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Acts 10:1-48
Message No. 0696 | Twitter @GodandUs | www.wisdom-speaks.ca
If you ask an average person the question, who will help you to achieve your goal, you might receive different answers. Some might say my parents or my aunty. Others might say, my uncle or my friend, or my colleague. Depending on the various relationships we have with people, we may have developed the idea that it is the people who are close to us or who love or like us that will help us in life. While this is not altogether wrong, one might ask the question, what of your enemy or that guy or that lady who does not like you, do you think he or she will help?
While we can all agree that God is the ultimate Helper, we all know that He uses people in the process. So, if God is the One we look up to, why do we write off certain channels through which He could deliver our much needed solutions? Why do we conclude that nothing good can come from our enemies or those who don’t seem to like us?
In Acts chapter 10, the Bible says Cornelius, a Roman centurion, was a man who feared God and commanded his household to do the same. He gave alms generously to the needy and prayed to God always. There was just one problem, it didn’t matter how much he feared God or what good he was doing in the society, Jewish custom referred to people like Cornelius as Gentiles, in other words, unclean people. So, when God sent an angel to him to inform him that his prayers were answered and he should send men to Joppa to ask for Peter, he must have had strong doubts, because Gentiles and Jews weren’t friends at all. However, the God who arranged this also visited Peter to warn him three times about his bias against Gentiles. But for this warning, it would have been impossible to summon Peter to Caesarea to see the centurion.
Even as Peter came in, Cornelius, who was already anxiously waiting for him, quickly bowed down before him to worship him, clearly indicating his fears and the relative inferiority prevailing between Jews and Gentiles at that time. Peter corrected him, thank God, and preached to his household, starting by saying he perceived that God shows no partiality by race, but rather accepts whoever fears Him and lives righteously before Him. The atmosphere was so charged that while Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the Word and they spoke with tongues and magnified God.
In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus gave a parable of a judge in a certain city, who did not fear God, nor did he regard man. He must have been a judge who was filled with pride and arrogance, not caring if anyone existed. However, there was just this widow who was constantly asking him to get justice for her. Everyday, the widow would come to ask the judge the same thing – get justice for me. The judge, knowing that it would be difficult to just shut her up or put her in jail, eventually decided that he would have no peace if he did not attend to the needs of the widow, so he reluctantly or unwillingly got her justice.
Your salvation is not in the hands of any man, nor does your help come from mere humans, but God uses people to accomplish His purposes in our lives, and we need to know that He does not always use people we are familiar with. This means that as God’s children we must always keep an open mind and ask God to use whom He would use and use what He would and where He chooses, to accomplish His goals in our lives. Let us draw our lessons from Jeremiah chapter 17 verses 5 to 8, which states:
This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
As we wait on God for help, let us remove our focus from the usual expected sources, because our God says He will do a new thing. He could make our enemies to become our friends, and if they choose not to be our friends, it wouldn’t stop God from using them to help us if that’s what He plans to do. In all cases, let us continue to live righteously before Him, because our prosperity comes from doing His will. This year may your help come quickly, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Lord I know that I am a sinner and I am unable to save myself. I am sorry for my sins and I pray that you please forgive me. I am aware that Your Son Jesus died for my sins and I accept Him as my Lord and savior. I surrender my life unto you from this moment. Please take control of my entire being and help me to be obedient to your Word, going forward. Thank you, Lord, for hearing me. I have prayed in Jesus’ name. Amen.
If you prayed the foregoing prayer, you have just been born again. Please find a Bible believing church in your area and ask to see the pastor. Let him or her know that you have just given your life to Christ and s/he will guide you on next steps in your journey as a child of God. The Lord bless you!
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