Daily Devotional Acts 11:15-18 – Are you getting in God’s way? – Free online Bible Study – Commentary in easy English – Day 549

“As I (Peter) began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them (those in Cornelius’s home) as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave then the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.” (Acts 11:15-18)

The Jews Peter was talking to had the philosophy that you are what you eat. They thought Gentiles were pigs, and they expressed their dissatisfaction with Peter for eating with them. Peter told them about his vision, Cornelius, and the conclusion that God wanted the apostles and disciples to tell the Gentiles about the Messiah and treat them as brothers and sisters in Christ. God was beginning a new thing in the early church.

Peter was nervous about their response and brilliantly asked the question, “Who was I to think I could stand in God’s way?” It’s impossible to argue that question, so they praised God. It seemed like Peter’s story satisfied them and that they were happy with the Gentiles’ conversions, but we’ll see in Acts 15 that people don’t rid themselves of prejudice easily.

We’ve discovered previously that when a question is asked in the Bible, it is important, and we need to ask the question of ourselves. What will happen when we stand in God’s way? The obvious answer is that God will bypass us.

God is always doing new things. He is creative and wants our lives to be an adventure with Him, and He’ll do everything He can without destroying free will to get us to take that adventure. He may bypass us for something important he needs done immediately, but He’ll return.

God wants to do a new thing in you. Are you standing in His way?

Father God, I praise you for wanting to start a new thing in my life. I want to participate in Your adventure. Make your plans clear to me so I can begin doing what I can to start the adventure today. In Christ’s name, I pray, amen.

 

Daily Devotional Acts 11:15-18 – Are you getting in God’s way? – Free online Bible Study – Commentary in easy English – Day 549

2 thoughts on “Daily Devotional Acts 11:15-18 – Are you getting in God’s way? – Free online Bible Study – Commentary in easy English – Day 549

  1. God’s plan happens to us and we can not stand in his way and stop it. I have asked myself many times over the last 3 years, why has God made me go through the agony of building this house I live in. Why did God make me go through such a horrible experience with the builder and the movers. When I think of everything that we went through, I still cry. I prayed about it and asked God to intervene. It was like He didn’t hear me. So, was it God’s will that I go through this? If so, what was the purpose? Was I being tested? Did it make my faith stronger or weaker? Whatever the reason, I held up to it when I didn’t think that I was going to.

    1. God wants us to be persistent in our prayers as we will discuss on Wednesday. Remind Him that He promises to answer our prayers. When the time is right, He will answer your prayer. Many times God makes us stronger when we go through adversities and sometimes he wants to make sure we handle adversity without stress and with kindness. This shows that we trust God to take care of things. I obviously don’t know why God let you go through the adversity of building your house. That’s something only He can answer, and He sill answer you. God doesn’t make us go through agony. Most of the time we go through agony it is because another chooses to put us through agony. If God stopped all the agony, there would be no free will. But lots of times we place agony on ourselves. God sent Jesus to free us from agony. We need to be like Paul and be happy in all situations. I prayed for you today. Blessings, Jody

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