BURNED OUT: When you lose your fire for ministry Day #4

During the first days of the church, shortly after Jesus’s ascension, the apostles began to preach the good news to all who would listen and to perform miraculous signs among them. Acts chapter 4 tells of how in Jesus name they healed a crippled man and how, through this act, many were saved. We also find in this chapter that the Sanhedrin was not happy about the following the apostles were developing for Jesus and brought Peter and John in for questioning. Due to the people favoring them, there was not much more they could do other than threaten them and tell them that they should not continue preaching God’s word.

These two men could have counted their blessings and moved out of Jerusalem--a place where Jesus himself was not wanted--but instead they answered that they could not obey man at the cost of disobeying God (Acts 4:19-20). It also goes on to tell us of how Peter, John, and the other believers met and prayed for continued boldness that they may continue to preach the good news despite the persecution they would inevitably face.

What if these men, these believers, had chosen to let powerful men on earth dictate what they did and when they did it? What would have become of the church if its foundation was based on grounds that shifted with the tides of man? Would the church exist as we know it today if these first leaders backed off and passed on the responsibility to others when their jobs had not yet been completed?


Devotional written by Lindsey.

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