November 11, 2025 -Confirmation & Understanding

ACTS 10:1-12:5

Chronological Bible Readings

^{Acts 10:9} About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. ¹⁰ He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. ¹¹ He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. ¹² It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. ¹³ Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

¹⁴ “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

¹⁶ This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

¹⁷ Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house. Standing outside the gate, ¹⁸ they asked if a man named Simon Peter was staying there.

God spoke to Peter in a context that he understood. As a Jew God telling him to eat what was before him was unacceptable. Peter did not miss the meaning. But he didn't jump to that conclusion he took time to think about it. And while he was thinking about it the circumstance spoke further to him.

^{Acts 10:19} Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Three men have come looking for you. ²⁰ Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation. Don’t worry, for I have sent them.”

While he was meditating about the vision seeking understanding the Holy Spirit spoke to him about what could have been taken as a different thing all together. Had Peter came to a quick conclusion that God was just telling him that he could eat any of those foods because God was making them clean he might have missed the connection. The Holy Spirit speaks to Peter and tells him that the men looking for him were sent there by God but does not directly make the connection to the vision. Peter was able to see a connection between the vision, the Holy Spirit's direction and the circumstance of these men coming right at the time that he had the vision because he was seeking divine understanding. Each thing on it's own may not have been as clear a message if they had not happened in the exact timing that they did. That is why when we think God is trying to tell us something we need to keep our eyes and ears open and our hearts and minds actively seeking understanding. We need to be willing to receive the confirmation through the connections in bible, prayer, circumstances and the church and not limit our understanding to our initial experience and then moving on because the understanding may only come through the confirmation as it did with Peter.