Fri.’s Devo - Revival

Read: Acts 11-12
Revival is messy and requires that everyone open their box a little wider. Peter was called in and scolded for eating unclean food and hanging around unclean people. He had to enlighten them on his new discovery that God was calling the non-Jews to himself, and they received it with joy. God had really come to save the world! When the church found out Greeks were coming to the Lord, they sent Barnabas to Antioch to check it out. They found that the Greeks were sincere in their devotion to God.
It has been one year since Jesus was crucified, and it is the season of Passover. God always repeats the same thing on Passover so we see James murdered and Peter supernaturally break out of prison. This is the picture of Jesus dying and going to the prison of death and resurrecting. Once again, it is a Mary who is the first to see him. Once again, the jailers are in an uproar because their cell is empty. Herod was a type of Satan who prematurely celebrates his victory. He was brought down just as Satan was when Jesus rose from the dead. Meanwhile, the ministry of God’s Word grew by leaps and bounds.
When the church experiences revival we can expect the keepers of the “old way” to have some problems making the shift. But, they can do it if they will. We also see persecution and death, but along with it resurrection and life. The “Mary’s” will be the ones who will get to see it first. They are the ones looking for the change and the ones with hearts to believe.
Lord, may we have hearts like Mary that expect and embrace the new.