Reach In
“He replied, ‘The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.’” - Acts 1:7
If we want to live a life that pursues the potential God has instilled inside of us, we must be mindful of doing three things. Acts 1 shows us these three things we must do. Yesterday, we looked at the first: reaching up. Today, we look at the second: reaching in.
Acts 1:7 says, “He replied, ‘The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.’” Jesus responded to the disciples’ question by telling them that “when” the kingdom would be restored is not their concern. In other words, God would handle that.
Their assignment was to put their trust in God and cultivate the wherewithal to wait on God to do what He has promised. See, if Jesus told them when it would happen, they wouldn’t be walking by faith; they’d be watching the calendar and walking by sight.
Faith dictates that we trust God without knowing when, without knowing where, and without knowing how. When God told Abraham to leave his homeland, country, and kindred, and go into a land God would show him, God didn’t fill in all the details. He did not tell Abraham where He would take him, how long it would take, or what obstacles he would face.
God just told him to go. And Abraham had to go without knowing. In the same way, Jesus shifts their focus from wanting to know when they would make it to understanding what they would need along the way. He said, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”
In other words, God doesn’t want you preoccupied with matters that are beyond your control, but He wants you to know that He’s going to give you the strength, the ability, the wherewithal, and the power to accomplish what He has for you. Jesus is going to give you the power, to tear down, destroy, and defeat anything you would face on the outside. But if you want access to that power, you much not only reach UP, you must reach IN.
If we want to live a life that pursues the potential God has instilled inside of us, we must be mindful of doing three things. Acts 1 shows us these three things we must do. Yesterday, we looked at the first: reaching up. Today, we look at the second: reaching in.
Acts 1:7 says, “He replied, ‘The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.’” Jesus responded to the disciples’ question by telling them that “when” the kingdom would be restored is not their concern. In other words, God would handle that.
Their assignment was to put their trust in God and cultivate the wherewithal to wait on God to do what He has promised. See, if Jesus told them when it would happen, they wouldn’t be walking by faith; they’d be watching the calendar and walking by sight.
Faith dictates that we trust God without knowing when, without knowing where, and without knowing how. When God told Abraham to leave his homeland, country, and kindred, and go into a land God would show him, God didn’t fill in all the details. He did not tell Abraham where He would take him, how long it would take, or what obstacles he would face.
God just told him to go. And Abraham had to go without knowing. In the same way, Jesus shifts their focus from wanting to know when they would make it to understanding what they would need along the way. He said, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”
In other words, God doesn’t want you preoccupied with matters that are beyond your control, but He wants you to know that He’s going to give you the strength, the ability, the wherewithal, and the power to accomplish what He has for you. Jesus is going to give you the power, to tear down, destroy, and defeat anything you would face on the outside. But if you want access to that power, you much not only reach UP, you must reach IN.
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