DAY 246--FEARLESS CONFIDENCE
2008-09-23

Psalm for Today: Psalm 98

Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who dwell in it!
Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the hills sing for joy together
before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.



Tabletalk Magazine

Matthew 22:31-33 The God of the Living

Have you not read..."I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?" He is not the God of the dead, but of the living." Verses 31-32

One small word and its tense make up the crux of the answer that Jesus gave the Sadducees. He said, in quoting God from Exodus 3:6, "I am the God of Abraham..." Not "I was..." This implies that after death, they live on to worship him.

Basically, Jesus is saying that marriage, as an institution primarily for being fruitful and multiplying, will be rendered irrelevant in the afterlife, where death will not be an issue. The question that the Sadducees raised was, after all, about the mandate to keep the family line going.

But not even death can end the relationship that we have with our Father. Those who "die" in Christ live on. God is the God of the living.



Day 246 in The Message//Remix:Solo

Acts 4:24-31

Hearing the report, they lifted their voices in a wonderful harmony in prayer: "Strong God, you made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. By the Holy Spirit you spoke through the mouth of your servant and our father, David:

Why the big noise, nations?
Why the mean plots, peoples?
Earth's leaders push for position,
Potentates meet for summit talks,
The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers!

"For in fact they did meet--Herod and Pontius Pilate with nations and peoples, even Israel itself!--met in this very city to plot against your holy Son Jesus, the One you made Messiah, to carry out the plans you long ago set in motion.

"And now they're at it again! Take care of their threats and give your servants fearless confidence in preaching your Message, as you stretch out your hand to us in healings and miracles and wonders done in the name of your holy servant Jesus."

While they were praying, the place where they were meeting trembled and shook. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God's Word with fearless confidence.

First, we must note that Peter and John had just been released from police custody for preaching about Jesus. They bring the report to their friends, and this is the result. A great prayer is lifted up.

The thing that touches me most in this passage is how they start out the prayer with a declaration of the strength of God and his ownership through creation of everything. Then they quote David from Psalm 2, who speaks of the nations conspiring against the Holy One of God.

They recount a little bit of recent history, as the religious leaders gathered to conspire against Jesus. "And now they're at it again." The authorities have commanded Peter and John to cease preaching about Jesus. How do we explain their "fearless confidence?" Well, they asked God for it, that's how I explain it. And he gave it. Through the power of the Holy Spirit. As well as through the power of knowledge.

What do I mean by that? There is power in knowing what is true. These people knew the power of God. They had already experienced it, recently, as they witnessed the resurrection of Jesus (not directly, because no human was present when it happened...my guess is they would have probably been incinerated by the sheer power that was generated by the event). Plus they had the witness of generations of history that recounted the acts of God and his power. So they knew. Knowing what God can do can create an environment of "fearless confidence." Other translations use the word "boldness." I think "fearless confidence" is a good definition of "boldness."

But then, finally, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, which gave them even more boldness, more fearless confidence.

Note, also, that all members of the Trinity are involved in this passage. They are praying to God, they are praying about Jesus and the fact that the authorities are opposed to him (they are also ministering/witnessing in the name of Jesus) and they are filled with the Holy Spirit at the end of the prayer. These people were truly living in the reality of the Trinity, living and active among them.

What would my life look like if I lived it in this reality? What if I could immerse myself in the reality of all three members of the Trinity? What power!! What "fearless confidence!!"



Father, I know of your power. I have read all of the accounts that your people have written down in the scriptures that remind me of your powerful acts on their behalf. On our behalf. I have seen some in our own time, as you continue to act on behalf of your people.

I have also seen the nations and authorities conspire against your Son and the worship of you. Our own government, that fled England in order to escape religious persecution, finds ways to be guilty of that which they were fleeing. But this is nothing in comparison with countries around the world which make it a crime to worship and serve you, the One True God.

Continue to give us all this "fearless confidence" that is written of in Acts 4. Fill us, fill me, with your Holy Spirit daily. Let me live in the reality of the presence of the Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, continuously being part of my life. You have shown me the reality of the Holy Spirit as my Friend. You have shown me the love that resides in me that is the love that you have for Jesus, the Son. Let these realities continue to permeate my life.



I intend to increase in the knowledge of the reality of the Trinity in my life each day. I fully expect great things from God as I progress.

Grace and peace, friends.



0 comments so far

hosted by DiaryLand.com