Free in the Spirit

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. I'm Mike Whitmer and I titled our reading Free in the Spirit. Neither Orville nor Wilbur Wright had a pilot's license. Neither had gone to college. They were bicycle mechanics with a dream and the courage to try to fly. On December 17, 1903, they took turns piloting their Wright Flyer on four separate flights.

The longest lasted only a minute, but it changed our world forever. Neither Peter nor John had a preaching license. Neither had gone to seminary. They were fishermen who, filled with the Spirit of Jesus, courageously proclaimed the good news found in Acts 4-12.

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. The Wright brothers' neighbors didn't immediately appreciate their accomplishment. Their hometown newspaper didn't believe their story and said that, even if true, the flights were too brief to be significant.

It took several more years of flying and refining their planes before the public recognized what they had truly done. The religious leaders didn't like Peter and John, and they ordered them to stop telling others about Jesus. Peter said, no way.

We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. You may not be on the approved list. Perhaps you're scorned by those who are.

No matter. If you have the Spirit of Jesus, you're free to live boldly for Him. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Acts 4, verses 12-22. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. What are we going to do with these men? they asked.

Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name. Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, Which is right in God's eyes?

To listen to you or to Him? You be the judges. As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising God for what had happened.

For the man who was miraculously healed was over 40 years old. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we belong to you. We are yours. Use us in whatever way you want. In your name we pray, amen.