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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Ananias and Sapphira Bible Verse:Acts 5:1-11 (ESV) "But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. " Message:
Ananais has become a byword for Christian hypocrisy. With the other members of the first church in Jerusalem, he and his wife made an oath to the other members, and to God, to sell all that they owned and give the proceeds to the general fund. (The members lived communally— see the previous verses, Acts 4:32-37.) But they did not, and they lied about it.
The Scripture does not say that God caused them to die; very possibly they could have died of sheer shame. Nor did Jesus teach that we would suffer death for not following his word. Just the opposite, in fact; he told the disciples that many of them would die for following his teachings, or at least, for spreading them.
What, then, are we to make of this passage? We should not lie to God. It is human nature to try to make ourselves look good, to arrange the facts of our lives so that we seem to be righteous. If we argue with our spouse or a coworker, we rehearse the facts in our mind, remembering why the other person was at fault and why we were justified in arguing.
But this is the sin of pride, operating at full force. When we pray, rather, we must try to measure our actions against Christ’s words. We must measure our own conduct, not our justification for it. Christ taught us to make peace, to love and forgive our brethren, not to justify ourselves when we engage in conflict. Even if we find it impossible to admit publicly to our sins, we cannot lie to God about them. We must recognize them and ask God for the strength to overcome our sinful nature.
Meditation : Prayer : I bind myself to you this day, oh Christ, in your truth and in your sacrifice. I give to you my anxiety and my fear, my depression and my doubt, for you have promised to take them if we only ask; and I take upon myself your burden, for it is light and your way is gentle. May I keep this in my heart and mind all this day......Amen |
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