Daily Devotion

 

 

For the devout Jew, there were three special hours of prayer---9 a.m.,12 midday and 3 p.m. They agreed that prayer was efficacious wherever it was offered; they felt that is was doubly precious when offered in the Temple courts. It is very interesting that the apostles kept the custom that they were raised in. It was the hour of prayer, and Peter and John were going to the Temple to observe it. They were aware that the new faith and the old discipline could walk hand in hand.

In Israel, it was the custom for beggars to sit at the entrance to a temple. Such a place was considered the best of all because people were on their way to worship God and were disposed to be generous. Love of man and love of God must go hand in hand.

This incident brings us face to face with the question of miracles in apostolic times. Such miracles did happen. In Acts 4:16, we read how the Sanhedrin knew that they must accept the miracle. The enemies of Christianity would have been the first to deny miracles if they could, but they never even tried. 

  
The real question is not, "Why have miracles stopped?" but, "Have they stopped?" 

  
God has revealed the new truth and new knowledge to men, and through that revelation, there are still miracles. As a doctor said, "I bandage the wounds, but God heals them. For the Christian, there are still miracles on every hand if he has eyes to see."