SCRIPTURE: Acts 12:11 And when Peter had come to himself, he said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people."
OBSERVATION: Peter was free! He had already been free for some time but didn't even realize it. It was something so incredible and so amazing that he thought it must have been a dream. But it wasn't. It was real. The prison walls that held him no longer held him. The guards that restricted him no longer restricted him. Herod, the one who intended to kill him, no longer threatened him. And the Jewish people, who had a certain and final expectation for the end of his life, no longer had control over him. Peter was totally free.
APPLICATION: I like the phrase, Peter knew that he was free from "all the expectation of the Jewish people." Other people had a plan for Peter's life. They had a certain expectation for him. But Peter was going against the grain, the expectation of the Jews for him was one of death. He must be stopped. It was really the expectation of the Jews that landed him in prison and set him facing death. But the Lord set him free.
How much control do other people's expectation have over me? Do I let them become a prison for me, directing me for a certain end? Can I really believe hat the Lord has set me free from the expectations of others, or does it just seem like a dream? It is real.
And, in the same way, Jesus has set others free from my expectations of them. Don't imprison others with my expectations.
PRAYER: Jesus, You said, "If the Son has set you free, then you are free indeed." It is not a dream. I will come to myself and walk in the freedom that You have given me. Amen.
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