Thursday 5 Sep 2013

Thursday Reading: Acts 4:8-12

Key Verse: Acts 4:12
12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Devotion:
When people will not open their eyes to the power of Christ they see nothing in all that God has done in this world. They become fools and act as if they were ignorant of all that is possible through Christ. Why do they become this way? Because they don’t want to accept what is possible and would rather believe in their own lies than trust in God; after all, that would mean that they would have to accept all that God has given us in His Word.

When the Apostles were given the power to heal people the religious leaders got worried because they could see their power being eroded right before their eyes. How sad it is that people should lift up their own accomplishments instead of what God can do. We are nothing and can do nothing but for the grace of God – why should we expect to gain any praise whatsoever for what we can do then? Peter was under no delusion that he was able to do things anymore because He knew Christ and what was possible through Him. The miracles that they did were not of their own by given to them from God.

It was not Peter’s own learning that was giving Him the words to speak to the religious leaders because they were the ones who had spent their lives trying to learn the scriptures. It was the Holy Spirit through Peter that was educating the leaders and it is that same Holy Spirit that we should allow to act through us rather than us trying to lift up ourselves!

Christ is the corner stone of the church and without Him there is no church. If we shortcut things and leave Him out, what we build will fall down around us! There is no way we can get anyone to heaven without Christ and no way that we can attain such heights without Him either. Christ alone is our way to heaven. Christ alone is our Saviour. In Christ we must stand!

Points to Ponder:
Do you flatter yourself?

Are you really trusting God?