Thanks, Heather, for the comment on chapter 15. Great insight. I think that the work of the Holy Spirit is so evident in the book of Acts. These people depended on the Holy Spirit for so much because the need was so great. People were getting thrown into jail for just talking about Jesus!!! People were beheaded and beaten just because they said they hung out with Jesus!!! You depend on the gifts of the Holy Spirit when you live in times like those. I wonder what miracles we would see if we depended on the Holy Spirit now??? It's funny what becomes important when you are in needy times. I lived thru a short war in Nigeria and we lived by what God told us EVERY DAY - from day to day. My parents would meet with the other missionaries and have a prayer meeting EVERY morning and ask God whether to go or to stay and EVERY day we obeyed. Finally the Lord told them it was ok to go and then we left!!! But the whole 6 weeks we lived thru the war we were taken care of and protected. It was a great witness to the Nigerians living around us. All the other missionaries in the area fled - but God told us to stay - and He protected us.
In Chapter 16 I read the few verses about the girl that was demon possessed and making money for a fortune teller. I love how the Lord delivered her! She was bugging Paul so much that he turned to her and said "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And instantly it left her!!!" Then her master was angry because she could no longer be a fortune teller and make him money so he had Paul and Silas dragged to the authorities. Then they were stripped and beaten - severely beaten - and thrown into jail!! Wow - one good deed leads to being beaten and getting thrown into jail! The more I read this book, the more I realize these people had to have a purpose and a boldness that drove them to continue to preach in the middle of these terrible circumstances. THAT is the Holy Spirit!!! This is where Paul and Silas start praising God and singing and the prison is shaken and they are set free!!
OK - now, just one verse in chapter 17 - 28 "For in Him we live and move and exist.......we are His offspring." This verse is in a messge Paul was speaking in Athens. These people were worshipping a god and he introduced them to THE God!
What story speaks to you???
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oops - accidentally posted this on yesterday's, but meant it for today's. I need a nap! And it's only 9am. =P
Purpose and boldness every day. Wow. I want to live each day ON PURPOSE. Sometimes I wonder what it will take to shake me... to shake my city... to shake my country... to shake my world... I feel so complacent (sp?)compared to these chapters of Acts. I want to be radical! Does it take constant persecution or hardship to become radical? I sure hope not. I want to live that way even when all around me seems quite hunky dory, you know?
The reason is that there is a city surrounding me that looks all hunky dory but is actually dying... diseased in sin... hurting...
Really, what the Lord has been showing me through these passages is that having a LOVE for people and the way of the Lord will help me live in purpose and boldness. Lord, teach me your love! But I also need to make sure I am seeing things with the Lord's eyes, not my own. If the disciples looked at the world with natural eyes, they would not maybe have had that drive, initiative, boldness. But through the Lord's eyes... things sure look different... Truth is revealed. And that is emboldening. (sp?) Does someone want to get me a dictionary? hehe
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