Day 5
Thursday, January 10, 2019
The Higher Ground of “Beautiful Divine Interruptions”
Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to [a]ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
Acts 3:1-9
Peter and John were on their way to a scheduled prayer meeting when they encountered a man who had been lame from birth at the entrance to the temple. The man had always sat daily at this temple gate called “beautiful” asking alms. Thankfully he asks for money from Peter and John, but Peter responded, “…What I do have I give to you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
The man for the first time in his life was able to walk. That day, these disciples brought healing and deliverance to a man who had lived his life only one limiting way, as a cripple and beggar. Higher Ground is about noticeable divine change that cannot be denied. It is about visible change that will result in bringing others into the Kingdom. This former lame man became a believer that day. As we are told, he was found in verse 11 clinging to Peter and John after being healed. In addition to all of that, for even more good news, several thousands became followers of Jesus that day. The Lord interrupted their schedule and the church exploded.
Prayer Points
- Lord Jesus, I thank you for the Beautiful Interruptions that you have prepared for me that I know nothing about. I thank you for such interruptions for the church as well.
- Father in Heaven, You desire that more people come to salvation. Lord Jesus by the help of your Spirit help us find those people who are ready for an encounter with you.
- Lead me into all the divine arrangements that you have prepared. Unschedule whatever schedules to perfect your will in me.
I have a bit of a different testimony to share about this weeks fast. I’ve done the week long fast once before about 3 years ago and was fine. This year doing it, I was hit by so much opposition days before it even started and it escalated to a point on Weds where I actually felt I had to discontinue, for my own mental health. The first 2 days went well, and then after that my mind was hit so hard that I literally couldn’t think a good thought. I had to struggle to recall scripture and try to squeak out any kind of prayer. My sleep has been horrible, I’ve been struggling with nightmares and anxious dreams and have just felt low and anxious and depressed and have felt my mind being attacked with distracting, offensive and wrong thoughts when I’ve been watching the livestream. I actually ended up taking extra meds yesterday to calm down for the day.
I’ve been pretty hard on myself for not being able to do it, but have turned it around thanks to old notes from my counsellor and keeping in mind that the fact that I’ve been hit this hard this time around and not 3 years ago, is a huge testimony for me that I am in a much stronger spiritual place now to be attacked on that level. I’ve also realized how powerful fasting really is and that you really need to be spiritually equipped to do one properly and successfully, so I guess I know what I need to work on!
Also, I havent entirely stopped the whole thing altogether, still listening to the live stream, but continuing eating and watching the morning stream when I get up at my regular time and not at 7.
That is all, I hope this is helpful and applicable, it’s what I’ve taken from the week!