Be Ready

DEVOTION

 THE BOOK OF ACTS

BE READY

Acts 5:21-24

When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin — the full assembly of the elders of Israel — and sent to the jail for the apostles. 22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23 "We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside." 24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this.

NIV

No matter how many miraculous signs and wonders God performs through his people, some will never get it, never see it, and never understand the powerful hand of God at work. The high priest and his associates had seen the healed man standing before them, they had heard the message Peter and John told them, they knew the Apostles were responsible and that they were teaching the people the full message about Jesus Christ, yet they were puzzled wondering what would come of this. They did not comprehend the fact that God intervened in the middle of the night and performed another miracle. Although they were supposed to be the spiritual leaders of the people, they were blind to spiritual matters and were nothing more than religious leaders of the people. Our life lesson is not to be spiritually blind to the power of God at work in our lives and those around us. From what we know about Peter and John they were not amazed that an angel of the Lord broke them out of prison, they were already used to the miraculous hand of God at work in their lives, they had been with Jesus. We should be ready willing and able to see the miraculous hand of God at work in our lives and those around us. First he has already broken us out of the jail we were once imprisoned in on death row, because of our guilt. Jesus has set of free. Second he is always with us, and therefore we should not be surprised when the miraculous happens, but rather we should be expecting it. Those who only see life with human eyes will be puzzled attempting to explain away the supernatural, but we who see with spiritual eyes need to explain the truth of what is happening. They may not know what is to come of this, but we do and we should be telling them to get ready, because Jesus is coming back. The miraculous signs and wonders are so they can see the truth of God, the power of God at work in his people, so they will come to repentance and accept God’s provision for their salvation. If we are simply living in the human condition, using our human efforts, our human ideas, our human plans and strategies, without the power of God at work in our lives, our words may fall on deaf ears. But if we are like Peter and John, expecting miraculous signs and wonders, expecting God to do what he does, and waiting for him to do it, we will be in the middle of the greatness of God, and we will experience his mighty hand at work in our lives and we will have testimonies not just by our words but by our lives. People will see God at work and how can they explain that? Will they be puzzled, spiritual blind, or hopefully, prayerfully their spiritual eyes will be opened. We must be ready for the miraculous.  We cannot be among the puzzled or amazed. We must be ready.