Good Morning Gorgeous,

It’s a brand new day. A fresh new start. A new day to rise and run into the arms of the Lord!!!

He is so good, arms wide open, ready to receive us.

And when we flee to Him, we receive ALL we could ever need right there in His embrace.

He has forgiveness, protection, encouragement, healing, strength, new life, true identity, peace and more. He knows what your spirit needs today.

As you rise and get into His Presence with a simple, “Here I am Jesus. I need You, ” He will meet you and minister to your soul.

He sat with Peter on the shore of the beach and restored Him in a loving conversation where He allowed Peter the opportunity to reclaim His role of disciple of Christ. He may have spent the previous nights thinking it was all over. He had fallen too far away to ever return. He may have even remembered when Jesus said, “Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.”

If Peter spoke out loud a denial of being the Lord’s disciple not once, but three separate occasions, that sounds alot like loosing or breaking the relationship.

Our tongue has immense power and Jesus gave his disciples the authority to loose and bind. To break and to secure.

So as we read, Jesus lovingly gives Peter the opportunity to speak with his tongue to declare his love for the Lord three times. He speaks his devotion and binds himself back to Christ with the words of his tongue.

There is life and death in the tongue. That which you call to life will rise. The mountain you call down must move. The forgiveness you speak will start the healing process. The life giving words you give will plant seeds or water ones previously planted.

Now, Peter is reinstated. Now what?

Oh the comeback is gooooooood!!!

It’s like the enemy attacks the very things that will be used in our destiny. Satan may have attacked Peter and tempted him to deny Christ in fear because Peter’s tongue was going to be anointed with FIRE from heaven.

But what satan misses every time is that Jesus works even through our messups. Friend, if you have fallen away or are struggling with something, let Peter’s story fill you with fresh hope!

Peter denies Christ.

Christ appears to Peter in His resurrected body, and through probing questions has Peter confess Christ.

His tongue is healed and Now it is READY to receive the promised gift.

An amazing promise from God was about to be fulfilled and Peter was going to recognize the gift and use his tongue to boldly PREACH!

The same tongue that denied Christ was going to be anointed with a new POWER.

The very tongue that satan tempted to deny Christ was going to stand up and preach with boldness and authority!

Jesus tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit and then to go preach the message to the world!

Peter and the disciples are holding onto this promise and waiting in Jerusalem.

They begin to heal and pick up the pieces. Through the leadership of Peter, they cast lots and choose a disciple to replace Judas.

And they wait. The Israelites are celebrating Pentecost which is 40 days after Passover. There are Jewish people gathered there to celebrate from all over. People of many languages gathering to celebrate a holy festival.

And the anointing comes to the followers of Jesus! It is heard a sound like a rushing wind! And tongues of fire rest on each of them and they begin to speak in other tongues..

The promise was HERE! The power of the Lord anointing His people so that they would be empowered to do His command. Go and preach the gospel, heal the sick, and set people free!

Peter, the SAME Peter who a little over a month earlier denied he even knew Christ recognized the Old Testament prophecy and boldly Preached to the people what was happening!

He preached the gospel of JESUS!!! No denying the Lord now!

It’s a little long, but soooo worth pausing to read the whole thing! As you read his sermon, remember this is the SAME Peter who was afraid to say he even knew Jesus! Now he is telling the Jewish people that they crucified Him and He was the Lord! He calls for them to repent!

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd:

“Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

“ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

David said about him: “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’

“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” ’ “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
Acts 2:14‭-‬36 NIV

Wow! POWER, BOLDNESS, and REVELATION have come up and out of Peter! He is filled with the Spirit of the Lord Himself and now preaches with authority, clarity, and truth.

Friends, what a comeback story! When he messed up, Jesus did not find someone else to replace him. Jesus had a plan and purpose for Peter and all of hell would not be able to stop God’s plan for Peter or God’s plan for the building of His church!

Satan tried to stop Peter’s tongue by tempting him into denying his Lord. BUT after Jesus reinstated him, He anointed him with a new tongue! A tongue of FIRE for the truth of Jesus Christ and the gospel that would set souls free!

The Lord will do the same for us!! As we confess our love for Christ, we are also filled with the Holy Spirit. We now are a new creation in Christ Jesus. We can do things we never thought possible before Christ.

Peter who denied even knowing Christ now speaking forcefully to the same people that Christ is both Messiah and Lord!

Wow. Wow. Wow.

God has a comeback story for each of us. A moment where we embrace the call on our life and go forth boldly filled with the Holy Spirit ready to preach the gospel with all authority given to us by Jesus!

Paul’s comeback story is a model for every Christian. When we get serious about following Christ fully and we speak our devotion and also live out our devotion, there is Holy Spirit power available to us to do and be everything Jesus says we are and we can do!

Dear Heavenly Father,

Help us to speak our devotion to You breaking off any past denials and also healing us and binding us to You afresh. Set us ablaze for You. Anoint us with Your Holy Spirit so that we can boldly go forth and do what You have called us to do!

In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Blessings and Holy Spirit Fire,

Vanessa Lynn