Lawful Or Unlawful - Right or Wrong

We are on the same understanding of Church and praying and how at times we who are praying people, get it all wrong.

Just listen to what Acts 10: 16 says. This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. What happened three times and to whom? These questions never came up before and I really never thought about them. But today as I am faced with them, I have come to realise how important they are for a fuller and better understanding of prayer in the Spirit and what happened to Peter. It is in this understanding, that I have had many things clarified in Jesus’ dealing with me. My sincere prayer is that you will receive this as I did and that you will be changed as I was and still am being changed.

As simple and obvious as it might have been to you, it was not for me, so this morning, I had to be told that it was the prayer-dialogue with Peter and the voice, that happened three times, and not the sheet-full of contrary animals, contrary to his eating plan. Indeed, I needed to have this fixed in my mind that the sheet-full of animals was let down only once. It remained before Peter, before his wide, open eyes with twenty – twenty vision, as all those live animals before him, so very near to him, made him turn up his nose, as it were. He on the other hand was speaking to Sovereign God, in the way God chose to come to him. We know that Peter knows it is the Lord and not the devil, because he calls Him Lord. When, in that time of vision, he is asked to eat from the sheet-full of all kinds of animals, Peter never hesitates to categorically state this. Surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean. Acts 10: 14

Let’s pause for a moment and return to this incident that you know so well. Look at the total picture. For all your years you have seen the praying of Peter, the hunger of Peter and have associated them with his vision. But you need to move on and see that the Lord put Peter in that trance at that specific time, because He had a contrary job for Peter, that of bringing contrary people to know Jesus in the flesh. Unlike Paul’s understanding of freedom, Peter was not yet free to become all things to all people, to bring them to Christ. This incident was the Lord’s way of turning Peter from self.

Yes, Peter is Jesus’ true and faithful disciple. Yes, he is working the Lord’s miracles and pleasing Him with his witnessing. Yes, he is the Lord’s power house who has been filled with the Lord’s Spirit. Yes, he knows how to pray – have God hear him and him hear God – with ease and comfort. And it is precisely in this prayer experience that the Lord continues to daily help him and all His faithful servants, to deny more and more of self. Note, that this specific self-denial would never have been required in Peter had the Lord not sent those Gentiles to Peter in the way He sent them. Look at Peter’s Jesus and your Jesus, and know that He is faithful to ‘fit’ you for His specific work. Knowing what He has planned, the Lord is faithful to help Peter not to fail. Jesus is the One who will not just teach Peter this lesson, but break the lawfulness in Peter from being a hindrance to him, obeying his Master in the way his Master chooses.

The same is true of you. Jesus is your Lord and Master. It is He who has chosen this work for you to do. It is He who changes you so that you are free from all that is lawful, to obey Him in this work of grace.