Focus: Acts 10:1-2 - KJV
1. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, 2. A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.
Acts 10:1-6
Christ did say to believers that without Him, we can do nothing. Hence, it does not matter the extent of work or morality, or the gifts required of the law, that we make, one thing is quite needful, and until we do it, all our works end up being futile. (God forbid). There is no pleasing God unless we approach Him through the guidelines we have of Christ. It is like wanting to travel from one Sovereign State to another, getting a travel passport, buying a ticket, buying all other materials as gifts for the citizens of the other State but not having a visa to enter. It is definite that the traveler will be denied access unless he first obtains a visa. The visa is the most needful in the entire process. The passport and other materials may be necessary for profiling, but until the visa is obtained, every other thing is a waste of time.
The man Cornelius appeared to have a passport and so many other things that made God to notice his alms and prayers. But the record says “prayers and alms have come up for a memorial”. This simply suggests that the activities have been seen but could not be processed until the needful was done. Hence, he was told to send to call Peter who would show him what was necessary for the prayers and alms to be accepted. Until Peter came to administer Christ unto them, Cornelius and his household remained strangers to the commonwealth of God. Many today, dwell on welfarism and religious activities to assume they belong to God, yet they do not know, or have a relationship with Christ. But without Him, it is impossible to reach God.
The Lord is telling us not to keep disturbing ourselves with religious sentimentalism and welfarist tendencies to assume by such we can be pleasing to Him. In as much as the Lord has commanded love for which welfarism is a part, no one can operate properly in love through the flesh. It is therefore, important to first surrender unto the Lord Jesus Christ, who in turn will give us the Holy Spirit to dwell in us such that the life that we live from then we live through Christ and the Holy Spirit Himself begins to teach us all things including how to and how not to show love.
SOLUTION: Surrender your life to Jesus Christ and your deeds will be countenanced and acceptable unto God. The prayer of a sinner is an abomination unto God. Until your sins are washed away, your alms and prayers have no meaning to God, save the prayer of repentance.
Please pray:
· Give thanks to God for drawing you to Christ such that you no longer make prayers that are ineffective
· Ask God to please accept all your prayers and gifts to others as worthy works of love as commanded by Christ
· Ask God to please draw more men to Christ through your preaching, ministrations and daily acts
· Pray that all your efforts in soul-winning will not be in vain
· Ask for your daily bread for today
If you are blessed by this post, kindly share with your contacts, as well as others, that they may be blessed also. Thank you and may God bless you abundantly as you do so, in Jesus’ name.
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