Hello, ladies!
Tonight, I want to share with you first from the book of Acts, chapter 3. As the chapter begins, we find Peter and John coming across a man begging at the temple gates because he’d been unable to walk from birth. This is the story when Peter said to him,
“Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” he then helped him up and he healed and able to walk.

I’m going to start reading from verse 11.

11 While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

17 “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

I’m going to stop there because there’s something big that stands out to me there in verse 19. While Peter is talking about their sin of turning over Jesus to be killed, this points to a more universal truth, too. I want to read that verse again.

He acknowledged earlier in the passage that they had acted in ignorance. We so often do the same! We often deal with life experience that clouds our vision or prevents us from understanding what is going on right in front of us. We have spiritual influences in every decision we make, and we can easily become sidetracked by the struggles we face. Even though they had acted in ignorance, they had still sinned. They had given in to the lies of the enemy rather than turning to God… that’s what sin is. When we sin, it takes us out of God’s protection and leaves us vulnerable to the enemy’s torment. When we give in to the enemy’s lies that we have to do it all on our own, that we don’t need to bother God with it, that we need to worry about one thing or another … it’s not about guilt and condemnation, it’s about not being under God’s protection because we’re not clinging to His truth. Not being under God’s protection, and being under the influence of the enemy is and always will be defeating and exhausting. The deeper we go, the darker it feels.

With that thought in mind, your breath prayer for this week is a little longer than normal, but it can be a pretty powerful one. Your prayer is, “Lord, Forgive me for not clinging to you. I trust you now to wipe away my sins and refresh me.”