Category Archives: Faith

Compassion Ministry Validates Faith

Posted on by
Reply

What Does Faith Look Like?

If you’re one who believes your salvation is solely about what and whom you believe in, James’s epistle has to be a bit unnerving for you! I say that because James lays down a three-part evidence of what genuine, saving faith looks like: (1) self-control over one’s speech, (2) a ministry of compassion to the needy, and (3) practical holiness. I am alluding to the words written by James’s hand while inspired by God’s Holy Spirit: “If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, then his religion is useless and he deceives himself. Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:26-27).

Compassion Ministry

James places the ministry of compassion on an equal plane with living a holy life and getting rid of your “potty mouth!” Unfortunately, many believers tend to separate them and elevate one area over another. Many think that becoming holy—or “keeping oneself unstained by the world,” as James says—is more important to God than taking care of widows and orphans. God doesn’t see it that way. Each one plays an equal part in living out our faith in Jesus, which is exactly what James means by “pure religion.” Ignore the chapter break—which isn’t inspired but added by well-intended individuals—and discover something even more scandalous: James declares it “favoritism” to look past the needs of orphans and widows.

Pure Religion Shows No Favoritism

See how it flows without the chapter break: “Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world. My brothers, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:27–2:1). Failing to minister to the needs of orphans and widows is favoritism! Don’t do that, he says. He then goes on to illustrate favoritism for us in chapter 2. So, I think it’s biblically accurate to say that the “pure and undefiled religion” in 1:26–27 is the same thing as “faith in Jesus” in 2:1. Is this how you would define genuine faith? If not, perhaps you need to redefine faith the way God does. It’s His definition that counts!

Let God Define Genuine Faith

That may seem obvious to those of you who are passionate about serving Jesus, but unfortunately, that’s not the case with many in the church who claim to be Christians. I’m referring to the authority of Scripture to dictate every area of our lives—every area! There is not one part of my life that I can claim authority over. God and His Word have complete authority over every area of my life: my thought life, my work life, my sex life, etc. God’s Word has complete authority over all of it! What “I think” and what “I believe” must be submitted to the revelation of Scripture, then repented of and changed when it doesn’t match up. Are we in agreement? That is a fundamental of authentic faith in Jesus Christ. It’s no longer a Holy Bible when we start cutting out the parts we don’t like!
 

When Church Culture Meets Needs

Posted on by
Reply

Haunted By A Scripture

I grew up in a church culture that did relatively nothing to meet physical needs. It was argued that if you gave people money, they would just spend it on booze, cigarettes, and drugs. So, we were told, “Don’t give them anything!” We had no food pantry to provide for the hungry in our city. We had no benevolent fund to assist with other needs. And yet, we thought we were being faithful to God’s Word. But there is a Scripture in James that always haunted me as I read it: “Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows” (James 1:27). What do you do with that?

Playing The Legalist

How can we just dismiss that? Or play the legalist and limit the spirit of the text to caring exclusively for orphans and widows? At the same time, we cannot be so preoccupied with physical needs that we omit the sharing of the Gospel. That is the problem with many socially minded churches. If we limit our care for people to physical needs and never share the Gospel with them, all we have accomplished is keeping them alive longer—only to prolong their ultimate meeting with God at the judgment, where their unbelief will be exposed. It is not “good deeds” or the Gospel. It is not an either–or. It is a both–and decision we must make.

What Is Pure Religion?

To James, pure religion is not the result of good deeds, but results in good deeds. We do not take care of the orphan, the widow, and the poor in order to attain pure religion. Rather, when our religion is the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ, we become Jesus “in the flesh” when we meet the needs of the orphan, the widow, and the poor. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5). Salvation is “…not of works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:9). But when we humble ourselves and trust Christ’s atoning work on the cross, He changes us on the inside, and the Holy Spirit gives us the heart of Jesus. As we are sanctified and grow in our faith, we will want to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the down‑trodden in our world—just like Jesus did. This ought to be a core ministry value for the church.

Look After Orphans

Look again at that verse in James, but this time let’s back up one verse and see how it flows in context from one verse to the next: “If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, then his religion is useless and he deceives himself. Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:26–27). Notice how James lumps together three very practical evidences of pure religion—three areas of obedience that demonstrate genuine saving faith: self‑control in your speech, a ministry of compassion to the needy, and practical holiness. See that? Inspired by the Holy Spirit, James places ministry to the needy and cleaning up a “potty mouth” on the same plane as living a holy life. More on that next week.

Pure Religion

Posted on by
Reply

An Orphan’s Story

I married the granddaughter of an orphan! When my wife’s grandfather was a young boy, his father died and his mother remarried. Unfortunately, her new husband turned out not to be the kind of man she thought he was. He held no regard for her children; when she died, he considered them disposable and had them removed from his home. My wife’s grandfather was a 14-year-old boy when the authorities placed him in an orphanage where he was physically abused. Eventually, the abuse was discovered, and he was moved to a foster home where he was loved and cared for. In time, he came to faith in Jesus Christ and married my wife’s grandmother. Together, they established a Christian home—a home that produced a legacy of faith with children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who have grown up loving Jesus. What a great story, right? An “orphan’s story” with a happy ending!

An Orphan Crisis

Unfortunately, that’s the exception. There is an orphan crisis in our world. I was shocked to discover that there are more than 153 million orphans worldwide. That’s staggering! If orphans were a country of their own, their population would rank 9th in the world, ahead of Russia. One hundred million of them live or work on the streets. They survive by selling flowers or cigarettes or by watching cars; many sell their bodies for sex or engage in criminal activity. Many of these street children are subjected to abuse, neglect, and exploitation; in extreme cases, they are murdered by “death squads” paid by governments to “clean up” the image of their cities.

It’s Easy To Become Hard-Hearted

So, why am I sharing all this with you? Why should you care? It’s so easy to become hardened to these images, isn’t it? We’re bombarded with infomercials—the sad faces, the sad music, the compelling stories—all meant to move us to reach into our wallets and pay up. We might even try to rationalize that many of the agencies claiming to help are just siphoning off huge amounts from donations to support elaborate lifestyles for big-name CEOs. But let me tell you why this is important: because we can’t just ignore what God’s Word says about it. God has an opinion, and we need to listen!

Look After Orphans

James 1:27, a statement inspired by the Holy Spirit, says: “Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” What was that? “Pure religion” is looking after orphans and widows? Is James supporting a salvation of good deeds? No, he’s not. The book James authored dovetails quite nicely with Paul’s letter to the Romans. James is not saying that your good deeds will result in salvation. Rather, he is saying that the result of genuine, saving faith in Jesus—or “pure religion”—is to love others, including orphans, widows, and the marginalized of society. God gives us a heart to love and serve them.
 

Freedom From Cannibalism

Posted on by
Reply

Biting One Another

In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Church of Galatia, he wrote: “But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another” (Gal. 5:15). In the context of this letter, Paul’s main theme is “freedom.” The genuine follower of Jesus Christ is set free from their previous bondage to the flesh! We are free from the slavery of capitulating to the demands of our broken and depraved natures. No longer does sin have power over us! Jesus, upon His ascension to the Father, sent the Holy Spirit to indwell us and empower us with the ability to say “no” to sin’s demands!

Called To Be Free

So Paul the Apostle tells this church: “Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery… For you were called to be free, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the entire law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal. 5:1, 13–14). The essence of Paul’s words is this—the Gospel of Jesus Christ sets us free from Christian cannibalism! It is only Jesus’ Gospel that empowers us to love others like this! When our love for others grows in this way, it’s a powerful endorsement of the validity of our words when we share our faith. Conversely, it is a blatant and ugly contradiction of Jesus’ Gospel when we “…bite and devour one another…” (v. 15).

Preying Like Cannibals

When we prey on one another like cannibals, we sabotage the glory of Jesus’ cross! We cover up the beauty of Christ, who gave Himself up in payment for our self-centeredness! I saw the ugliness of Christian cannibalism played out as a Bible college student, when half the church I was attending walked out on the other half over the color choice of the ladies’ restroom during a building program. Their testimony in that rural community was ruined! I saw it happen! Oh, how we need the Spirit’s help to learn how to deal with conflict in a way that’s redemptive rather than destructive! A church that does not serve one another in love like Jesus will cannibalize itself! We can only love like Jesus if we’ve been set free by the power of His Gospel! God can and does deliver churches from Christian cannibalism!

Overcoming The Past

Only the Gospel of Christ can deliver our churches from such ungodly behavior! Some of you have experienced a church that devoured itself. You still struggle with the pain. It’s still raw. And you are broken at the thought that some unbelievers will never come to faith in Jesus Christ because of the relational damage they’ve seen inflicted on others by so-called Christians. And don’t forget to praise God if you’re part of a community of faith that truly loves, honors, and respects one another! That is truly a work of God! Be encouraged and pray regularly for continued peace and harmony in your church. Pray daily for spiritual renewal and revival. And remember that it’s the Gospel of Christ that frees us to be Jesus to everyone we meet!
 

Is Every Believer A Disciple?

Posted on by
Reply

What Does Scripture Teach?

The Church, here in the West, has often made a distinction between a “believer” in Jesus Christ and a “disciple” of Jesus Christ. It’s a distinction, however, that Scripture fails to make—that you can be a saved “believer” and live your entire life for yourself. That, if you desire, you can become a “disciple” and live out your days as a “super saint” for Jesus. Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus say anything even close to that. If you abide in Jesus, you will produce the fruit of a disciple. That’s the outcome of genuine faith.

Grape Vines Produce Grapes

There will always be fruit where there is genuine faith. It’s as natural as a grapevine producing grapes. That’s what grapevines do. And there is fruit that is naturally produced by God’s Spirit in the life of every genuine believer who abides in Jesus. In fact, that’s exactly what Jesus says. Fruitfulness is the proof that you’re a “believer” and a “disciple.” “If anyone does not abide in Me,” Jesus said, “he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples” (John 15:6–8). We bring glory to God when our lives produce fruit because it proves that He’s saved us. The proof is in the fruit.

Love, Joy & Obedience

Then Jesus expands on that in the next several verses (vv. 9–17). Fruitfulness, He says, is measured by our love, our obedience, and our joy. “This is My commandment,” Jesus said, “that you love one another as I have loved you.” Loving others isn’t an option for anyone claiming to be a follower of Jesus. If there’s no love, it’s because there is no spiritual life. Where there’s no love, there’s no “abiding in Jesus.” “You are My friends,” He said, “if you do what I command you.” We cannot pick and choose what we’re going to obey in God’s Word. Disobedience isn’t an option. If we truly abide in Christ, we’ll repent when we disobey and realign our lives accordingly with the Scriptures. And there will be joy in your life—“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Our joy is linked to a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s not circumstantial.

Even When Life Is Hard

Abiding in Christ produces joy. Even when the rest of life derails, our joy is centered in Jesus. All those grumpy, mean-spirited haters out there who claim to be followers of Jesus must have missed that Scripture—or they don’t really abide in Christ. This text presents a clear case that God the Father won’t stand idle while His children act up. He will prune: “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2). He will discipline His own. He will spank. But He doesn’t spank the devil’s kids. Our response to His discipline will either confirm or deny that our “faith” is legitimate. We will confess sin and let His Spirit clean house.

Is God Pruning You?

Posted on by
Reply

Pruning Produces More Fruit

My parents used to grow grapes, and there were times when they had to cut away the dead branches that produced no grapes. But they also cut back “living” branches so the vine would use its resources to produce more fruit—grapes. In the timeline of John 15, Jesus is preparing His disciples for life after His death, resurrection, and ascension. He begins with these words: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (vv. 1–2).

Things To Come

As you move through the rest of the chapter, Jesus tells them that two things will come after His departure. First, He says there will be defections from inside the faith—or inside the church body. People who claimed to be followers of Jesus will walk away from the faith. They’ll quit. It’s not for them. And second, Jesus tells them there will be persecution from the outside—bogus faith inside the church and suffering from the outside. He uses the metaphor of a vine, a branch, and the fruit produced to illustrate the difference between a true disciple of Jesus and a fraud. Jesus is the vine. The Father is the vinedresser. And there are two different kinds of branches here—one that bears no fruit, and the Father removes it; and the other that produces fruit, and the Father prunes it so that it produces more fruit.

Responding To God’s Pruning

So here’s the bottom line: it is our response to God’s pruning that proves what kind of branch we are. Are you a dead branch that produces no fruit, or a living, healthy branch that responds to the painful process of pruning by producing more fruit? Let’s talk about some of the points that Jesus makes about fruitfulness through His use of the metaphor of the vine and the branches. First, He clearly indicates that fruitfulness is expected from every genuine disciple of Jesus. In the first three verses of John 15, He says that if you don’t bear fruit, it’s because you’re “not abiding” in the vine. In other words, you’re not “in Christ.” So what kind of fruit should we expect to see growing in the life of a follower of Jesus? While several passages answer that question, perhaps none do so better than Galatians 5.

The Fruit of the Spirit

The Apostle Paul, inspired by God’s Holy Spirit, wrote the church of Galatia to tell them that the indwelling Spirit will produce fruit in their lives that looks like this: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (vv. 22–24). That’s some of the low-hanging fruit that’s produced by those who belong to Jesus. The Spirit produces it. If you’re a believer, Jesus invested His life in you, and He expects a return—or fruit—from His investment. We’ll come back to this next week!
 

The Fruit God Produces In You

Posted on by
Reply

The Evidence Is The Fruit

Everyone who is “in Christ” will evidence the fruit of that relationship. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches! So, if you don’t bear fruit, it’s because you’re “not abiding in the vine,” He said. Let’s take some time to consider what kind of fruit is expected to be growing in our lives if we belong to Him. Besides Galatians 5, which speaks to the fruit the indwelling Holy Spirit produces in us, there is also an expectation that our lives will produce the fruit of winning others to Jesus.

The Fruit of Disciple-Making

In John 4, Jesus said, “Do not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest.’ I tell you, lift up your eyes and see how the fields are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.” Does your life reveal the fruit of disciple-making? Jesus also said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). So, we would expect to see the fruit of obedience in the life of someone who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

The Fruit of Obedience

If our faith is genuine, the indwelling Holy Spirit will be at work in us—pointing out all the areas of our lives that we still need to bring into obedience to the Word of God. In John 15, Jesus refers to the Father as the vinedresser (v.1), and He adds that God will remove you from the vine if there’s no life in you. In v.6 He says you will be thrown into the fire! Jesus taught the same truth in His parable about the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13. The “tares” looked like wheat, but they were frauds. They were weeds, and at the harvest they will be separated from the genuine wheat and burned up. That pictures judgment for everyone who claims to be Jesus’ disciple but has no fruit to evidence that claim. Just as the owner of a vineyard expects fruit, so God expects every one of us who genuinely abides in Christ to produce fruit! He saved us on account of His great name and for His great purpose—that He might gather a people to Himself for all eternity who belong to Him. Jesus Christ “invested” His life in you, and He expects a “return” on that investment.

Jesus Chose You

Consider what Jesus said: “You did not choose me,” Jesus said, “but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide” (John 15:16). It’s fruitfulness, He says, that evidences real faith! If your life is absent from fruit, you would do well to examine yourself against the Scriptures to see if your faith is the real thing. Please consider Jesus’ words carefully and with all sobriety. This is “life or death” because fruitfulness is always the result of abiding in Christ. If there is no fruit of the Spirit, if there is no fruit or passion to make disciples, if there is no fruit of obedience—it may be because you do not abide in Jesus, nor does He abide in you. The church here in the West has made a distinction between a “believer” and a “disciple,” a distinction that is not endorsed by Scripture. We’ll get into that in next week’s post!

God Makes Us Fruitful

Posted on by
Reply

Through An Encounter With Jesus

No one has a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ and walks away unchanged! The deaf were made to hear. The blind were made to see. The lame could walk again. The hungry were filled. The ignorant were instructed. The guilty were forgiven. And sinners were set free from their sin!  There is nothing in Scripture to support the “cheap grace” religion so prevalent in the Western church—that someone can be saved without becoming Jesus’ disciple. Repeating words in some kind of “sinner’s prayer” is not a “get out of hell free” card!

Saved From A Self-Absorbed Life

Jesus didn’t save us to live a self-centered, self-absorbed life. He didn’t just die on the cross so we could listen to a good sermon and some worship music every Sunday morning. This post is about fruitfulness! God makes us fruitful when we enter into a genuine salvation relationship with Him. Just as you anticipate that an apple seed planted in the ground will grow into an apple tree that produces more apples, so God will produce the fruit of the Spirit in us when the seed of the Gospel is planted and His Spirit begins to indwell us. Always. Every time. Let me tell you why that’s important. It’s important because if you don’t get this right, it could lead to eternal judgment and condemnation.

Gotta Get This Right

If you’re holding on to some prayer you repeated in third-grade Children’s Church as proof you’re going to heaven, you may have been misled. The Scriptures never encourage us to hold onto something we did or said—or something our parents or pastor did or said—as proof of our salvation. God’s Word focuses on a changed life and a progressively changing life now. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) “If you love Me,” Jesus said, “you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) Our life will be marked by a love for obedience to God’s Word and a hatred and abhorrence for all sin we stumble into. The Apostle John wrote: “I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13) The written Word, inspired by God’s Spirit, was given to act like a mirror to reflect back to us our spiritual condition.

Test Yourselves

Seek proof of your conversion from the Scriptures! “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves,” the Apostle Paul wrote, “Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless you fail the test.” (2 Corinthians 13:5) Test your life according to God’s Word. Examine yourselves. Is there any evidence of a changed life? Is there fruit in your life that can only be produced by a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ? Listen to Jesus’ words: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:1–2) Evidence of genuine faith is produced by life in Jesus!
 

How God Uses Prayer

Posted on by
Reply

To Show His Great Power

A survey of God’s Word reveals how God uses prayer in our lives in a number of ways. In this post, I want to ask you to consider how God will often answer your prayers with a display of power in order to strengthen your faith. In Acts chapter 12, we find the Apostle Peter imprisoned by King Herod. The text says that the church was earnestly praying for his release. With great power, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in the prison where Peter was being held and released him from his chains. The angel then escorted him out of the prison, safely passing two separate guard posts and out through an iron gate. From there, it says: “When he (Peter) realized this (that the angel had freed him), he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many had assembled and were praying. He knocked at the door in the gateway, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer. She recognized Peter’s voice, and because of her joy, she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gateway. ‘You’re crazy!’ they told her. But she kept insisting that it was true. Then they said, ‘It’s his angel!’ Peter, however, kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astounded. Motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he explained to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.” (Acts 12:12–17)

To Astound You

They were astounded! I’ve often thought about Herod and his guards when reading this text. What a display of power was evidenced to release Peter from his chains and imprisonment! The same display of power God used to confront Herod and the Jews—revealing their helplessness to stop Him when He determines to act according to His sovereign plans—is the same display of power God uses to strengthen our faith. The same power that buckled and weakened the knees of unbelievers strengthened the faith of believers. When you study the Gospels, you see that Jesus kept growing the faith of His disciples. For three and a half years, He kept convincing them that the work of God can never be done in the power of the flesh or by the world’s methods, but only by the supernatural power of God alone. God wants to engage us in prayer so that we see His power.

To Build Your Faith

He also intends to build our faith and belief in Him as He answers our prayers. Why do we see the supernatural work of God in the book of Acts? Acts 2:42 says the believers:  “…devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.” The early church was birthed in prayer! It says they devoted themselves to prayer. James identified that prayer was a problem for some: “You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your evil desires.” (James 4:3) God doesn’t answer selfish prayers. He does, however, answer the prayers of helplessness and utter dependence on His power. Jesus taught His disciples that God answers prayers that are God-centered and God-focused. So, how might your prayers need to change?
 

How Pain Brings Us To Our Knees

Posted on by
Reply

Does God Really Love Us?

We are tempted to ask how it is that God could truly love us if He allows us to suffer through painful experiences. In fact, it is because He loves us that He choreographs pain and suffering into our lives. Let me explain. It is not our natural tendency to seek closer fellowship with God when our lives are filled with blessings attached to this world. No — it is our tendency to stray from God when life is good! We become more comfortable leaning on this world’s blessings for our daily support. So God — in His love and sovereign grace — places a “wake-up call,” in the form of a painful experience, in front of us. He shakes us back to reality with something that refocuses our attention on Him, forcing us to our knees in prayer.

Our Greatest Satisfaction

He does this because He knows that nothing will ever offer us greater satisfaction than a Spirit-filled relationship with Him. All of this world’s goods and services are but cheap substitutes for a walk with God. If you follow the narrative from the first chapter in the book of Acts, you’ll see 120 disciples waiting in an upper room in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit. Then, in chapter 2, the Spirit comes to indwell and fill the believers so they would have the supernatural power of the Spirit to obey Jesus’ commission to take the gospel to every people group and disciple them. Immediately, God begins to use them in His supernatural work as 3,000 were saved and became disciples that day — and then more and more were added!

Comfortable and Complacent

But as you read the next few chapters, it seems the church becomes complacent and comfortable with their success, and God’s work begins to slow down. So God, in His sovereignty, brought persecution. Stephen is stoned. Then James is killed, and Peter is imprisoned. It’s this crisis of faith that unsettled them, and they returned to their knees in prayer. They were humbled. They got back to biblical prayer. They expressed their helplessness and total dependence on God’s power to see Peter released from prison: “So Peter was kept in prison, but prayer was being made earnestly to God for him by the church.” — Acts 12:5. In the verses that follow, God sends an angel to spring Peter from prison (vv. 6–11).

The Lost Confronted By Answered Prayer

There’s another prayer principle that God reveals to us through His answered prayer to release Peter from incarceration: God will use a mighty display of His power to confront the lost with their sin. King Herod had imprisoned Peter and assumed he had more power than he actually had. But God says, “No, Herod — your plans to kill Peter won’t work!” Someone once said, “We make our plans, and God laughs.” I love that! Don’t lose heart, church. It may appear the world is out of control, but God hasn’t lost it. In His sovereign timing, He will display His power again and confront the lost with their need for repentance. So let’s get the bigger picture when we find ourselves in a painful place. Don’t pray that God will take it away — He may be doing a special work in your life or in the life of someone watching. Trust His plans!