8/11/21

 Peter’s Speech

            But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.  No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

            ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.  Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Acts 2: 14-22

            I have been to a lot of prayer meetings over the course of my Christian life.  Would you like to know how many of them were so rowdy, so rambunctious and so out of control that the neighbors called the police to report us as drunken and disorderly?  Zero.  I have seen zero prayer meetings that went like that.  There have been plenty with tears and yelling and screams and laughter and plenty of noise…but none where everyone around us thought, “There go those Christians.  Drunk again.”

            That is precisely what happened to our group of disciples who were praying in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit fell on that room with such power that the men and women who had been hiding and praying became so loud and unruly that those who came to investigate could only conclude that the entire group was drunk.  It must have been quite the sight.  There were people fluently speaking languages that they had never been taught.  There was laughter and tears and people laying prone on the floor.

            And then there was Peter.  The fisherman became the rock of the church on that day.  He quoted the Scriptures and told how the prophets had seen this day approaching from far off.  In the last days of humanity’s story here on earth, God’s words would flow through the young and old, the slaves and the free, men and women.  The Spirit of God would speak the Words of God through every available vessel and the world would be shaken by their power.

            Know what is interesting about the young and the old, the women and the slaves?  None of them had a voice in that society.  Ideally, they would not be seen, but if that could not be avoided, they definitely should not be heard.  The Prophet Joel does not say that kings would prophesy.  He does not say that the rich will see visions and the powerful will dream dreams.  Those prophetic gifts were to be given to the weak and voiceless, those marginalized in their society and neglected when matters of importance were discussed.

            I believe that someday, when we are deep in the end times, God will use our kids as prophets and dreamers to share His voice and His words with the world.  They live in the margins and most people have neither the time nor the patience to wait for them to complete a sentence.  Someday the words coming out of the mouths of our children will be the voice of God himself.  They will speak of God’s heart for justice and mercy.  They will speak of God’s desire to bring all his children back home.  They will speak of God’s wrath and judgement.  They will be eloquent and they will be powerful and the wise will listen because the Almighty chooses His prophets carefully.

            We may not be deep in the end times at the moment…it depends who you talk to…but I would encourage you to listen for the voice of God coming through the mouth of your child.  I do not take every word that spills out of my son as Gospel Truth and revelation from above.  Hardly.  However, I try to listen for the gems…the pearls of wisdom that God has given to his precious son.  Every once in a while he will say something that is different than his usual legos/trivia/sound effects/movie lines pattern.  Every once in a while, he says something that goes straight to my heart and will not leave my mind.  Every once in a while, the Almighty speaks to me and to others through a 16 year old autistic boy…and it is awe-inspiring to behold.

            Someday, God is going to use your child to prophesy to the world.  It is what He loves to do: using the weak to humble and educate the strong.  But until that day comes, make it a regular practice to listen for God’s voice coming from that all-too-familiar-mouth.

           

A moment to reflect:

How has God spoken to you through your child before?  What might He be saying today?