“All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”
My wife has a chocolate pie recipe from her mother that has been handed down. She remembers it being the best chocolate pie she ever had when her mother made it. The only thing is that Bevely has gone to be with Jesus and the recipe, well, it was not complete. It was lacking something and the proof was that it did not turn out like she remembered it. It was not pie but a chocolate soup of sorts. Sometimes the proof is in the pie, not in the pudding. My daughter and my wife finally got together and figured out by trial and error the past Christmas what was missing and remembered to write it down. It is now the pie that my wife remembered eating way back in the day. The right ingredients can make all the difference.
We all remember Stephen in the book of Acts because he was the first to be stoned for his faith in Jesus (chapter 7). Before this, the Bible gives us a recipe. Not for a chocolate pie, but for a Christian who is mature and acting in God’s will. The Jews who have adopted the Greek language and culture were fighting against the Jews over the bread not being distributed to widows. As hunger can do sometimes, the nastiness came out. They brought this fight to the disciples and they appointed a group of men to oversee the proper distribution of bread to the widows. Stephen was one of the members of the group. Verse 5 says that he was “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.” Verse 8 tells us that Stephen was “a man full of God’s grace and power.” Stephen was performing signs and wonders among the people and opposition arose. Verse 10 tells us that Stephen was full of the “wisdom of the Spirit” and when he spoke, the members of the Synagogue could not argue with him at all. The end result of this recipe was that under pressure Stephen had the face of an angel. All the men were screaming at Stephen, throwing lie after lie at him and when they looked at him all they saw was the face of an angel. Now that is some good pie.
Today, gather together this short recipe.
1. Exercise your faith in the Lord by reading the word of God and believing it.
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you up and to be able to hear him speaking to you.
3. Exercise grace and love people.
4. Watch the power of the Lord through the blood of Christ be displayed in your life.
Do all this and when others see you in the middle of your issues, they see an angelic peace all over you. The proof is in the pie. God has got some peace pie you need and if we look closely at Stephen, the recipe is right in front of us.
Let It Go 
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