Take it!~ In His Word 4-22-2024
He took the opportunity to share.
Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. “People
of Israel,” he said, “what is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as
though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness? For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob—the God of all our ancestors—who has brought glory to his servant Jesus
by doing this. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before
Pilate, despite Pilate’s decision to release him. You rejected this holy, righteous one and
instead demanded the release of a murderer. You killed the author of life, but God raised
him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!
“Through faith in the
name of Jesus, this man was healed—and you know how crippled he was before.
Faith in Jesus’ name has healed him before your very eyes. Friends, I realize
that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance. But God was fulfilling what all the prophets
had foretold about the Messiah—that he must suffer these things. Now repent of
your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Acts 3:12-19
Often I can tell you with honesty, I talk too much to
strangers. My kids would say I tell my whole life story to someone I never met
before, but I am looking at it in a different light today. I share things God
has done in my life a lot! Not to brag, please don’t think that, but I am just
realizing that there are times when I actually don’t miss an opportunity to
share.
Today though I am thinking of the times that I don’t. For whatever reason, I
often get the thought that ‘I am no one why would they listen to me’. Those
times I do not speak, I think about it, but I keep my mouth shut. Sometimes I think after the fact, that I
should have prayed for a certain person or another.
Do you do that?
I have a new plan!
When I think I have missed an opportunity to pray for someone I am now
just praying on the spot, where I am! I
have sat in my car after grocery shopping and openly prayed for someone, so why
not as I am walking around the store? You don’t have to pray aloud for God to
hear y ou! I am not going to allow a missed opportunity in person to keep from
sending up a prayer for a person anymore!
Sure, it would be better in person, cause that person would know someone
prayed, but isn’t it just as important to actually pray? The enemy, our
adversary would rather we just feel bad about it and talk ourselves down, but
our God hears our prayer and lifts us up instead!
So, silver and gold you may not have, so you give them
Jesus, right? So, if you are not comfortable praying aloud, in person, then
pray as you go! God will hear it just the same! Just speak the name of Jesus
over them. Pray in Jesus’ name. Don’t give place to the devil or let him have a
foothold in your life by feeling bad and wallowing in missed opportunities.
Make the best of each opportunity in your day.
A teacher wrote that in one of my Yearbook signings. Take
the opportunity to make the best in your life, and make the best of it, or
something like that. When we respond in prayer to a need we see, God hears it
as if we prayed with them. Remember that today!
This is our challenge! Look around and see someone to pray
for in Jesus’ name. Share about it to someone else, the need, the fact or just
about how you chose to share Jesus with the person if you did that! Then you
will have done double like Peter did!
He didn’t just heal the man and walk away, no, Peter took
the opportunity to speak to the crowd and share who Jesus was! Why He came, and
what He could do for them!
Let’s do this! Let’s look for a place in our day that gives
us the chance to share Jesus! If we miss it, we will wish we had done it, but
then lets remember and overcome that with Christ! Let’s share Him another way,
or pray on our own, or with another friend for the person as we remember them!
Instead of the wallowing, lets be proactive for Jesus! We can do it! In Jesus’
name!