Wed.’s Devo - Power and Fire

Read: 2 Samuel 23:24-24:25; Acts 3:1-26; Psalm 123:1-4; Proverbs 16:21-23
David’s thirty-seven most valiant warriors were listed and Uriah, the Hittite was one of them. That shows how powerful lust can be and how it can cloud the best judgment. It wins when we get distracted and are asleep spiritually. When our guard is down the enemy will come in like a flood.
God got mad at Israel so He gave David a plan that would break his law and he could judge them. Usually the saying…”as the leadership goes, there goes the people.” But in this case it was the other way around. Apparently the sin of the people was pride because that was what God used in David’s life. God only stirred up what was already there and brought it to the surface. David sent his men to number the people. God had made a provision for numbering the people in Exodus 30:14, and everyone that was numbered had to pay a cost for their life to the Lord. David did not require that or offer it himself. In Exodus 30:12 it says that the ransom money the people give when they are numbered will keep the plague from coming among them.
A plague was the punishment David chose for the people. I wonder if he knew this verse and that he was fulfilling the law by choosing it. The plague lasted three days and David saw it with his own eyes as it approached him. It stopped at the threshing floor of Araunah. Araunah means “I shall shout for joy and make you to shine.” David bought the land and oxen to sacrifice and many years later, Solomon built the temple there. It was the place of mercy and forgiveness - the light of the world.
The disciples were at the Temple because it is the Sabbath and that is what they did every Sabbath. Everything was back to normal except them. They were baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. They saw the crippled beggar who had sat there every Sabbath of their lives. Only this time, they were not the same people. The Holy Spirit compelled Peter to speak to this man. After seeing Jesus heal person after person when he walked on the earth, suddenly Peter had the urge to do the same thing he had seen Jesus do. Peter took him by the hand and lifted him up. Strength came to his legs and he was able, for the first time in his life, to enter into the temple. When he drew a crowd, Peter took the opportunity to preach the good news of Jesus crucified and resurrected.
I truly believe that this is a picture of the power and fire we are to be walking in in our day. We are going to see this kind of thing happening more and more as we step out in faith with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Lord, may we act on your impulses and do what you are wanting us to do.