Good day, dear ones.
I almost said, “Good morning.” But there’s only 6 minutes of it left.
I managed my old man jog this morning. I failed to mention that the last time I was out for that jog, I met up with that Bald Eagle again. He flew by me going the same direction I was, then landed atop the same tree on the same branch as I had seen him before. He seemed to acknowledge my greeting, but didn’t say anything back. Of course, I can’t be sure that he is not a she. They all seem to dress alike. That makes me wonder how in the world they tell the difference between themselves. If he is a he, and a young she flies by, does he ever gasp, “Baby!”? If he does, what does he see different and/or attractive? Wonders never cease.
Blessing on this day—for me, you, and the eagles. Ray.
To be sure, when Peter spoke in the courtyard of the high priest while Jesus was being tried and sentenced, denying that he even knew Jesus, he was most definitely NOT speaking with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. But, WOW!—do we ever have a big difference here! He has now been filled with the Holy Spirit, which seems to include an internal explosion of revelation truth. His lights have been dramatically turned on, suddenly enabling him to see more clearly how to connect prophetic dots. It’s all so clear now that he can hardly stand it! So he is now most definitely speaking to this huge crowd of curious spectators with a new power and anointing that he has never before known.
I can identify with Peter’s relative frustration as he shouts, “Can’t you see it? God has resurrected Jesus, and we all have seen him!” I’m somewhat familiar with the experience of knowing something clearly for a fact, then trying to explain that fact to someone else, only to meet with their NOT GETTING IT! I’m tempted, like Peter, to shout, “What’s the matter with you? Why can’t you see what is so obvious?!” I even met with an element of that last night as I had to endure listening to a CNN brain-washed liberal expound on some of the absurdities of his political perspective. I bit my lip, but I wanted to say, “What’s wrong with your head? That doesn’t even make sense! And it’s not even true!”
Verse 22 cites Peter as saying, “People of Israel, listen to the facts.” He proceeds to state the facts with supportive and unbiased evidence from both personal eye-witness testimony as well as prophetic fulfillment. In this regard, I must say that I quite like the idea of embracing a faith that has foundations in fact—not just someone coming forth to claim that they had some weird spiritual experience, and now expecting me to accept it as fact. I am quite certain that Sovereign God is as willing and capable as He has ever been to impart supportive facts and evidence in behalf of anyone truly seeking TRUTH. But that impartation can only be received on His terms—only when there is a willingness to lay aside preconceived ideas that would conflict with His terms.