Out of Our Mind

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

OUT OF OUR MIND

Acts 12:11-17

11 Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating." 12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!" 15 "You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel." 16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Tell James and the brothers about this," he said, and then he left for another place.

NIV

Why was their first response unbelief? They knew factually that Peter had been arrested and put in prison and was waiting to be put in front of Herod, who had already had James killed. Facts are facts, and then there is faith. They certainly would never dream of trying to break Peter out of prison; that would be impossible.  However, nothing is impossible for God, or for that matter, with God. After Peter realized he had been rescued by an angel and, through the supernatural power of God, was able to walk out without any guard seeing him. But when he knocked on the door of the house belonging to Mary, the mother of John, and the servant girl saw it was Peter and told those in the house, they did not believe her; in fact, they thought she was out of her mind. Weren't they praying for Peter? Didn't they expect God to answer? We wonder how many believers today pray without expecting God to answer. Do we live as though God is not going to do anything for our benefit? Do we just live like a Christian, but not really believe God will heal, provide, rescue, or perform a miracle in the church? Do we just say the right words, but not truly believe them? Is our first response not to believe God for a miracle? When the servant girl saw Peter at the door, she was overjoyed and shared her excitement with those in the house. That is where we should always be, in a state of being overjoyed because we serve a risen Savior and He is in the world today, we know that He is living, no matter what men may say. We also have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, and that alone is a miracle. How can we even respond with unbelief? Have we been disappointed because it seems God has not answered us? Maybe we are not looking to God, or for God to actually do something for us. Have we learned to lean on ourselves or others before leaning on Jesus? Maybe we should be living as someone out of their mind, that is, living by faith and not by sight, actually believing God, not just believing in God. Yes, that is it, live out of our mind means we do not live by how or what we think, we live out of our mind, simply believing God.