Monday, March 17, 2008

Acts of the Apostles

This post is in no way developed. I apologize for any bunny trails, or areas that don't make sense. This is my outlet for my thoughts in the Prayer Room:-)

Reading through Peter's sermon in Acts 2 makes me marvel at the dramatic difference between here and the last time we read of him.

In Luke 22:54-62, we see the fulfillment of Jesus' prediction of Peter's denial of even knowing Him, let alone being one of His disciples. In verse 61, after his denial of Christ for the third time, Jesus and Peter lock gazes. I can't even imagine the rush of emotions that went through Peter's body at that moment. The One who's eyes burn like a flame of fire. This One whom on the very same day, Peter proclaimed that he was ready to go to both prison and death with. What was it like to see the physical eyes of the God-Man looking at you after you flat out denied knowing Him? We see in verse 62 that after looking into His eyes and remembering what He told him earlier, Peter ran and wept bitterly.

After Jesus' resurrection, while the disciples and those who were with them were questioning the proofs of His resurrection, He appears to them, Peter included. Remembering that these guys were just like us, weak and broken people, imagine their half-belief, half-disbelief astonishment. What was going through Peter's mind at that point?

While the disciples were no doubt catching flies with mouths ajar as Jesus finished His fish and honeycomb meal, He begins to unlock the scriptures to them and open up their understanding. As they sit there, they are commissioned to preach repentance and remission of sins in His name to all nations, but to first tarry in Jerusalem until they are endued with power from on high. (Remember that this is the same Jerusalem who just a couple days earlier crucified Christ, the same Jerusalem that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her).

Jump over to Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost. The tongues of fire are on all in the upper room, and the multitudes are coming, hearing their own language being spoken by unclean Galileans and disciples of a "wine-bibber" (Luke 7:33). The men of Judea are mocking them, saying they are full of new wine.

In comes Peter, the same Peter who just days earlier denied Christ. But being endued with power, and with the Holy Spirit resting on him, boldness arises. He speaks to all in ear-shot about the out-pouring of the Spirit as prophesied by Joel, Christ crucified and exalted to the right hand of God and their need of repentance and remission of sins in the name of Jesus Christ. That day, 3000 were added to the number of believers in Christ. Three thousand. It's a wild shot, but I wonder if any of those who were at the crucifixion of Christ that recognized Peter were in the crowd that day.

I love reading about Peter because it gives me hope. It proves that God can use anyone at anytime. It shows that the apostles were not some super-spiritual guys who walked in the fullness of God at all times, nor did they walk in perfection at all times. They were weak and broken, just like us, but God used them mightily in the Early Christian church.

He's about to pour His Spirit out on all flesh. Signs on the earth and wonders in the heavens are coming. All His servants will prophesy, dreams and visions will increase and anyone who calls on His name shall be saved. I'm excited to be in this generation and I'm excited to see all that's about to take place. Like Peter, though I've messed up numerous times, I want to proclaim the Word of God with all boldness, clarity and accuracy. I want to see a great in-gathering of souls at the end of this age. I want to be a part of all that God is planning to do in the days ahead.

The acts of the apostles are going to happen in a greater measure again. Greater works than those mentioned in the Bible are going to happen. Are you ready for this?

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Renewed Vision

In an attempt to revive my passion to write well, I spruced up my page a little bit. My old theme was decent but I was wanting something a little different and stumbled upon this theme. Until I muster up the motivation to code my own theme, this will do.

Also in my attempt to revive my passion to write well, I re-read a series at The Fight Spot, a blog I often read, that was focused on Apostolic Blogging; more or less actually having something worth saying, using the medium of a blog to get it out there.

That was my vision for this blog in the first place, taking what I've learned and words I believe God has placed in my heart for the purpose of sharing it with others.

So my vision has been renewed. From now on, I am only going to use this blog to share those things which I've learned from being in the place of prayer and studying the Word. Eventually I'll create another blog that will keep folks who are curious about the daily grind of my life updated.

In the mean time, I'm going to start taking time to actually write again, intentionally. I believe that as I continue to seek the face of God, He'll pour out revelation that I hope to share with those of you who take the time to read this blog.

Blessings!

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Schedule Officially Messed-Up...

There's something to be said about maintaining a regular sleep pattern.

I've thrown whatever little one I had going completely out of order. I'm sure my body is annoyed with me changing my schedule every other day, but now I can't seem to find one to work with what I'm doing.

For the month of January, I was able to get approx. 10 hours of sleep a night. With a morning schedule out here that usually put me to bed at 7pm and waking up at 5am. It was the most rigid sleep pattern I've had in a LONG time.

Last month, my schedule shifted to a Morning/Afternoonish/Eveningish schedule. Which basically meant I wanted the best of all worlds when in reality it just isn't possible. Bed time got later everyday, but "naps" during the day took the place of a good night's rest (clearly not a good idea). I would go to sleep between the hours of 12am and 3am (sometimes later) and then wake up at 6am to get ready for the morning. Can someone say DUMB IDEA!
So the days that I could not get my body to wake up after 3 hours of sleep (I wonder why?) I would sleep in until Noon and begin an afternoon/evening schedule. The smart idea would have been to just switch over to permanent afternoon/evenings but as mentioned in the last post, I love the morning section!

Needless to say, the one nightwatch I did, (also mentioned in the previous post), vexed my body. That had me sleeping from 9am until 3pm. You can imagine at this point my system is yelling at me "MAKE UP YOUR MIND!".

So I went back to going to sleep at a somewhat decent hour and staying on the morning section for a couple days. Sleep from 11pm until 6am with no "naps" during the day(that was screwing things up as well). It was working and the body was adjusting again.

Then I had the brilliant idea of going to bed a couple hours earlier yesterday after going to bed somewhat late on Monday. I went to sleep at 9pm(which isn't early at all when you put it into perspective). I think my body took this as a late night "nap" because now I sit here, writing this at 3:00am. I am fully awake and alert and why would it be any other way? The so-called "naps" I had been taking were usually in excess of 2-4 hours and then staying up later (once again can you say DUMB IDEA?!). So after a 4 hour "nap" (I've been up since 1) I sit at home debating going into the Prayer room early (yay 24/7)or trying to go back to sleep.

The moral of the story? Don't do dumb things to your body. I should have stuck to a strict routine, no matter what.

And with that, I'll end this. Sorry to bore you. I have a ton on my mind as this week is GBF (GBF stands for Global Bridegroom Fast...don't think I mentioned that in the post focused on it...sorry!) and GBF always brings on increased revelation, so look for that in a couple days or so.

Blessings!

P.S: Keep fit and have fun!