Awe has come upon my soul.

Today’s Scripture: Acts 2:43, ESV- “And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.”

In Acts Chapter 2 Peter gives us the formula for living an awesome life. A new life truly begins as we act on Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (NKJV)

Peter continued in Acts 2:40 “And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.”(NKJV)  Perversion and corruption have always been a part of every generation. When we witness the wonders and miracles of God and receive them into our souls we look at and live life differently.

Peter’s formula for success continues in Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (NIV) Acts 2:45 challenges our sense of security and our politics as we are told the early church “sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.” (NKJV)  Thinking of selling everything we have and sharing with others makes us relate to the rich young ruler we read about in Gospels of Matthew 19:16-26, Mark 10:17-27, and Luke 18:18-27. He was sad and just walked away from Jesus.

Instead of walking away and regardless of our feelings, we must stay close to Jesus. Acts 2:46-47 tells us “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” (KJV)

I love the KJV translation use of “singleness of heart.” When we live with Jesus being the single most important thing in our hearts, we experience the awesomeness of God. As they kept their hearts on Jesus and praised God they received favor with all people. People left the perverse and corrupt world every day to be saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When we live in awe of what our God can do, others too will come to be saved. Jesus is the only way we can save ourselves from this perverse generation. When our doubts attempt to overcome us, we should remember the promise that Jesus made in all three of the gospel stories  about the rich young ruler “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matt 19:26,  NKJV)

Today’s Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for making all things possible. I am in awe of You from the depths of my soul. I love You LORD  and praise You for Your wonders and the miracles of Jesus. Help us LORD to be generous with what we have. We have  Jesus. Please use our souls to welcome other souls to You. In the name of Jesus, we do pray. Amen.