Acts 1:12-14
What is your first response when you are in fear? What about when something doesn’t go the way that you wanted it to go or how you thought it should? I think we can all admit that when fear arises, we often do not go to prayer as our initial response. We often get consumed with our fear and everything that could possibly go wrong. Sometimes we let our fear grow to an extreme and allow it to cripple us. Fear can be a nasty thing, but thankfully, God has given us a weapon to cripple fear itself. That weapon is prayer. Prayer is often overlooked and undervalued by Christians. We know it as something we are supposed to do, but so often, we put it on the backburner. We fail to recognize the power and importance of it. We must remember that God wants us to go to Him in prayer for everything! Every single thing!
When we look at our passage today in the book of Acts. Jesus has died on the cross for our sins. He was buried and 3 days later, rose from the grave, conquering death and sin. After Jesus rose from the grave, He stayed on the Earth for 40 days. During this time, He revealed Himself to His disciples and others, proving His resurrection and divinity. He also gave them instructions on what it looked like to follow Him going forward and the mission to share the good news of the gospel to the world. At the end of these 40 days, Jesus ascended into Heaven in front of His disciples, not knowing when Jesus would return. As we know, over 2,000 years later, we are still awaiting His return. The Kingdom of God is at hand, and the mission to proclaim the good news of Jesus continues.
The disciples had gone through a lot with Jesus. Watching Him die, resurrect, and ascend. You could imagine the possible internal battle of fear and anxiety. But somehow throughout that, also finding a peace that surpasses all understanding that comes from Jesus alone. When Jesus was going to the cross, we watched the disciples scatter in fear. However, here with the ascension, we see them gather together to pray. A great lesson has finally been learned with this group. They had watched Jesus retreat often to go and pray. We have also been learning through Nehemiah the importance of praying before doing anything or making any big decisions. Going to prayer curbs our fleshly fear and anxieties and causes us to trust in God and align ourselves with His power. We begin to find His will in our lives and the ability to tackle the hardships of this life with trusting in Him alone and not ourselves.
I love that we get to see the disciples go to prayer first in this moment. Remind you, these are some of the same disciples falling asleep when Jesus was praying in the garden before the cross, and they had fallen asleep! But we also know from the rest of the book of Acts and history, the disciples go on to change the world and go down as heroes of the gospel. They boldly declare the gospel to the religious leaders, the Israelites, and to the ends of the earth. For most, it cost them their lives, becoming martyrs for the gospel. What great sacrifice they all were willing to make! But before all of that, what valuable lesson did they learn? To go and pray first. They learned it firsthand from their Lord and Savior. We then get to watch God use them to go and do extraordinary things!
Do you go to God in prayer in your life? Or do you allow fear and other things to cripple you? How can you make prayer more important in your life?
What is your first response when you are in fear? What about when something doesn’t go the way that you wanted it to go or how you thought it should? I think we can all admit that when fear arises, we often do not go to prayer as our initial response. We often get consumed with our fear and everything that could possibly go wrong. Sometimes we let our fear grow to an extreme and allow it to cripple us. Fear can be a nasty thing, but thankfully, God has given us a weapon to cripple fear itself. That weapon is prayer. Prayer is often overlooked and undervalued by Christians. We know it as something we are supposed to do, but so often, we put it on the backburner. We fail to recognize the power and importance of it. We must remember that God wants us to go to Him in prayer for everything! Every single thing!
When we look at our passage today in the book of Acts. Jesus has died on the cross for our sins. He was buried and 3 days later, rose from the grave, conquering death and sin. After Jesus rose from the grave, He stayed on the Earth for 40 days. During this time, He revealed Himself to His disciples and others, proving His resurrection and divinity. He also gave them instructions on what it looked like to follow Him going forward and the mission to share the good news of the gospel to the world. At the end of these 40 days, Jesus ascended into Heaven in front of His disciples, not knowing when Jesus would return. As we know, over 2,000 years later, we are still awaiting His return. The Kingdom of God is at hand, and the mission to proclaim the good news of Jesus continues.
The disciples had gone through a lot with Jesus. Watching Him die, resurrect, and ascend. You could imagine the possible internal battle of fear and anxiety. But somehow throughout that, also finding a peace that surpasses all understanding that comes from Jesus alone. When Jesus was going to the cross, we watched the disciples scatter in fear. However, here with the ascension, we see them gather together to pray. A great lesson has finally been learned with this group. They had watched Jesus retreat often to go and pray. We have also been learning through Nehemiah the importance of praying before doing anything or making any big decisions. Going to prayer curbs our fleshly fear and anxieties and causes us to trust in God and align ourselves with His power. We begin to find His will in our lives and the ability to tackle the hardships of this life with trusting in Him alone and not ourselves.
I love that we get to see the disciples go to prayer first in this moment. Remind you, these are some of the same disciples falling asleep when Jesus was praying in the garden before the cross, and they had fallen asleep! But we also know from the rest of the book of Acts and history, the disciples go on to change the world and go down as heroes of the gospel. They boldly declare the gospel to the religious leaders, the Israelites, and to the ends of the earth. For most, it cost them their lives, becoming martyrs for the gospel. What great sacrifice they all were willing to make! But before all of that, what valuable lesson did they learn? To go and pray first. They learned it firsthand from their Lord and Savior. We then get to watch God use them to go and do extraordinary things!
Do you go to God in prayer in your life? Or do you allow fear and other things to cripple you? How can you make prayer more important in your life?
Posted in Devotional