Sunday, March 7, 2021

Today's Passage - Acts 10:9-16

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english
Acts 10:9-16
About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat." "Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean." The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."...
Verse 9 says that Peter went up to the roof to pray at around noon. God often chooses to have encounters with us during our daily routine, and that's why we need to have regular time for devotions and prayer in our lives. Many mistakenly believe that God will always speak to us like lightening, but more often God speaks to us during our daily devotion and prayer.
 
We need to disciple ourselves in the most ordinary things in life, and then we will see how God manifests Himself in our daily lives. The angels delivered the good news to the shepherds by manifesting to them when they were following their routine schedule of guarding the sheep. May the Lord help us to never neglect our daily devotions and prayer. The vision that Peter saw was filled with the unclean animals according to Old Testament rules, but God asked him to slaughter and eat them. They were told all their lives to never eat those animals, but God told them to eat, so no wonder Peter told the Lord "can't" for three times. Isn't that kind of funny?
 
Our habits, cultural practices and other burdens often bind and hinder us and making it difficult for us to follow the will of God. On the one hand, Peter said "Lord, you are my Master," but on the other hand he said to the Lord "surely not, Lord!" Isn't this the picture of our Christian life? We seek God's will, but once He reveals His will to us, we tell Him that "surely not, Lord!" God's commandments are usually very straight forward, just like when He told Peter to "kill and eat", which really cannot be more clear. To Peter, however, his burden was heavy and his traditions and culture have severely bound him!  Isn't that how we are in our daily life, bound by many cultural practices and traditions? May God help us to break all these hindrances and burdens now! 
Pray with Pastor Tong
Lord, please give us a courageous heart and a discerning spirit, so that I would understand your will and follow it in our lives every day. Help us to overcome the bondages in our lives so that we may obey your commandments and enter your glorious abundance. I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!
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