August 25, 2020

August 25

Judy Hollaway

Acts 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

      We meet up with a couple named Ananias and Sapphira who had sold some land.  They wanted to appear more generous than they were. They said they gave the whole amount and pretended to give all the money to God but held back some for themselves. They lied to the church and were deceiving people about their relationship with God. They didn't care they were deceiving the all-knowing God who sees and knows all!   This destroyed their testimony. They had agreed together to lie about the offering, as a result of pretending and lying  both died three hours apart.
      It was early days for the church and having just being established the church needed to be pure. Today in the latter days more than ever we need to be real and not pretend we are something we are not.
      So the moral of this story is: Do not lie to the Holy Spirit. Do not pretend we have a relationship with God.
 Going to church is not having a real relationship with God. It would be like sitting in my driveway and telling people we are friends but I never have a conversation with you. We never do anything together.
      God is real and desires to know you one on one. He wants us to share our deep needs and thoughts with Him. Pretenders miss out on the greatest blessing life has to offer us, a personal relationship with our creator. Never forget He looks on the heart not the outer appearance. He knows real from fake! So let's be real and don't lie to the Holy Spirit.
                 

Father, we have to pray daily, “Create in us a new heart and renew a steadfast spirit within us. Guide us and lead us in paths of righteousness and then we will teach sinners not to transgress against you.  Help us be real and help us keep a servant’s heart and a giving spirit.  Help us hold nothing back from You that belongs to You”.
 

Let's walk by Peter's shadow, in the morning.

Judy Hollaway

Originally penned 2015