Acts

Opposition to Progress (Acts 17)

Acts 17:5 says:

But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

Whenever there is forward progress or whenever ground is claimed in the heavenly battle (see verse 2-4), there is invariably a demonic backlash.

Jesus won the victory over sin and death and the devil, but we are charged with enforcing it. This kicks the enemy out of where he is – in someone’s life, in someone’s house, in someone’s business – and the response is reprisals.

Now not every kind of opposition in demonic. Sometimes it is simply the consequences to your own actions. Don’t blame the devil for what is your own responsibility! It is important to discern the difference. But if you are making forward progress for God, then at some point opposition will come.

It is important to not see the enemy as people. We are called to love people as Jesus does. Opposition might come in the form of other people, but “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness.” (Ephesians 6:12). It is the spirit at work in people that we need to carefully discern and see.

When you face opposition don’t be disturbed. Jesus faced opposition, the disciples faced opposition and we face opposition today. Don’t fear, because Jesus has overcome the world and everything in it. You are being opposed because you are being used by God, you are anointed for His kingdom work, and you are His beloved. You are winning the battle, don’t give up.

PRAYER: Father, thank you for the Victory. Thank you that you are with me and with you I will overcome. Thank you for your protection and your grace to persevere and overcome. In Jesus name, Amen

What an Encounter with God looks like (Acts 9)

Acts 9:3-10 says:

³Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. ⁴And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” ⁵And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus,whom you are persecuting. ⁶But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” ⁷The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. ⁸Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision,“Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”

Have you ever had an encounter with God? Have you ever experienced a time in your life where meeting with the one true living God caused your life to be changed forever? Saul did (and became Paul). We can learn from his experience and see what an encounter with God is truly like:

Verse 3 “Now as he went on his way…” – An encounter with God can happen at any time. Be open and receptive to God, invite Him to speak to you and reveal Himself to you.

Verse 3b “a light from heaven shone around him…” – When we encounter God, it is heavens reality intersecting earth. Lift your vision and the focus of your heart from earthly things, to heavenly things.

Verse 5 “Who are you, Lord?”… “I am Jesus” – Saul recognises this is God. An encounter with God is an encounter with Jesus Christ. He is a personal and real God, not an unknown force or unseen power.

Verse 7 “The men who were traveling with him” – These men were from Saul’s previous life as a persecutor of Christians. They left him there. When you encounter God and are changed, old friends leave. Expect change.

Verse 10 ““Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” – God uses those who have already encountered God to help those He wants to encounter as well. An encounter with God never stops with you!

PRAYER: Father, I invite your Spirit and presence into my life. Convict me and change me to become more like you. FIll me with your love and power I ask in Jesus name, Amen.

** I have written an ebook on this topic. It is called How to Encounter God. The book is free for you to download and is available on my facebook page. Go here to download it – facebook.com/edevotional
If you enjoy the book, go here on my blog and leave a comment to encourage others. I appreciate it!

Preaching in the Early Church (Acts 5)

Acts 5 verse 42 says:

And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

In the early church, the apostles saw the spreading of the good news as much more than a once a week activity. Everyday they went out and told people about the good news.

This is hugely challenging to me! Should we, as disciples like the early church, not be doing the same with our week? In our busyness and with the many different competing interests we all juggle, we seem to have strayed so far from this simple approach to faith.

How do we begin the recover this? I believe earlier in this chapter we can discover a “cause and effect”

1. Acts 5:29 “We must obey God rather than men.” – Could it be that we have strayed from this core motivation that was so evident in the early church. Namely, they cared more about what God thought, than about what man thought. This attitude and approach is subtle and found through out the modern church. Reverse it, and we begin to see fruit…

2. Acts 5:14 “And more than ever believers were added to the Lord” – this is the effect of the above conviction. When we get our hearts right before God, and become sold out to His agenda, we will see the multitudes added to our number once again.

PRAYER: Father, I ask you to forgive me for caring more about pleasing the world than about pleasing you. I renounce all agreements with the world and surrender myself to you. Use me, give me opportunities to speak your truth and share your love each day. In Jesus name, Amen.

Impacting the World at the Beautiful Gate (Acts 3)

Acts Chapter 3 verse 4 – 10 says:

And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Peter and John were going to the temple to pray, but along the way an opportunity arose for them to famously encounter a young man with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Often we believe we don’t have time to “witness”, or we are not good evangelists and so we leave the great commission to others. But from this account we can learn much about HOW you and I can impact the world like Peter and John did with the man at the Gate Beautiful.

“Look at us” verse 4 – In a busy world, there are countless voices competing for attention. But, like Peter and John, believers today need to grab the attention of the world decisively and boldly. Why? Because we have good news to tell!

“Expecting to receive something” verse 5 – The world has an expectation about the church; you need to give me something. It might not be an unreasonable expectation, even when what we offer might not be what they are expecting.

“…But what I do have I give to you” verse 6 – You can only give what you’ve got. What we’ve got is the miracle working, life transforming, power of Jesus within us!

“…he took him by the right hand and raised him up” verse 7 – Often for people to receive Jesus they need a hand up. The outcome of a life transformed by God is dancing, leaping and praising God. But to get there, it takes a step of faith; an attempt to stand after sitting for so long.

“…and they were filled with wonder and amazement” verse 10 – The result of faith and power of God uniting together is a miracle that leaves crowds of people in awe and amazement. “What happened to him?” “GOD happened to Him!!”

So may it be with you and I as we venture into the world this week, in the power of the Holy Spirit!

PRAYER: Father, thank you for your word. May it transform my thinking and expectation of you in my life. Not just for my benefit, but for the benefit of the world around me. I ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

Paul’s Discipleship School (Acts 19)

Classroom

Acts 19:9-10 says:

… he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

This is Paul’s discipleship school in Ephesus. The disciples gathered daily for discussions about the kingdom of God (v8). This was not short or casual event – it went on for two years!

But the result of this was phenomenal. All the Jews and Greeks in the area heard the Word of the Lord.

That is an incredible result! An entire multi-nation region (as it was known then) was covered with the preaching of the gospel. Why? Because a group of disciples of Jesus met and gave their lives over to His Kingdom cause.

The outworking of discipleship is always the expansion of the Kingdom of God. True discipleship always has an outlet and an impact upon other people’s lives, and that in turn upon an entire region.

Accumulating knowledge is not enough. That is not true discipleship. If knowledge was all it took to transform cities, this most knowledgeable generation would’ve surely created heaven on earth!

True discipleship, on the other hand, is about an embodied gospel-wrought change being released into the world to bring about like transformation in other people and places.

What is in your world is your discipleship touching and changing?

PRAYER: Lord, thank you for your word that tells us such wholesale transformation is possible. Lord, let me see this in my life and in my community! I ask you in Jesus name, Amen.

Saved By Grace (Acts 15)

Grace

Acts 15:7-11 says:

7 After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; 9 and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”

Some of the Jewish believers from Pharisaical backgrounds were beginning to make demands that the Gentile Christians be circumcised. Peter however stands up and rightly refutes this on the basis that all “are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus” (verse 11).

We do well to reflect on the fact that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that “it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” And because of that it is a precious thing indeed.

When it comes to salvation, God’s grace is His gift to us and it is by faith that we access and receive that gift. Circumcision – or any other requirement beyond our faith – no longer makes grace God’s gift and instead makes it something we earn or attain through our works.

Every other religion in the world teaches this. If you are good enough, or strive hard enough, or are devout enough, THEN you will attain salvation (or whatever else it may offer).

But Peter rightly points out, that trying to live up to God’s standards in order to be saved is actually a “yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear” (verse 10).

The good news is that God GIVES us His grace through the life and work of His Son Jesus. If you don’t feel worthy of God’s salvation, it’s because you are not! None of us are on our own merits. We are all fallen and broken people in need of God to save us.

The other part of the good news is that God extends His gift of grace to all, because we all are in need of Him.

Have you received God’s gift to you of salvation?

PRAYER: Father God, I come to you in need of salvation. I confess my sin and my need for forgiveness. I ask you to forgive me and cleanse me of all my sin. I give my life to you and ask you to be Lord of it. I will follow you in obedience and submission. I thank you Father, in the name of Jesus, Amen.

If you prayed that prayer, please let me know in the comments – I’d love to encourage you in your faith!

Acts

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