We see in the life of Peter a great change, from the time recorded in the gospels of him denying Christ, to the book of Acts where it’s recorded time and again of Peter fearlessly standing up in crowds of opposition and boldly proclaiming the resurrection of the Lord. What happened to him? We of course know that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon 120 believers, Peter included, on the day of Pentecost, and immediately following this outpouring, Peter preached and 3,000 came to Jesus! Not to take anything away from the empowering of the Holy Spirit, the importance of this experience cannot be overstated. BUT, I see something else that happened, that possibly we in the church have been leaving out of the “equation”. We, therefore, may have received the outpouring of the Spirit ourselves, and still find ourselves powerless. This absent element from the equation, I believe, is abandonment to the will of God for our lives. Lets take a look at the process by which God took Peter from a place of being pitiful to powerful, from being a coward to utterly courageous.

After Jesus was resurrected, He met the disciples as they were coming in from fishing. Jesus took Peter aside and asked him 3 times if he loved Him. One for each of the 3 times Peter denied Jesus. He not only was restoring Peter and healing him of his self-inflicted wounds, but Jesus was also leading him out of his position of failure into a position where Peter could walk fearlessly in the power of God. When Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him in John 21:15 &16, Jesus used the word, “agapao” for love. Agapao means love that is a choice of the will to find one’s joy in something. Peter answered back honestly this time, not nearly as self-assured as he was at the Last Supper, where he basically bragged that though all the others were likely to desert Jesus, he never would! Peter answered that he loved, “phileo” Jesus. Phileo means a love based on common interest, therefore a “friendship” kind of love. As long as our interests are in common, kind of love. That’s all Peter could honestly promise Jesus after his harrowing experience with his own heart being revealed for what it really held.

Jesus asked again, “Do you agapao Me?” (Basically meaning, choosing to love no matter what) Peter again could only answer, “Lord, I phileo You”. Again, in all honesty saying, “Lord I know I can love you as long as Your plans and interests are in agreement with my own”. Jesus then came back to meet Peter on his own ground and said, “Do you phileo Me?” Peter was grieved and said, “You know me Lord, that’s all I can promise.” After what Peter now knew about himself, that’s all he could muster. Jesus met Peter where he was, just as He does us also; and though it greatly grieved Peter to have Exposed his own shallowness of devotion, this honesty was needed before he could go on with God.

AGAPAO
chooses to love. Period.
Whether it aligns to my personal agenda or not!

Jesus then gave Peter the option to choose to follow Him or not. He told Peter the will of God for the direction and climatic end to his life. If he was to choose to follow after the Lord, imprisonment, torture and martyrdom awaited him in his latter years. Peter didn’t like that idea any better than you or I would! He then questioned the will and plan of God for John. Basically wanting to know if John was getting a “better deal”! Jesus refused to go there, only bringing the focus back to Peter’s call, and therefore, Peter’s choice to follow, or abandon the will of the Lord for his life. He left it with Peter to choose. Why? Because the only difference in phileo kind of love and agapao kind of love is will. The will to follow and obey, EVEN IF the directives are not in line with my own personal interests! Again, phileo kind of love only loves if it’s in my best interest. Agapao chooses to love. Period. Whether it aligns to my personal agenda or not!

Peter chose the will of God. He abandoned himself to the course that God had pre-ordained for him. What was the result? Acts, chapters 2 through 5, gives a good account of what happened as a result of Peter going from loving the Lord only as long as it was in agreement with Peter’s desires, to loving the Lord no matter what. Total abandonment
to the will of God moves us from a place of our own cowardice to a position of receiving great courage from the Lord. This results in the power of God being released in our lives and among people!

In Acts 4, Peter and John were arrested because of God healing the lame man. As a result of this miracle, and Peter’s bold preaching, 5,000 men were saved! They were brought before the very same men who just months before had Jesus crucified, and they were commanded never to preach again of Jesus. They answered boldly and with authority, then went back to the others and reported to them what happened. Now they KNOW what’s about to be released on them. Persecution, big time! So they pray. That would be expected right? But it’s WHAT they pray that shows WHY God so miraculously moved in the midst of the early church! They didn’t pray for God’s protection. They didn’t even pray for favor! They prayed for MORE BOLDNESS to obey God. KNOWING it
would cost them their lives! This shows total abandonment to the will of God, regardless
of the consequences! They recount to God some of what had happened to Jesus by these
same men, and then in verse 28 we see a “key” as to how they could relinquish themselves to this end, and ask for boldness instead of deliverance from persecution. They acknowledged the fact that NOTHING could have been done to Jesus without God ALLOWING it and even WILLING it to happen! Now don’t take this too far and say that NOTHING happens in my life unless God wills it. You and I aren’t living perfectly, without sin or any rebellion in our heart and life. Jesus was fully abandoned to the will of God. His own will completely surrendered to the will of God the Father. A lot of what happens negatively in my life, and yours, is a direct result of our own bad choices, ignorance, or just out and out rebellion. BUT, there ARE things that come into my life as a
DIRECT RESULT of God’s will for me.

They prayed for
MORE BOLDNESS
to obey God, KNOWING
it would cost them their lives

How do I discern the difference? I don’t have to! All I have to do is CHOOSE to live in total abandonment to God and I can then leave the results up to Him! Live or die, it’s none of my business. I simply choose to obey Him! The consequences of that decision is God’s business, not mine! The key to their boldness was the fact that they knew if they were abandoned to the will of God, NOTHING could happen to them that God had not already foreordained! And if God had “willed” it, then it was God’s responsibility to
give them the courage, power, wisdom, strength, grace and whatever else they needed to walk where God had called them to walk. Abandonment puts us in the position for God to be All in all in our lives. A place where whatever we need, He IS.



CHOOSE to live in total abandonment to God.
Leave the results up to Him

The result of their prayer? The place was shaken! The power of God was released in even greater measures! Right after that, we see recorded in scripture what happened to Ananias and Sapphira when they came into the midst of these “abandoned ones” with their hidden agendas trying to “impress” the congregation with their “spirituality”. They dropped dead! Why? Because they came into the midst of a people, who had already “died” to their own life and were only living for Christ, and when they tried to fake abandonment, they died for it.
How much of the facades and religious quackery would never even be able to rear it’s ugly head in the church if the body of Christ were simply abandoned to Christ themselves? The reason we have to deal with so much hypocrisy in the church is simply a result of our own lack of abandonment to Christ! The opposite of this is also true. I have noticed that as we become more “sold out” to the will of God, no matter where His will may lead, religious hypocrites and “fakers” can’t seem to operate around us. They sometimes try, but it just doesn’t seem to work well for them.

What happened as a result of the Church’s abandonment to Christ?

#1 Total provision was available
for every need.
Acts 4:32

#2 Great miracles and wonders
were released in their midst.
Acts 4:33 and 5:12

#3 Hypocrites within the church
were judged.
Acts 5:1-10

#4 Fear of God revived in the land.
Acts 5:11

#5 People came to Christ, literally,
by the thousands.
Acts 5:13&14

Aren’t these the things we in the church want to see God do in us, and in our nation? It comes as a direct result of abandonment.

How do we go from a place of powerlessness to walking in the Presence of God? Simply by the choice, the decision of our will, to abandon ourselves to the will of God, no matter where that may lead or what it may require of us. Sound too simple? (Simple does not necessarily mean “easy”) Look at Peter. The Lord took him from a place of utter failure, and turned him into a literal powerhouse for God; and it all started with a simple choice to follow the Lord, wherever He may lead.

HYPOCRISY in the church
is simply a result of our own lack of abandonment to Christ.

God met him where he was at the time. Basically asking Peter the same question He is still asking today, “Do you love Me with utter abandonment”? “Well, no.” “Will you choose to follow Me”? “I don’t know.” “What if it cost you your life? Will you follow”? Within the answer to that question lies our future and whether or not we will ever walk in the power of God. But that question can never be answered quickly or flippantly. To honestly look at answering that question in the positive will cause what Oswald Chambers called, “a crisis of the soul”. After you wrestle with the desire for God’s will, versus your will, the answer for one or the other will emerge. What does it say in Rev. 12:11 but that the people of God overcome the Devil by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony andand (Most people never quote this part.)not loving their lives, even unto death. Abandonment. There’s just no substitute for it. There’s no shortcut around it. The church has adopted every “recipe” for success it can come up with to carry the power of God, and we’re still basically powerless. What we are trying so hard NOT to have to do, is the very element that’s missing in the equation. Abandonment. Give up, and the power of God is ours. Look at Jacob in his wrestling match with the Lord. He didn’t win until he lost. After he lost his will to the will of the Lord, his name (and character) was changed from “cheat” and “supplanter” to “a prince who has power with God”. Want the power of God in your life? Lose your will to God’s! Don’t like that option? Want another way? There is none. What the church has been lacking is in our grasp. We don’t have to become “super spiritual” in ourselves! Just choose, by an act of your will to “follow the Lamb wherever He goes”. The Lord will take you from where you are now, to a place in Him where the power of God is made available to you! It begins with a choice.