Prophecies About Jesus Christ - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 3:24-26,

“Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.' When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

As Peter preached to the crowd that gathered at Solomon’s Colonnade when the Lord healed a crippled beggar through him, Peter pointed out to them that “all the prophets from Samuel on… have foretold these days.” Then he quoted Genesis 22:18, where just after Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac the angel of the Lord tells Abraham that through his offspring “all the nations on earth will be blessed”, a reference to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.

As we study the Scriptures we find numerous prophecies of Jesus Christ coming to planet earth. The circumstances of his birth, his purpose in ministry, his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, are all foretold in many places. The Psalms, Isaiah and the other prophets, Moses’ writings all contain prophecies of the coming Messiah.

It must be that the Lord saw a need for people like me, who are slow on the uptake, who would need his intentions repeated numerous times, to have an assurance that all of this was planned well ahead of time.

Wouldn’t you agree what a wonderful thing this is?!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God Can Use Any Of Us! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 3:12,16,

“Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? … It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.”

When the Lord healed a crippled beggar through Peter and John a crowd gathered. In addressing the surprise of the people Peter corrects an assumption the crowd was apparently taken by: the healing did not take place because of Peter and John’s own power or godliness.

In some circles of the church there is the feeling that it is only when we arrive at a certain “godliness” or a certain maturity that God can begin to work through us. Indeed, there are those today who engage in what I would consider to be questionable practices and wear these on their sleeves as an authentication that they have arrived at a level of “godliness”. Their way is the way to go because, after all, God is placing his stamp of approval on their ministry because of what they are capable of doing - what others are not or can not.

But that is not what I see in this episode. Here we have two apostles, who, between them, authored seven of our twenty seven New Testament books. They lived, ate, served and were taught by the Lord himself during his earthly ministry. Now empowered by the promised Holy Spirit as two of twelve apostles, if anyone had claim to godliness or power it would be these men. But in this account they clearly state that the miraculous healing the Lord provided through them had nothing to do whatsoever with “godliness” or power they might have had.

I suspect many of us today have forgotten Paul’s words, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” 1 Corinthians 1:27-29.

I can say that the Lord has touched my life in very important ways at times through folks who have only been saved for just a few months, or others who have never been considered to be the “spiritual elite” of the congregation. All of us, no matter our tenure in the church, our position in the church, or our perceived status, are capable and probably used more in the lives of others around us, than we will ever know. This is just the way our wonderful Lord works!

God can and will use any one of us - no matter where we are in life! Even when the most surprised person that we are used by him is ourselves!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

God Works Through Us In Spite Of Us - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 3:12-13a,

"Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus."

Peter healed a lame man at the temple and a crowd began to gather in astonishment. The above is how he began what he had to say to them.

The account provides something fascinating about God to me. Peter heals a cripple and then tells the mob that gathers that it was not due to his “own power or godliness”.

It appears to me that God uses folks for his purposes to accomplish his will and his desires apart from them having arrived at a level of "power" or “godliness”. While Peter had become an amazing apostle and carried within him the fullness of the Holy Spirit that led to his involvement in the miraculous, the prophetic, the production of the inspired Scriptures and the spread of the gospel, he confessed it was not him or any level of spirituality he had attained. God had done it!

I sense there may be some among us who calculate their spiritual bona fides on the basis of how God uses them. Peter's observation here should cure us all of such notions. While I certainly appreciate the faithfulness and desire of many who serve God and do amazing things for the kingdom of heaven, it is God who does it!

God uses us in our foolishness, weakness and inabilities. That God involves us at all in his purposes is just amazing and that he doesn’t require a level of accomplishment in our life to be used by him is even more amazing.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.