TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2
Scripture: Acts 4:33

Acts 4:33 says, “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.” How could the culture of the New Testament church be strictly one of mercy? When God killed Ananias and Sapphira how can we dismiss it as an exception to the rule? The problem with that is that even a primarily mercy-minded culture still has manifestations of God’s judgment in it. And those manifestations of God’s judgment saved the church and the early leadership from devastation and destruction. Without Jesus the Judge, it is obvious that today’s church cannot accomplish our mission. We have to know Him and we have to be able to pray Him into action. When we settle for mercy without judgment, then we are disarmed in our battle against principalities and powers. Jesus is both Judge and Savior and until we accept Him in that order, we are not preparing people for the days ahead. This message of mercy-without-judgment that is sweeping today’s church means an inability to confront emissaries of evil that prevent Kingdom purposes and promised harvests. Jesus is a Judge and if we want to bring our promised harvest into the Kingdom, we need Him on the scene to answer judicial prayer. Just as the early church needed Him on the scene to answer judicial prayer, so do we!