DAY 9 – God Tells the Church to Accept a New Mindset.
READ: Acts 10: 9-16, 28, 34-36 and Acts 11: 2
Have you ever been asked to do something, or believe something, that went against every fiber of your being? Peter experienced that very thing during a vision he had while sitting on a rooftop. Afterward, he was then given the task of trying to persuade his fellow church members to accept and believe what he’d just seen. God was asking the new Jewish Christians to do away with thousands of years of traditions that they held dear. They were being told to eat foods their Old Testament had forbidden and called “unclean”. If that wasn’t enough, God was telling them salvation wasn’t just for the Jews, it was for outsiders! Gentiles, no less. Naturally, Peter’s fellow believers weren’t too thrilled with his vision or his news. With some careful presentation and persuasion however, the church leaders were able to see God’s plan and worked to make the necessary changes within their ranks.
How Does this Apply to Me? There may be times in our lives that God asks us to do things that we don’t necessarily agree with or understand. When that happens, we wonder if we have heard Him right. Other fellow believers can usually be found who also don’t exactly agree with what is being presented as “the Lord’s leading”. It’s times like these that we need to ask God for new eyes to see what He is trying to show us and ears to hear what new things He may be speaking to our heart.
Acts 10:14-15 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.” Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”
Praying Together: Let’s ask God to help us see past our traditions and preferences to the new things that He may be calling us to do, to experience, and to accept.
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