Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.  He struck Peter on the side and woke him up.  “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

                                                                                    Acts 12:7

Dear Friends,

Here is an additional thought that comes as an addendum to today’s Bible study from the Acts of the Apostles.  In chapter 12, we read about the amazing prison break of Peter by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Despite all of King Herod’s measures of maximum security, the angel of the Lord marches right into those confines and delivers the apostle without even a hint of resistance.  The church had been praying that something like that could happen, but even they did not believe it when Peter came knocking on their door. 

This story begs the question:

How shocked would you be if God decided to answer your prayers?  Are we too held captive by our meager expectations?   

I appreciate this insight from Richard Rohr,

“The gospel proclaimed by Jesus and lived by the early church was concerned not only with the world to come, but also with the liberation of this world now.  The ‘Good News’ that Jesus shared was that people can be free from the oppression, illusion, and death that binds them—here and now. We turned the gospel into an innocuous evacuation plan into the next world.  If we do not want heaven here, why would we want it later?”  (Rohr, On the Threshold of Transformation).

Is there an area of your life where the Lord is saying, “quick, get up”?  Jesus said that he came to set the captives free.  How does this apply to you?

As Rohr says,

“Heaven and hell are simple continuations of what we choose, love, and live here and now.”

Our life is in you, Lord.  Shine your light in the cell of our own making.  Tap us on the shoulder.  Call us into your new creation.  Send us here and now.  Amen.

Grace to You,

Darren