Rise and Shine Advance Night #1: Larry Brey
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.”
Acts 2:14 (NIV)
Peter stood up to speak to a crowd. This suggests he was initially sitting. There is power in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit not only moved his lips but his posture too.
Peter was confident in his faith and even told Jesus he would go to prison and death for him. But when Jesus was seized by the authorities, Peter followed at a distance. Not even nine hours after telling Jesus he would stand with him, Peter denied Jesus three times. A servant girl questioned Peter, and Peter said he did not know Jesus. Then two more from the crowd questioned Peter, and Peter stood firm in his denial of Jesus. Peter said he did not know Jesus.
Distance with God can add up in our lives. Denial increases that distance. When we swim in the ocean, the waves can slowly take us further and further away until we are too far from the shore. Likewise, we can be slowly pushed away from God’s purpose until we look back and realize we are miles from God. We don’t realize how much we drifted.
The destination of denial starts with a little bit of distance. Where there is distance, there is shame and exhaustion. It doesn’t take much distance for the Enemy to slip in our lives.
An unnamed enemy will never be defeated. When we sit down in this distance, we let it control us. God can show us the speech that is betraying us. God can reveal to us our actions that are deceiving us.
It doesn’t matter that the Enemy can take our exhaustion and magnify it. David was given a unique weapon to take down Goliath, and so were we. Each of us was given a unique talent to take down the giant in our lives. What makes us different and unique makes us powerful.
What is causing distance in your life?
Prayer: Lord, help us to stand up. Father, help us to know what is causing distance in our relationships with Jesus. If we do find ourselves sitting in distance with you, help us to learn from our mistakes. Thank you for our uniqueness and talents that we can use to grow close to you, God. Amen.