Tag: Acts 3

Posted in Bible Journaling, joy, Life Inspiration

Is the Gate in View?

Written by talk2shari Published Discussion Leave a Comment on Is the Gate in View?

the-gate

I wonder if the man at the gate of Beautiful ever stopped being lovely for the Lord?  I hope the excitement that he felt that day never dulled. His lame lifestyle had vanished, and he was living victoriously! But if life did to him what it does to most of us, I’m sure he had days when his step was not high and the gate was far in the distance.

Acts 3:8-10

And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God:  And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

Is the gate still in view for you? Do you remember the feeling of fresh salvation? I sometimes have to work to remember and you no doubt do as well if it’s been very long. For me it’s been 20 years, but if I get my mind in that “Beautiful” place my praise is once more restored. Life has a way of causing us to suppress that beautiful memory into the recesses of our mind while the problems, guilt and frustrations of life over shadow how wonderful salvation is. Four things can happen when we the gate is too far in the distance.

  1. We lose our joy

David said in Psalm 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation… Life had gotten on him. Sin and the guilt it creates has a way of sucking the joy out of your life quicker than anything else. But it’s not exclusive. Debt, health issues, heartache… oh the list is long that can cause us to lose our joy.

  1. We rely on others to provide our joy

The man at the gate had once relied on people for his life’s provision. But no more! The Lord had now provided a way for him to take care of himself. I was once in a conversation with someone who ask how I kept my soul nourished. They were frustrated because spiritually, life wasn’t going the way they desired and they were depending on one person (the preacher) to nourish their soul. Well, it’s true that that is the preacher’s job; but again not exclusively. If we rely on the preacher to keep our heart happy Monday through Saturday with what he stirs up within us on Sunday, we’re going to be let down. Life is too harsh for that. The same is true when we expect friends and family to keep us encouraged and never let us down… it just won’t happen that way.

  1. People can’t see our joy

When the people saw that the lame man was lame no more, and that he leaped for joy and praised God, they were amazed! Why are our friends not amazed at what Jesus has done… could it be because our praise was left at the gate?

God doesn’t get to joy in us

Psalm 21:1 says The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice.

This broke my heart above all when I realized that God loses joy because I lose mine. Yes He understands… but that still doesn’t justify it. And it especially doesn’t justify it when we get so far from the gate of Beautiful that we might as well be lame again because our joy has been gone for a long time. I know Christians that (if I didn’t really know them) I’d never guess that they had ever been at the gate of salvation. Likely you do too!

So what are we to do?

  1. Revisit the gate
  2. Recall the day of salvation
  3. Rejoice, and again I say Rejoice!

You, your people and your Savior need it.

Posted in Life Inspiration, salvation

Stress and the Greatest Coping Factor known to Man

Written by talk2shari Published Discussion Leave a Comment on Stress and the Greatest Coping Factor known to Man

Saturday morning as a kid was spent watching cartoons like Bugs Bunny & Daffy, Scooby Doo Where Are You, Josie and the Pussy Cats, The Adventures of Mighty Mouse, The Pink Panther Show and a few dozen others. I had little responsibility and zero stress. I was blessed. I know now the zero stress factor did not hold true for every child. Click on view website if you want to know more about stress reduction. It no longer holds true for me either, so Praise God! for salvation. It didn’t eliminate the stress factor but it is certainly the greatest coping factor known to man.

Acts 3:19

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not insinuating that saved people don’t have stressful days or days you’d just as soon pinch the head off someone than to hear them utter another word. We have those days, believe me. But the difference is, I don’t pinch their head off and when stress comes I have a refocusing mechanism on the inside of me that helps me to cope with the stress off the day; the Holy Spirit.

While some may seek various methods to cope with stress, others might explore alternatives like cbd vape juice, recognizing the value of both spiritual and natural remedies in finding balance and peace. Just as faith serves as a source of strength, some individuals find relaxation and relief in the soothing effects of CBD vape oil, emphasizing the diverse approaches people employ to navigate the challenges of everyday life. Ultimately, the choice of coping mechanisms, whether rooted in faith or natural remedies like CBD vape oil, reflects the deeply personal and intricate ways individuals manage the complexities of stress.

In Acts 3, Peter stood before a crowd of people who had just witnessed a miracle, it was a great day! Most everybody wants to serve the God of miracles. But what about the disastrous days ahead that God’s Word warns us of; the days we don’t want to think about. The day of the lame man’s healing the people were refreshed in seeing him healed, it was a day of rejoicing and praising God; but how much sweeter will it be in the troubled times ahead that you will still feel the refreshing of the Lord.

Salvation is awesome every day, but its importance is never any more understood than on the bad days when you need someone to hold on to and it seems the world has walked out, or even if they’re there, there’s no comfort found in them. That’s when the Holy Spirit rushes in and there is an unexplained calm that comes over you and you feel the presence of the Lord.

There are times I long for the no responsibility cartoon days. But I’m ever so glad that when reality bites I have a friend in Jesus.

Do you know Him? Trust Him. If you don’t… let me introduce you. Click here: https://thejesuschick.com/the-road-to-salvation/

Posted in Life Inspiration

Good Grief How’d that Happen?

Written by talk2shari Published Discussion Leave a Comment on Good Grief How’d that Happen?

heal me

We live in a world where everyone’s looking for the miracle. The miracle of anti-aging, super strength, etc., etc… and yet any given Sunday they miss the greatest miracle of all.

Acts 3:7-13 ~ And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering. And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

  • Surprised by the Healing

No one was any greater surprised than the man who was healed himself. He leapt! Forget taking it easy your first time ‘round, this man knew his body was healed. He didn’t stop there he leapt and praised all the way to the temple! And when he got to the temple he held on to the men of God. Maybe I’m overthinking the verse, but this morning was the first time I had noticed that he “held” Peter and John when he got to the temple porch.

What a great message for the new believer and the old believer. When I got saved I was running to church every day for something. Seriously. I couldn’t get enough. And you better believe I held on to the man of God because I wanted to glean from him every ounce of knowledge I could. But there came a day when I had to loose that hold and step off the porch on my own.

When the long term Pastor left last year, many in the community assumed our church would fall apart. They’d accused us of worshiping the preacher because we loved him so. There were a few who attended the church for the preacher, but for the most part we certainly proved that theory wrong. When he left, we held on to each other down here and God in Heaven. So that when the new preacher arrived last week, our body of believers was still very much in tact and going strong!

  • Searching for the How

Those who hadn’t experienced the healing of the lame man came running to the porch to see for themselves. And when the saw him they were amazed! But the apostles warned to make sure they gave the credit to Whom the credit was due, and that was Jesus! I don’t want to belittle the education of doctors and other medical professionals but the healing comes from God. Without the wisdom made possible by God the healing wouldn’t take place. Without the miraculous body that God created us to have (which often heals on its own because of Him) Healing wouldn’t take place. Praise Him! And never fail to give glory for how the healing came and Who made it possible.

  • Skeptics for the Holiness

Non-believers are skeptical of Christ as a healer and they’re skeptics of Him as a Savior. Nothing’s changed since the day of the crucifixion in relation to sinful man. For the most part, the world still doesn’t get it. They continue to scoff and rail on Him and His followers, but without His holiness, whether they like it or not, what would this world be? I believe it would be the worst sci-fi movie of death and destruction you’ve ever seen multiplied to the largest known number.

They can deny our Holy God all they want, it changes nothing on that end either. God’s still God. Amen! It’s our job as believers to sing His praises loud and long until He returns in Glory. And hopefully we’ll have more saints standing on the porch with us for His glory because of our praises.