Acts 5 – Ananias and Sapphira
1 But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. 2 He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest. 3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. 4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”
As I was reading this story of Ananias and Sapphira like many of us I was taken back by their deaths and the consequences of their actions. After rereading it over again I felt the Lord highlight to me vs 3, then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself.
I felt like God was showing me how the enemy works. First Peter acknowledges the root issues of Ananias which is that he allowed Satan to fill his heart. Then he shows us how the decisions he made led him to his eventual death. Although these decisions were not bad to begin with 1 & 2, they led to lying to God and the Holy Spirit.
- To sell or not to sell
- To keep or to give
- To lie or tell the truth
The Lord reminded me of an illustration that I heard from Pastor Stefan (Pastor Ray’s Son) from Church Renewal.
He painted a picture of a house with a screen door. He mentioned that the screen door was used to keep insects like flies outside of the house. Then He began to ask a series of questions, like: If there was a fly that flew in your house, would it only be restricted to flying in the living room or could it go anywhere it pleases? If the fly came in through a hole in your screen door, would it be safe to assume that more than just one fly could come in?
He then began to explain to us that our home is our heart and the fly is the enemy. When we sin we create holes in our heart (holes in the screen door) that allow the enemy to come in. When the enemy enters our heart, he doesn’t say I’m going to only mess with part of your life (I’m only going to fly in your kitchen – Fly), I’m only going to mess with your relationship with your kids but don’t worry I wont touch your marriage. Remember the devil came to steal, kill and destroy! It might not be blatant but don’t think that the enemy plays by the rules.
So if you’ve ever gone on a rampage killing flies in your house like I have, you know how frustrating it can be. It sometimes feels like the more flies you kill the more keep popping up. It’s like they told their fly friends to come and avenge their death. But the real solution to the fly problem is to find out where they are coming in from. In the illustration above it means fixing the hole in the screen door or fixing the holes in our heart.
I believe that Ananias and Sapphira’ decisions were led by a heart that was filled with evil. By allowing Satan to fill their hearts, they allowed Satan to influence their decisions.
I’ve had days where I would be upset to the point where I would be thinking of the event the whole day. Not knowing the effects of that decision to stay angry the anger would trickle down to every decision I had to make that day and seep into all the areas of my life. Filled with anger and frustration I was unable to see the error of my ways. I would act out of character and in turn cause more damage and more sin to produce. After coming to the end of myself in frustration I started asking myself Why am I so angry? Why am I in such a bad place. I had to force myself to spend time with God and ask him to search my heart. This was very difficult in a state of anger but by the grace of God He showed me that I let the enemy in by choosing to be angry and stay offended. God showed me the very moment I let Satan in and how that started to influence the rest of my day. In prayer the Lord told me that not only does He want to patch that hole in my heart but He wants to reinforce the walls. He said “Stay in my word, Stay in my presence and fill your heart with my Love.”
Prayer:
Father, I thank you that your grace is sufficient. I thank you that you have the ability to heal our hearts and cause us to change our ways. I pray that as we learn to grow in maturity that we would stay in your word, stay in your presence and allow you to fill our hearts with your love. Teach us to be more aware of what is going on in us and around us. Keep us and protect us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!