Pray, Listen, Do.

Read Matthew 26:31-75

Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard.  And a servant girl came to him, saying, 

“You also were with Jesus of Galilee.”

But he denied it before them all, saying, 

“I do not know what you are saying/”

And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who 

were there, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

But agin he denied with an oath,

 “I do not know the Man!”

And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter,

 “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.”

Then he began to curse and swear, saying,

 “I do not know the Man!”  

Immediately a rooster crowed.

And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, 

“Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”  

So he went out and wept bitterly.

                                                                                                   Matthew 26:69-75
We all let Christ down from time to time.  Here Peter who said he would not deny Jesus, denies Him three times.  Peter was as they say, “only human”.  He tried to do things in his own power.
Contrast this, with the Peter of the Day of  Pentecost, when he stood on the rooftop and proclaimed the Gospel.
Peter had grown, he’d been in the Upper Room, in a prayer meeting, for a number of days.  Into that room had come the Holy Spirit as a sign to the believers gathered, filling them with power from on high.
These men and women would go out from that place and quite literally change the world.  They would not go out in their own strength, but with the power of God.
After the death of Jesus, these men and women turned to God.  After the resurrection and ascension of Christ, they were obedient to Christ’s command “to go and wait in Jerusalem.”  Then upon receiving the power from on high, they were obedient in “going out to preach the Gospel to every creature.”
Each of us must remember that God understands.
We must remember that we need to occasionally go into our Upper Room, and wait as the apostles did after the ascension, the guidance of God.
All to many, try to go out in their own strength doing what they think is God’s will, only to fail.
All of us need to get on our knees before God and seek His guidance and direction for our lives.
Prior to the crucifixion, Peter and the others were doing things under their own strength.  All except one left Jesus alone at the cross.
After Pentecost, after waiting on God and seeking His face, they went out and created a dynamic change in the world.  We can do the same.
The apostles and the others in that Upper Room, on the Day of Pentecost were ordinary men and women, who became part of an extraordinary event.  The start of the church.
We are very much a part of that event. That event is still happening today.  We can change the world.   It may only be one person at a time, but by doing God’s will, we can changing the world.
From time to time, we may fail our LORD, but we, like Peter must pick ourselves up, seek out the will of the Father, and continue on.
Something to think about:
I believe those who succeed for Christ are those who admit their human frailties, go into their Upper Room, go to their knees, seek the will and power of God, then get off their knees and do what God has told them to do.