Recognition of Jesus In Every Moment

[S] Mark 3:11 --
Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, "You are the Son of God!"

[O] Here we are trying to learn the ways of the "clean" (Holy) Spirit and yet we unrecognize Jesus in our midst and yet the unclean spirits never missed a beat of recognizing Jesus and submitted under His authority.  As a follower of Jesus shouldn't we be falling down before Him and praise Him whenever we encounter Him?

[A] Every moment, take my eyes off what I am so involved with and recognize Jesus at work and then submit under His authority with praising.  I am not doing this enough throughout the day.

[P] Dear Jesus, I want to recognize You and worship You every moment of the hour in each day.  Please let me be in Your presence at all time as I ask in Your name.  Amen.

Lameness Leads to Begging

[S] Acts 3:9-10 --
 ⁹And all the people saw him walking and praising God; ¹⁰and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

[O] Healing of this lame beggar was recognized by many people as they were filled with wonder and amazement.  They did not know how he was able to walk and leap but knew that it was an act of miracle for that to happen to the man.  When God is on the move, there is no time to even think about "how" because "what" took place is just so amazing and awesome.  When people are on the move, there are so many "who this, and how that" questions dampening the works of God in the end, making us look like this lame beggar.  In fact, I feel like him now where I feel immobilized in the small group ministry and feel as if begging for people to come along.

[A] What I need to request from God is to heal me, strengthen my joints, so I may leap up and praise God so others will wonder in amazement something awesome had happened and eventually see that it was God's working in my life based on my faith.  It's a matter of time (when) for my lameness to be transformed into a vibrant display of God's wonder.

[P] Dear Jesus, I, too, need the same presence of Your power in v.6: "... In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene--walk!" I want to walk and praise You for what You have, are, and will do in my life so it won't stay in the lame state.  In Your precious name.  Amen.

Plans of Man vs. Plans of God

[S] Acts 5:38-39 --
 ³⁸"So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; ³⁹but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God."

[O] Pharisee named Gamaliel provides a very wise advice to the people by reasoning with them on the possibility of Peter and John's claim.  His point is that if God is not with them then whatever they claim will not come to fruition but if they do represent God, then there is nothing that will stop them.  However they try to intervene, it will not make a big difference.  We are so calloused by our own training and reasoning, we had lost the same type of reverence towards God's plans and His power.  Even without knowing we put the creator of this world into a small box that we create and try to contain His power into our limited realm.  What happened to people like Gamaliel who gave credit to God in His "size"?  We are so used to minimizing God into what our minds can grasp that we cannot experience His power to the fullest.

[A] I want to learn and be like Gamaliel where he gave credit where it belongs.  In this case, he fully recognized the power of God to be just that -- none any man can displace.

[P] Dear God, may Your power be just that!  May my faith tap into Your power instead of the inverse.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.