Break The Boundaries

You're listening to the My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1528. Today's Devo is called Break the Boundaries. Hey there. We're the Alessi's, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional podcast. Good morning everybody. Stephanie here and we will be continuing in our series about the Book of Acts. Today I am diving into Peter the Apostle. And please let us know if you are enjoying these videos, if you're enjoying these podcasts, if you're enjoying these devos. We love to hear your responses and your thoughts and we pray that this is blessing you because, you know, the month after Easter is sometimes forgotten about. And it is very good to go back to scripture and follow along because, you know, the Bible is good for us. The scriptures are good for us. Okay, let's dive into it. Acts 10, 9, 16 and the NIV version. About noon the following day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and he wanted something to eat. And while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven open and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four footed animals as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, get up, Peter, kill and eat. Sh. Surely not, Lord. Peter replied, I have never eaten anything impure or unclean. The voice spoke to him a second time. Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. This happened three times and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. And you will then see, if you continue reading this story, that this is a turning point amongst the disciples. This is when they start to practice eating more freely without any shame because of the Jewish culture. Because in, of course, everybody knows Jews eat kosher. And they aren't allowed to eat certain meats, they're not allowed to eat certain animals. And this is where God is now saying, hey, Christians, do not call anything impure that God has made clean. And God starts to make the distinctions. We don't do what Jews do, we do what Christians do. And they are free now because of the blood of Jesus Christ, because God has freed us and God has sanctified us with his Holy Spirit. And by his blood and by his stripes, we are now Free and healed, which means we have a freedom in Christ. So now we don't have to call days holier than other days. We don't have to call food or practices holier than other food or practices. As Christians, we have a freedom in Christ. Just a little theology lesson for you there, but that's not what I was talking about today. But I want to talk about is how the greatest barriers to. To God's work are the ones inside our own hearts. So, you know when you have always done something a certain way your entire life. Like my parents, one day they told my siblings and I that we say the word women wrong. We're raised in Miami, Florida, okay? We say a lot of words wrong. If you are from Miami, you know, we have terrible grammar. We don't say words correctly. It's bad. We all kind of have like a 9th grade English level. Even me, who was raised in an American home because of my friends, we don't speak proper English. And we all know that about ourselves. It's. In fact, we're pretty prideful about it. And there was one day that my parents said, hey, y' all say women wrong. And I'm like, what do you mean? It's women for the plural of women, W, O, M, e, n. And they go, yeah, you don't say woman. You say women. Like W, I, M, E, n. And honestly, it kind of changed my life because I'm like, how many words have I been saying incorrectly and for how long? And it was a way that I've always said something now completely changed. And it still to this day is very hard for me to say women, because that's how I said it for like 20 years before then. Peter had followed Jesus for years, but he still carried cultural assumptions about who belonged in God's family. Then God gives him a strange vision. Animals ascending from heaven with a command. Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. And later on in the story, there's this man. He's a Roman officer named Cornelius. The centurion Peter then goes into Cornelius's house, which Jews were not really allowed to go to because he was not another Jew. And he preaches about Jesus. And before he even finishes speaking, the Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles. This is what I've learned from this story. God's grace reaches further than our expectations. God often challenges our assumptions about who he wants to reach, how he wants to reach them, how he works, and how far he's willing to go. And in our minds, we really do think like We've got it all figured out. I know how God works. I've been a Christian for a long time. I know how God does things. I've been going to church my whole life. But don't be surprised if God does a situation in your life in the next coming days that will challenge how you think about Him. And I don't mean deconstruct. I don't mean go against his word. I mean to take the promises of His Word and to really push the boundaries of it. Yesterday I talked about God transforming our minds and renewing our hearts. I want to see how far God is willing to go to do that. Can he actually get rid of all that shame in your heart? Can he actually get rid of all that disbelief? Can he actually get rid of all that fear? Maybe you've thought your whole life, Listen, anxiety, it's in my generation. It's in my family. Everybody suffers from anxiety. In fact, that's just a personality in my family. Well, is it? Because I know a God who literally changed Saul to Paul and blinded him for three days and turned his entire life around. And now we're thinking that we can't change because it's just been in my family all these years? Heck, no. I want to see how far God is willing to go to change my heart and my mind, to heal my family, to heal my marriage, and to break down my expectations of what he's going to do. You know, sometimes we show up to church on a Sunday morning and we think, I just have to go serve. I have to go worship for 25 minutes. I'm going to listen to the sermon, and then I'm going to get in my car and I'm going to go to brunch and I'm going to go home. Bye. And we sometimes forget the presence of God was in that room. And God is a barrier breaker. He's a barrier pusher. When you go to a connect group, when you go to a small group, when you go to a Bible study group, we want to pop in and pop out for an hour and 20 minutes. We got to go home early because we have to wake up early. But the presence of God is there, and he wants to break the boundaries. You know, I want to have my reading in the morning of my Bible for 15 minutes. I just want to open it up, read a few verses, close it, have my breakfast, go do my Pilates and go home. But God's presence is there, which means he's pushing the boundaries. So, Lord, where are you trying to push my boundaries. Let's just pray right now. God, what are some expectations that I have of you that are not high enough? What are some barriers that I've put up that are not authentic to who you are? Because Lord, I have a lot of desires in my heart, but the biggest one is to know who you are is to know who you are authentically. I want to know everything about you, God. And maybe I don't know the full picture yet. Maybe I've had a smaller expectation of you in my mind than I should. So God, today, break the boundaries, break down the barriers, reset my expectations and give me an excitement that whenever I walk into the presence of God, something new is about to happen. Something fresh is about to happen in me, in my heart, or in others. And God shows. Show me how far you're willing to go for me. Show me how far you're willing to go for our church, for each other, and break the boundaries that are in my mind. And in Jesus name we all pray. Amen. So there you have it. Your 5 minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in. Today we pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.