Tues. Devo - Spreading Like Wild Fire!

Read Acts 8
Stephen has been stoned and Saul is empowered with righteous indignation to get rid of all Christians. Persecution spread throughout Jerusalem and the Christians scattered to neighboring towns. (God knows how to get the word out.) Saul broke into homes and dragged believers to jail.
Phillip ended up in Samaria and began ministering to the Samarians. Many were brought to salvation through the things Phillip preached and seeing the miracles that he did. One of the converts was Simon who was the town sorcerous. When word got to the apostles in Jerusalem that revival was falling on the Samaritans, they sent Peter and John to witness what was going on. When they got there they prayed for the new converts to receive the Holy Spirit. When they did there must have been an evident sign because Simon was so impressed that he offered them money to be able to do this himself. Peter rebuked him pretty badly and Simon repented. He just didn't understand the things of the spirit yet.
The apostles go back to Jerusalem and Philip has an encounter with an angel. It tells him to go south to Gaza, which was in the desert. He did and it just happened that an Ethiopian eunuch of the queen of Ethiopia had come to Jerusalem to worship. He was on his way back to Ethiopia reading Isaiah aloud in his chariot. God told Philip to go close to his chariot and listen. He heard what he was reading and asked him if he understood it. The Ethiopian said, "how can I with no one to teach me." He asked Peter to join him in the chariot and help him to understand. He was reading Is. 53 about how a man would come to earth one day and die a violent death for our sins. Philip told him how Jesus was this man whose life and death was described in this passage. The Ethiopian not only believed but wanted to be baptized right then. They stopped the chariot and baptized him and as soon as Philip brought him out of the water God translated Philip 40 miles away. He preached his way to Caesarea. The Ethiopian man took the good news to Ethiopia.
God has unique ways to get his good news passed around. This chapter is such an encouragement of how God weaves people in our lives for "God encounters". I wonder what would have happened if Philip wouldn't have listened when God told him to go to the desert. Who is in the desert? God knew. Lord, help us to be that sensitive that when you tell us some bizarre thing.

Monday's Devo - Stephen beget Saul

Read Acts 7
If you want to give someone a synopsis of the Old Testament this chapter is the ticket. Stephen takes us through the scriptures from
Abraham to Jesus showing the religious council how God has dealt with his people and how God's people have dealt with God. He was doing fine till he got to verse 51, then he lets them have it. They resist the Holy Spirit and are no different from the fathers who went before them. He reiterates what Jesus said about the religious leaders, they have the law but do not keep it. They have head knowledge but their hearts are far from God - hardened. They were pretty upset, but Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit looks up and God opens up heaven to him. He sees the glory of God and Jesus sitting next to him. When he tells them what he sees they go balistic and take him out of the city and stone him. They lay their clothes at the feet of young Saul, a Roman officer. Stephen dies calling upon Jesus to receive his spirit and forgiving his slayers.
The devil might have taken Stephen but it cost him dearly because God stole Saul from his camp and Saul carried on Stephen's ministry with even more boldness. Interesting that Saul started his ministry with the same vision Stephen left with.
When it looks like the devil has won...there is always the rest of the story. Jesus always triumps over sin. May we remember what God has done in the past and have faith for the future.

Sunday's Devo - He Passed Over

Today we celebrate Easter in our churches. Everywhere pastors will be preaching about the Ressurection and the Cross. God gave me a peek into a closer look of the cross the other day. I thought I blogged about it but when I went to find it I couldn't so today is the perfect day. I was reading in Matt 27:45 about when Jesus was being crucified and darkness fell across the whole land from the 6th to the 9th hour. This searcing led me to Psalms 18 where David is prophetically speaking for Jesus. He is feeling the anquish on the cross. Death is closing in on Jesus and ungodly men are terrorizing him. In his distress he cried out to his father who bent the heavens, clothed himself in darkness and came down to be with his son during his final hours on the cross. He rode on a cherib and hid himself in thick clouds. He had to fight through hail and coals of fire with his arrows. As soon as God's tangible presence left and it was light again, Jesus cried out, "My God, why have your forsaken me." and died. God hadn't really forsaken him, he had just visibly left. Jesus felt everything like we do and after a "close encounter" we feel abandoned. God promised Jesus he would never leave him or forsake him just as he promises us. At the first Passover, the Lord passed over Egypt and received the sacrifice of those who applied the blood on the doorposts. The Lord passed over Jesus and received the sacrifice and the blood on "The Door" and brought life to all who would enter into this door and find safety.
Lord, we can not thank you enough for sending your son to die for us and save us from death. May we be faithful to bring others into the shelter of that door.

Saturday's Devo - Ashes to Beauticians

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days,...to give light upon the earth." Gen 1:24-25
I went to get my hair cut this week and was reminded of my beautician when I first moved to Monroe. I was newly-wed and money was pretty tight. I found a lady who lived a mile from my house and her shop was in her home. She was around my age and pretty raw. Her language was very raw. I didn't witness to her with my mouth, but what I didn't say spoke volumes to her. I would pray for her all the time. Little by little I noticed a change in her speach and her attitude. After about a year of going to her she was telling me she was going back to church. Her life turned around and she came back to Jesus. She ended up moving and I had to find a new beautician. I decided to go to Kim, my arobic instructor who was in beauty school. She was such a beautiful girl and I was intimidated by her looks, but she was intimidated by my God. I kept going even though it was uncomfortable for both of us. She was not walking with God and as far as I was concerned: unsaved. When she graduated she opened up shop in a prestigious beauty shop and I had to pay a lot more to have her cut my hair, but she always gave me a discount because I had used her while she was a school. She quit after a few years to spend more time at home with her family and I didn't see her for years. Our city started a Bible Study Fellowship and they were having teas around the city to get people informed and signed up. God kept telling me to call and invite her. I finally couldn't fight God any longer and picked up the phone and called her. I was so nervous but I just told her God would not let me alone till I envited her to a tea. She was blown away but thanked me. I wasn't able to attend the bible study but Kim ended up going to it for years. Everytime I ran into her she would thank me. It revolutionized her life forever.
I have witnessed this same change in my beautician I go to now, many of my employers over the years, and people I work out with. We truly are lights that God lifts up to give light to the earth. The people in Matt. 26:73 knew Peter had been with Jesus because of his speach. It wasn't his accent they were talking about. It was the lack of curse words, the compassion in his voice, something that set him apart as different. We carry Jesus inside us everywhere we go. Let's pour Him out on everyone. I feel redundant in saying this but it's just the gospel truth! Go let your light shine!

Friday's Devo - You are the Light of the World

Read Acts 6
The church is growing daily and Satan can't stand it so he sends in a little fox: the spirit of division. The Grecians are complaining that their widows are not being treated as well as the Hebrew widows. The 12 disciples recognize the distraction and realize they need help with serving the people. They bring in 7 men with good reputation and full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to do this. The disciples go back to their job which is praying and teaching the Word. Taking care of widows is not the only thing these 7 men did. Stephen was one of them and he did great miracles and wonders. Stephen was so powerful in his witness that the leaders in the synagogue rose up to resist him. The only thing was, they couldn't argue against the wisdom of God in Stephen. So they hired men to falsely accuse Stephen of blasphemy. These men caused such a ruckus that Stephen was finally brought before the council. They accused him of changing the customs of Moses and all of a sudden Stephen's face shone just like Moses' did.
I believe that as the day's get darker and the distinction of black and white becomes more defined we will actually shine God's glory visibly. God is pouring out his spirit once again and the church is going to grow explosively. When this happens persecution will come because the devil hates revival. He will send division, false accusations and any fiery dart he can throw. We need to remember that our enemy is NOT flesh and blood, but principalities and powers and anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of the truth. God has given us armor to protect us and the Sword of the Word to fight the powers of evil. Our weapons are not carnal, but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. May your church be blameless and harmless in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom we shine as lights in the world; holding the word of life; that we may rejoice in the day of Christ, that we have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. Phil. 2:15

Thurs. Devo - Setting the Prisoners Free!

Read Acts 5
This is a long chapter, but an exciting one. It starts out with the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira that lied to the Holy Spirit about how much they sold a piece of land for. It reminds me of the priests of Zadok who offered strange fire to God. They were slain too. (Interesting note, most historians think the Sadducees came from the line of Zadok.)
When God cleanses his temple holiness remains. The people were filled with fear and awe of God. And the fear of God brings the presence of God. The disciples were performing miraculous signs and wonders and word was getting around. The people brought their sick and lined them on the street so that the shadow of Peter would fall on them. People were healed and evil spirits were cast out of them.
Needless to say the religious officials were not happy. Filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles for maybe.... littering?!? They didn't even have to spend the night in jail because the angel of the Lord came and opened the gates of the jail and told them to go back to the Temple and give the people this message of life.
Meanwhile, back at the council. They went to get the apostles to question them and they were gone - without posting bail. Not only were they gone but the gate was still locked and guards had been there all night. When would this madness end? They got news the apostles were back at the Temple teaching. This had to be a slap in the face to the leaders of the religious community. They were totally losing control of their system and didn't know what to do. They had always managed to keep the people afraid of them and now the tables were turning.
So they go back to the Temple and arrest the apostles again and bring them in for questioning. "Didn't we tell you to stop preaching in Jesus name?" So once again the apostles get to proclaim the truth about who Jesus is to the council. They are furious, especially about the part where they are responsible for killing Jesus. They want to kill the apostles but take the advise of a very wise member named Gamaliel. He councils them to let God decide if the apostles are telling the truth. So they beat the apostles and send them away with a threat to stop preaching. The disciples leave ecstatic that they were able to suffer for the name of Jesus. Instead of quieting them down it boosted them to preach even more.
I can't help but associating the religious council with the council of Satan. I can see the same thing happening in the unseen world of the spirit. They had always been able to intimidate these men, but now these men have power and the devil and his demons are scrambling. They need some new strategy because things have changed. We have this same power available to us. Let's use it to set the prisoners free and arrest the devil.

Wed. Devo - Baptize us with Boldness

Read Acts 4
In the first two verses, look at what the religious sector got mad at Peter and John about:
1) they taught the people
2) they preached the resurrection from the dead through Jesus
The priests were the only ones who were suppose to be the teachers.
The captain of the temple was suppose to be sure no one violated the laws of the temple like false teachers. And the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. So everyone was offended. The problem was that the people loved what Peter and John had to say and the council could not deny this man was healed. They had known this blind man too and couldn't do anything for him. Now John and Peter healed him and had gained the heart and ear of the people.
Jealousy is a powerful evil that leads to murder. They took John and Peter and put them in a holding place to keep them silent till they could meet and decide what to do with them. Meanwhile, 5,000 people had heard the truth about Jesus and believed.
Since it was the feast of Pentecost all the high priests were in Jerusalem. The only people that Jesus attacked were the religious people. It is no coincidence that God chose this time to start pouring out his spirit and working wonders. It was an attack on the religious system of the day.
So the next day they bring Peter and John out and start their questioning. I can imagine the intimidation of speaking before all the high priests at once. But since they had been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit they were not intimidated and boldly proclaimed the gospel. Verse 13 says that the council marveled at their boldness and the fact that they were unlearned and ignorant men, but their speech portrayed that they had been with Jesus. And with the proof standing right there with them, they were defenseless. They finally decided to tell Peter and John not to talk about this anymore. (What a joke!) Peter and John thought so too and refused to be silent about the truth. So the council threatened them and let them go. Peter and John went back to their disciples and told them what the chief priests had said. They praised God and prayed for even more boldness to proclaim Jesus. God answered with shaking the place and filling everyone there with the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus died he prayed that his church would be one. They unified in heart and spirit. They brought their earthly possessions and shared with one another till noone lacked.
This is a picture of the revival God wants to bring to the church. He longs to pour out his Holy Spirit on his body so they will go out in boldness and preach Jesus, pray for the sick and give. Let it be.