First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY HELIA!!!
I've been reading Acts for the last couple weeks, trying to better understand the early church and the Holy Spirit. One thing I've concluded is that I'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND THE HOLY SPIRIT. Things that happened in Jerusalem and Rome and Philippi and Antioch and Damascus are completely unexplainable in human terms. Circumstances and suffering that the Lord used the Holy Spirit to work through, is baffling to me. Undeniable, yes. But baffling, 100%.
This morning, I studied Peter's escape from prison. Acts 12:5 says "So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him." After that, an angel of the Lord appeared to Peter in prison, the chains fell off of him, and Peter followed him right out of the gates...no guards saw him, no trail was left, no evidence found of how Peter actually escaped. He went straight to Mary's house, where believers were on their knees praying for a miracle that he would escape the physical bondage of prison. And then Peter showed up. In their midst... leaving them in complete disbelief.
I've never really thought about what it must have been like for the early church to be in the midst of so many miracles. How unbelievable it must've been...How completely ridiculous it probably looked to outsiders. But how undeniable the miracles were. And to be so engrossed in the work of the Holy Spirit, that you aren't surprised by miracles... How AWESOME that must've been!
Lord, I believe in miracles. I believe in angels. I believe in healing. I believe in the Holy Spirit's work. I pray that as sisters in Christ, we never stop believing in the power of the Holy Spirit and the Lord's desire to bring us face-to-face with miracles. Lord, bring Helia face to face with a miracle. You are the only that can heal her mind. You are the only one. May she be a miracle for the world to see that you are REAL and GOOD and ALWAYS WORKING in our midst. Father, we pray that you would break the chains around her. Deliver her from voices. Carry her out of the prison walls. Lord, use her the way that you used Peter and Paul and the Israelites in their great escapes. Father, bring this family a miracle.
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Bunny - You are SOOOOOOO sweet... I'm crying at my desk (on a corn'frence call, too!) - Uuuups!
ReplyDeleteJust last night I was up late talking to friends about the first church in Acts... what it looked like, what God intended for it, and how we've lost that... how even the fact that we meet in a corporate building may not be in tandem with His original intent to draw us desperately near to WOW the heck outta' us....
It's timely to hear you bolster those thoughts with the reality of God's power in those first days, and how we've filtered out the opportunity to really witness Him in that way...
Lord, thank you for AMAZING friends, and for their uplifting Spirits... I pray, by grace, we know You in the most intimate way we can, and that we persistently entrust our everything in You so that we can truly stand in reverence of Who You are and that we may fear your Name...
Thanks, Corn - you're a great friend!
Thank you for your sweet prayer...and thank you for remembering her today! May the Lord hear your prayers! Intercessary prayers are very powerful. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and yes forever! If He did it in the 1st century, He is able to do it today too! Thank you!!
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