Weekly Devotion

A lot can happen in a week. Last week in Acts 12, the church witnessed Paul and Barnabas preaching to enthusiastic worshippers. One week later in Acts 13, the church in Antioch experienced a sifting of doubters from the true believers. Paul and Barnabas would take the real followers to start a church that would endure for nearly 500 years.

Prayer comes in many forms. Some of us pray formal prayers. Some pray only in church. Others, pray whenever necessary. God hears and answers all our prayers, but rather than changing His heart, prayer aligns us with His will. British Pastor, Charles Spurgeon often talked about the engine room in the basement of his church. Spurgeon would take visitors to a room where about 300 people would be involved in continuous prayer. He called it the “powerhouse of this church.”

In Acts 10, we saw the veil lifted off of the apostle Peter’s eyes as God showed him the real truth. “What God has made clean, do not call common,” He said. Peter first interpreted the lesson of the unclean relation to food or even animals, but as his eyes were opened, he came to know that God was talking about people. All are equal under God. Despite this revelation to Peter, many of his followers still had their doubts.

God has a habit throughout all of scripture of using the most unlikely individuals to do his work. He makes no exceptions. We all know sincere, spirit-filled people who are humble, who draw no attention to themselves. These people don’t crave attention or glory. They are purpose-driven. There is another version of spiritual people who are also purpose-driven, but they have self-gratifying motivations. One version is blind, one is not.

This chapter begins with persecution following Stephen’s execution and ends with glorification. The early followers of Jesus in Judea and Samaria went from jubilation of the empty tomb to systematic attacks from Paul.

Just when we think we’re good enough, God reminds us to think again. When we think we’re righteous enough, God shows us that, apart from our Savior Jesus Christ, we’re not. When we think we’re better, superior, or blessed over others, God points us to the truth. Acts 10 is a turning point for Gospel application in this world.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve always enjoyed deep conversations with Pastors. As a kid, my best friend’s Dad was a Presbyterian minister. He taught me so much about faith and life. As I grew more confident in my faith, our conversations matured too. I consider myself friends with my current Pastor and I love to commend (and sometimes kid) him about his messages. I have also enjoyed open friendships with the pastors at our former church before we moved. The dynamics were different, but I’ve been blessed by the teachings, wisdom, and gifts from each one of them.

One of my closest friends since moving to our new home happens to have the same great taste in football teams as I do. Without mentioning any cities or mascots, I’ll just say, “Go Big Blue.” One important principle that many Jesus followers forget is the art of love. I’m not talking about food, vacation spots, TV shows, or even sports teams, I’m talking about loving the way that God commanded us and showed us.

One Christmas Eve, we were testing out a brand new sound system at our church. At the time, it was cutting edge. It was fully controllable by an iPad. The only problem is that the tablet hadn’t arrived yet. As the point person for the audio-visual, it meant that I had to control the soundboard and all the mics manually from a small room between the Sanctuary and the social hall. Since I couldn’t see what was going on during the service, I had to go back and forth to get my cues and put them into action.

The older I get, the less likely I want to learn from other people, especially younger ones. Yes I sound like a curmudgeon, but it happens to everyone. When it comes to learning more about the Holy Spirit in people’s lives however, I thirst for knowledge. God works through all of us differently because He knows what we’re capable of and where our weaknesses are. He knows what we will be as a finished product. So everyone’s story is equally interesting and powerful.