Acts___5

Scripture  Acts 5:18-20 

They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail.  But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and taking them out he said, “Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.”  Observation-What does it say?  In the opening passages of Acts, the author, Luke, places an emphasis on the power that accompanied this community of Christians who were so closely knit together.  After the day of pentecost, the number of believers was growing rapidly.  As noted in Acts 2:40-47, the apostles were displaying signs and wonders of God’s power, which resulted in an overflow of generosity and love during their fellowship.  The move of God’s love and power among the new believers rubbed the Jewish leaders the wrong way, resulting in the imprisonment of Peter and other apostles twice within the first five chapters.  This second imprisonment was ordered by the high priest, who was filled with jealousy.  But, almost as soon as they were imprisoned, God sent an angel to release them.  God makes a way, when there seems to be no way. Understanding-What does it mean?   I had a pretty horrible car accident when I was 18.  It was the jaws of life and airlifted to a hospital with several specialist type of horrible.  My mom was the first one to make it to the hospital and they told her the type of news no parent would ever want to hear.  The doctors told her to make her peace and call who she needed to call, because it didn’t look good for me.  To clarify, I don’t have any memory of this, but I know from the stories of those who were there what took place over the next few hours and days.  My mom took a moment to be with me before I was wheeled into surgery, and in that time she prayed for God to heal me.  Over the next few days, people poured into the waiting room at Loma Linda Hospital to be with my mom and pray.  Since I am writing this, you could probably guess the end of the story, I came through and became physical evidence of the miraculous power of prayer. Throughout scripture, there are several examples of God’s miraculous power that moves when His people gather together to pray and worship.  The walls of Jericho came tumbling down during an intense worship service (Joshua 6).  300 men with trumpets defeated an army of armed men (Judges 7).  Through prayer and worship, Paul and Silas converted a jailer (Acts 16).  We live in a time where we need to see a miraculous move of God’s spirit.  While it seems there is no way, He can make a way.  Let us not forsake gathering together to worship and pray for a movement of His power.
Life Application 

Jesus, help me to never take for granted the life you have given me.  Help me to lay hold of every opportunity for you, encouraging those around me to call out to you.  Jesus, pour out your spirit on us and let generosity flow from your people.  

 

-Tyler Galloway