Psalm 20, 21; 1 Samuel 17:31-49; Acts 11:1-18; Mark 1:14-28
David was confident in going against Goliath because God had proven Himself to David by giving him strength and cunning when he needed it in his work as shepherd defending his flock from lions and bears. He knew the Lord was able to provide in an hour of need. He was confident that the Lord would do so in this hour as well. David had weapons which he had relied upon before, they had proven equal to the task. The weapons, however, weren’t the source of David’s confidence as he stood before this giant, his confidence was in the Lord whose Name was besmirched in this conflict. He knew that the honor of God was at stake and that He would not allow His Name to be dishonored by this Philistine. David wasn’t counting on his skills and abilities, he was counting on the Lord to fight this battle through him.
A new teaching with authority. That was the consensus of the people of Capernaum concerning Jesus. What was different about Jesus? Where did this authority come from? The authority came from the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew how to interpret the law and to command demons because He had the authority of God Himself, the lawgiver, within Him. The Lord had promised a day when the law would be written on our hearts and we would need no one to teach us and in Jesus we see that day has come and in the giving of the Holy Spirit to believers the potential to live a life of power and authority is in us as well. It is important that we abide in Him if we are to see that power and authority in our lives. We are saved if we believe in Jesus but if we want to experience the fullness of His promise we must actively abide in Him through the disciplines that Jesus practiced like prayer, regular, systematic reading and meditation on Scripture, allowing the word to dwell in us richly, fasting, keeping the rest of our lives as simple as possible, worship, and sacrifice. David said he couldn’t use Saul’s armor because he hadn’t tested it. We must test the armor of God by practicing the disciplines if we are to expect to perform well when called upon.
Peter is summoned to give an account of his encounter with the Gentiles at the home of Cornelius. He is as confused as anyone about what happened there but gives a verbatim accounting of the events that led up to his visit and what happened when he got there. He had a vision and a word from God, Cornelius had a visitation from an angel, Peter preached the Gospel and then God gave these Gentiles the same Holy Spirit that they received on Pentecost. What are you gonna do? The reaction of the assembly was first to fall silent and then to glorify God for jumping out of the box and doing something among the Gentiles. Even when Peter had no expectation that the Lord would do such things, he relied on the only thing he had, the Gospel and the Lord did an amazing thing through Him. We should have a sense of expectation that the Lord can do great things through us if we abide in Him and are prepared to serve.
Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.
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