Daily Affirmations - Day 2 - According to the Word of the Lord - To Know the Power

Day 2: To know the power

I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God that saves all who believe

Then Peter said [to the man lame from birth], “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him (Acts 3:6-10).

O Lord, courageous apostles stood before a crowd of people and declared, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

For them this courage was new—not long before, they had denied and deserted Jesus, fearing for their own lives as they saw Him betrayed, scourged, sentenced, and crucified. But now they did not cower even as the same religious rulers challenged them, and questioned them, and wielded their authority over them.

Transformed by the earth-shaking, stone-moving, mind-bending reality of a resurrection they had witnessed, and filled with the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:8), they finally understood that everything had happened exactly according to the word of the Lord. They finally understood the significance of the prophecies, the teachings, the miracles, the promises. They finally understood a kingdom, not of this world (John 18:36).

Never again would they be shaken by fear. Anchored in an unshakeable faith, they now knew with certainty that the order, the steps, the course— everything in their lives, everything in the world— would continue to happen according to the word, the will, and the purpose of the Lord.

Lord, today, may we too, know Christ— yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:10-11). Equip us to share hope and healing from the fullness and the overflow of Your power working in us.

You are the God of Peter and John. You are the God of every other disciple who has ever or will ever believe in the only saving name given to mankind. You are able to shake the world through our prayers— to level mountains, break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron (Isaiah 45:2). You are able to seek, save, heal, and restore through the hand we hold out to the paralyzed, the helpless, and the hopeless.

Stretch out Your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus. Enable us to speak the life-breathing, hope-giving, bondage-breaking, soul-healing, life-transforming word of God as You fill us with Your Holy Spirit (Acts 4:29-31). Let Your kingdom come.

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