Extreme or Necessary?

Some things came to mind while joining in on the If:Equip group study this morning. We are continuing through the book of Acts. Today Acts 5:1-11. Please come join us we'd love to hear your thoughts and watch the vimeo below for added insight to His powerful Word!

So here I am reading today's passage and it hits me-- Why, did they die?? why so extreme...couldn't they turn from their ways?? You know confess, repent---that warm, fuzzy Christian-accept-all-stuff.

Well, no... that's a common misconception about our God and I really think it's time we, as Loving Christians, help to bring to Light for those who are new to God's discipline blanketed in Christ's Love.

Upon further prayer and meditation on this passage, I think the dying was necessary because sometimes when there is a problem so deep in the heart it needs to be removed before it causes more damage to the whole.

Like with cancer sometimes parts can be removed to save the whole body...so, too, with sin and evil. God knew the true heart of these people and could see that their sin and evil in their hearts would damage the group. I believe He took such extreme measures to protect the hearts of His people.

He always knows best and we have to believe these actions, to Him, were not extreme but actually quite necessary. When He wants to make a correction He will do extreme things to get our attention - Flood? Famine? and more currently terrorism....


We are a sorry lot who cannot see with our heart-eyes as often as we should. Let this be a wake up call that will open our heart-eyes anew today:)

You are all such a blessing to me! Love sharing thoughts with you!



Day 14 - Acts 5:1-11 from IF : Equip on Vimeo.

Do you have Issues?

I have to admit it... I have issues....

Recently, a friend asked me how they are supposed to love people they hate. Good question. It's all well and fine to say Jesus loves us and we are commanded to love one another. But, let's be real here, some people make it really difficult to love thy neighbor.


Last night I was watching some "cable news " (against my better judgment) and a woman was on grumbling full force about Gov. Sarah Palin. She was thoroughly disgusted that this woman kills defenseless animals (aka hunting), doesn't believe in a woman's "choice"(aka doesn't support abortion), doesn't believe in global warming or Darwinism (doesn't believe in evolution) And - Gasp!! - she actually believes in Creationism!

My spirit was quite irked at this point. I could not see how a woman could be so against hunting animals and so for killing unborn children. How could a human with a God-given brain believe in global warming and that she came from a monkey, but in the next breath say there is no scientific evidence for Creation.

Deep breath, sigh!

DEEPER breath!

Good...Back to the question at hand:

How God, do you love, not just the unlovable,

but the totally, obscenely, blasphemous,

ugly-hearted, ignorant fools????

Was that too many adjectives? I didn't want to leave anyone out...LOL

I could tell you to pray for them (and we all should), and yes, Jesus died for them too, but that will only be a band-aid on a gaping wound.

I don't work that way, my spirit needs a purposeful solution. One I can really sink my teeth into. I need to heal the wound or it will never go away.

I must admit I was stumped for a minute. I'm sure it was because my spirit was so blurred by what I had witnessed. (I rarely watch this channel, but every once and awhile...You know how it is).

The answer should be easy, Jesus did it. He loved some pretty rotten people, but I am not Jesus.

I opened the book I was reading and it hit me...

The book isBeth Moore's To Live is Christ and it is about the Apostle Paul. Getting the picture yet??

You may remember Paul. He was the darling Saul born and breed to be a Pharisee. He was great at his job, so great in fact that he made Christians knees shake at the sound of his name.

He followed every rule and law of the land and made a few a long the way. He was the one they all bowed down to after Saint Stephen's stoning (Acts 7:58).

I'm sure if there was a rule about believing in global warming or abortion, Paul would have been right there to enforce it.

Paul was one tough character.

I'm pretty sure people had issues with him.

I'm pretty sure he troubled a lot of spirits.

But we all know what happened to the mighty Saul on the road to Damascus.

If not, please read Acts 9 and you will get a fairly good idea of the saving Grace of our Father.

In a nutshell, God showed us that

No job is ever too big for Him,

No heart is ever too hard, and

Nothing is without His approval.

Could these people on TV ever be as bad as Saul? Yet, if Paul was never saved maybe some of us wouldn't be either. What an example we would have lost out on if all the books written by Paul were missing...

Paul tells us himself in Galatians 1:15-16:

...But when God, who had set me apart

even from my mother’s womb

and called me through His grace,

was pleased to reveal His Son in me

so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles...

Paul knew that God had set him apart since before birth. Paul accepted His forgiveness and went on his way to do God's calling--immediately. He was well equipped against the enemy, he knew them well, he had been one. He didn't dwell on his past sins, he moved forward. I'm sure many were doubtful of his intentions at first. But he didn't care, he did his job (calling).

I guess what I'm saying is if God changed the heart of a man like Saul can't he handle a few loud-mouths in the media?

I should think He could do it in the blink of an eye should He choose to. Maybe there just aren't enough of us praying for these poor folks. It's easier to bash them, or ignore them, bury them in their ignorance - "You Fools!!" we'd shout. Plenty of people did that to Saul.

But, the battle is not ours. Sometimes we forget that.

What would please the Father more, sending all these people to hell for eternity or acting on the believers' prayers and opening the doors of heaven to them.

It's your choice,

Pray or Bash

Choose wisely.

You do your job, He'll do His.

Remember, someone prayed for you at one point,too.

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Open your eyes...

Acts 9:18
And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized;

This passage has always intrigued me and God laid it on my heart once again this week while teaching my 9-year-old. She, as only a child can do, looked at me and asked, "What does that mean? How can scales fall from his eyes, gross!"

I was less prepared to answer this question than I thought. It seemed like there should be an obvious answer but, as we all know, the obvious is not always the answer.

Therefore, I consulted the usual scholars, MacArthur, Stanley, Swindoll...nothing. There was no deep, inspiring insight. No 'aha' moment. I was left to my own interpretation - and the Holy Spirit did not let me down:)

Paul was blinded to show his own blindness toward the Christians he was prosecuting. He was very full of himself and all the acts he performed in accordance with the laws he defended so strongly. He was the know-it-all of his day.

And we all know that:

you can think you know it all but later find out that all

you knew was completely wrong.

This is what Paul learned. And this is what we all have the opportunity to change.

As the "scales" fell from Paul's eyes, he saw the world with "new" eyes.

When we accept Jesus as our savior, the HOLY SPIRIT enters us and we, like Paul, are to see things with new eyes.

Father, Thank you for the Holy Spirit to guide and help me. Thank you for your word that I can learn from. Thank you for the questions from a child to help me see you more clearly. Help me to see things today through my new eyes. Amen