From today's devotional
Acts 5.1-42
Paul told Timothy, his protégé, “Everything in the Scriptures is God’s Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live. The Scriptures train God’s servants to do all kinds of good deeds” (2 Timothy 3.16, 17).
In this chapter of the book of Acts, we find that Paul’s statement about the uses of Scripture holds true. In the opening narrative, we discover that God knows the secrets of our hearts and he has power to openly correct and rebuke, as he did in the case of Ananias and Sapphira. God’s desire is always for truth in our inner being. God thoroughly equips his people to do what he assigns, as he did for the apostles by ushering in the kingdom with miracles (not magic), and equipping them to do good works.
We find that although our training in righteousness may result in good works for the poor, the needy, the sick, and those whose hearts long to see God in practical ways, it sometimes causes others to become jealous. They hatch plans to do us harm as a reward for the good works we do in the name and power of Christ. Before his departure to heaven, Jesus told his followers to expect hatred from the world. The apostles faced prison, but even there, God’s power was at work in the circumstance. They were persecuted, but God gave them victory, allowing them to rejoice that they were chosen to suffer for him.
God’s power was so strong that even one of the council members who had the power to kill Peter and the others, backed away from such action against the apostles’ preaching. God allowed this man to speak an awesome word of truth: “… if God is behind it, you cannot stop it anyway, unless you want to fight against God” (v 39). There is no stopping God’s child who is in God’s perfect will because of the presence and power of God himself!
