied: "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk" (3:6).  The man received strength and leaped up and went with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.  Eventually 5,000 people who witnessed this believed on the words of Peter and John.  

This man laid daily at the temple doors, a temple that Jesus Christ went to.  He most likely saw Jesus dozens of times as He passed by and entered the temple.  Jesus saw this man, unable to walk, begging to survive.  But Jesus didn't heal him.  

Perhaps we can liken the lame man unto us.  If I was the lame man I might have felt like Jesus or my Heavenly Father had forsaken me.  Jesus healed so many, so why not me?  It is easy to think this way when we go through trials in our lives.  Perhaps we are doing all we can to be a disciple of Christ and yet we still don't feel any sort of relief or help from God.  No, Jesus did not help the poor, crippled man at the entrance of the temple during His lifetime.  But when he was finally healed at 40 years old by Peter and John, the miracle converted 5,000 people.  

This story showed me that I must have faith in the Lord, and that means trusting in His timing as well.  The crippled man wanted food and money from Peter and John.  But what he got was the ability to walk, and also a testimony of the Lord.  What I may think I want right now could be so minuscule compared for what the Lord has planned for me.  And when that is realized, I will follow the lame man's example by "walking, and leaping, and praising God."