THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 36

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Day 36:  Cornelius and Peter (Acts 10)

Cornelius believed in the God of Israel even though he was a Gentile centurion.  He was a devout man who not only believed in God but acted on his faith in the things he did.  Cornelius was a compassionate man who always was compelled by his heart to give money to the poor, especially to the Jewish people.  And prayer occurred constantly throughout his day as he depended on and called out to Israel’s God.  He knew that the gods of his people were not THE God!  Now this same God had taken notice of his faith and sent an angel who told Cornelius to send for a man named Peter.

Peter’s recent vision allowed him to believe the men who now stood at his gate, beckoning him to come down and go with them to Cornelius.  God had shown him that He had no partiality to Peter and his people.  From now on all people would have an opportunity to be a child of God.  God told him through the vision that He had cleansed all people.  Cornelius and his people could never again be considered unclean.  Peter left with the men and went straight to Caesarea where Cornelius lived.

Arriving at Cornelius’ home Peter found that many people had gathered, relatives and friends of Cornelius.  What was God’s plan for Cornelius, Peter wondered?  When Cornelius described how he had come to seek Peter out, Peter could see the hand of God at work.  Now, Cornelius anxiously awaited a word from Peter.

Speaking of God’s impartiality, Peter began to lay out the entire plan of God’s salvation:  belief, reverence, and fear followed by a life of godly works that flow from that belief.  He spoke of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection and the peace that is found in a relationship with Him.  Then, as he continued, God’s Holy Spirit descended upon all who were in the room.  Cornelius, all of his family, and the friends he had invited were saved, filled with the Spirit, and baptized.  Cornelius’ faith in the God of the Jews had now become complete as he trusted in Christ, the King of the Jews.  That day Jesus became his Lord and Savior.

Are you living a religious life that includes aspects of faith and good deeds, but living it without Jesus being the Lord and Ruler of your life?

I AM . . . The God of the Impossible--Ex. 6

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I purposed to use My servant Moses long before he became My servant.  My plan included 40 years in Egypt, followed by 40 years in Midian, but even that would not completely prepare him to be My servant in the  impossible ministry assignment that I was calling him to.  Between his 40 years in Midian and his Egypt assignment, Moses would have many questions and moments of unbelief.  The fear of Pharaoh and of what I was asking him to do, would cause him to want to run away from his calling.  It was in those "in between days" that I would teach Moses what it meant to be a servant.

Can you hear it in his questioning and unbelieving words?  This is what he said to Me:

• "Who am I to do this?"  (Ex. 3:11)
  
•  "What if my brothers ask who told me to come set them free?"  (Ex. 3:13)
  
•  "What if they will not listen to me?"   (Ex. 4:1)
  
• "What if I can't speak the words out?  You know I am slow of speech and slow of tongue!"   (Ex. 4:10)
  
• "Don't send me; send someone else!"  (Ex. 4:13)
  
• "Why did you bring harm to Your own people, and why have you sent me to help them?  I knew I wouldn't be able to do this.  I told You I wouldn't!"  (Ex. 5:22)
• "My people have not listened to me, so why do You think Pharaoh will?"  (Ex. 6:12)
• "I am not a good spokesperson.  My lips are unskilled.  Pharaoh will not listen to me . . . EVER!"   (Ex. 6:30)

Moses really only had one problem to overcome--his unbelief in Me!  Moses looked at Pharaoh, and then he looked at himself and his people, and he considered the task I gave him to be impossible.  And he was right!   His unbelief, and the  discouragement he felt when he did what I told him, to no avail, clearly show Me what I see over and over again when giving these difficult assignments to My children--that they are more impressed and have more clearly in their sights the problem, not Me.    You see, Moses looked a Pharaoh and was more impressed with what Pharaoh could do than what I could do.  Moses was not even glancing in My direction; he only saw the problem, Pharaoh.

When I give an impossible assignment, it is to teach one thing--that I Am the God of the impossible and that I am to be  trusted, Me alone.  I am utterly faithful to bring about what I say I will do.  It is up to My servants to put their faith in Me, not in  themselves and what they can do on their own.  They must even put the responses of their family and friends aside, and listen only to Me.  It is up to My servants to look to Me alone, not to the circumstances that I have allowed, for in doing so, they will experience fear instead of having complete trust  in Me.

Do you see that you have done this same thing?  I have given you an assignment that is bigger than you, bigger than your ability, bigger than the "helpful tips" others can give you.  But it is not bigger than Me!  Your trust and faith in Me has been growing over the years, but this assignment before you is to help you learn that you need ME!  I want to strip you of your self-reliance and self-sufficiency.  For My plan to be accomplished, you must surrender yourself to Me.  If you do not, then you are tying My hands, and My plan will fail.  I am waiting for your full surrender.

Trusting in the Wrong Thing

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Do we?

Israel was living in some of their darkest days.  It was the time of the judges, and the rule of thumb was that "everyone did what was right in their own eyes."  They had woefully fallen short of the commands of God to go into the Promised Land and dispossess all of the people living there.  So those very people became their enemies, thorns in their sides.

One of their fiercest enemies was the Philistines, who were stronger, bigger, and had implemented iron into their weaponry.  Fierce doesn't begin to describe them.  Unstoppable.  That was what they were.  

When Israel received word that the Philistines were about to draw up battle lines, the elders declared this to the people, "Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines?  Let us take for ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies."  Yes indeed, the people were doing whatever they wanted.  No corporate prayer, no fasting, no discussion with the priests, no High Priest consulting the Urim and Thummim in his breastplate to determine the will of God.  They were doing what was right in THEIR eyes."

At that point, they were trusting in the ark of the covenant to defeat their enemy and be their protection, not in the God that had delivered them countless times before.  One commentator said that, "They trusted in the Ark of God instead of the God of the Ark."  And the result in trusting in the wrong thing?  The Bible tells us that the Philistines destroyed Israel with a great slaughter--30,000 soldiers to be exact.  But that was the primary victory.  The Philistines also captured and took away the ark of the covenant, God's very real presence with Israel.  (I Samuel 4: 1-11)


Israel trusted in the ark instead of their God to carry them through.  Seems ridiculous until we realize that we do the very same thing.  So often when something comes against us, or when life becomes more difficult than we like, we are just as prone to turn to everything else but God.  We soothe our hurt feelings in so many ways:  food, anger, bitterness, shopping, gossip, dumping our story out over and over and over. We withdraw so we don't have to deal with our life by hiding ourselves in TV, the internet, romance novels, work.  We will do whatever it takes to keep from taking care of it with God.  We trust in everything else out the God who can help us win the battle! 

One of the worst ways is to throw ourselves into our ministry or benevolent works, trusting in them instead of God to overcome our enemy.  This attempt to defeat the enemy in our lives  looks just like the Israelites who trusted in the ark, not God!  And the end result of trusting in these kinds of idols will have the same type of result.  We will eventually be overtake by them.  They will win the battle, not us.

So what would it look like to trust God first?  The Israelites figured it out just a few chapters later.  We would do well to follow their example.  (I Samuel 7: 5-11)   Samuel, their spiritual leader now, called the Israelites together  and they began to trust the Lord together.  This is what they did, and it is what we should do as well.

When faced with an enemy, Israel:

• Prayed, crying out to God, pouring out their hearts before Him, including in that prayer
• Confession of sin
• When they saw the enemy advancing, they cried out AGAIN to be saved from the enemy
• They made a sacrifice to God

What should you sacrifice to God?  Yourself!  It is you that must die.  It is you who must crucify your flesh.  You must surrender to the will and hand of God, and let Him fight your spiritual battles if your intend to win them!  Israel constantly learned the hard way.  How long will you?  Who do you want fighting for you?  You weak and ineffective gods or God Almighty, the Lord of the Heavenly Hosts?