In Acts 8 we read the story of Philip and the miraculous way that the Spirit connected him to him to an Ethiopian official:
The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.” Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him. The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.
The Spirit is still in the business of connecting us to others.
Pat Brown, a woman in her nineties, takes daily walks to a nearby park where she sits on a bench to rest before returning home. One evening a young man was sitting on the bench. She sat beside him. From his posture it was obvious he was in turmoil. A few minutes of silence passed. “I can see that something is troubling you,” she said. With that he poured his heart out to her.
Pat said, “I know someone who can help you.”
“Who?”
“Jesus.”
At the mention of Jesus’ name, the man reached over and took Pat’s hand. There, in the stillness of a summer’s evening, she prayed aloud for him. Pat says the Spirit gave her the words to pray for the stranger. God knows the intricate details of a person’s life. And He often connects a troubled person to someone who will understand and pray.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul asked them to pray for him that he would boldly proclaim the gospel (Ephesians 6:19,20). Don’t we all need the boldness that comes from the Holy Spirit? The boldness that enabled Pat to speak to a stranger? Some speak softly, others loudly, but all can speak freely.
The freedom to speak about Jesus doesn’t come through education or even through experience. The Holy Spirit is the One who emboldens. If we lack boldness we only need ask Him.
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Acts 4:31
____Lord God, fill me today with your Spirit and enable me to speak boldly about you.
My friend, Heather Collins, tells how the Lord taught her to expect bigger things when she prays and not to feel she was bothering God with her requests.
“I have always been intrigued by the sand dollar. On our first trip to Alabama, I searched the white sands for one – just one – sand dollar. Much to my dismay, I had to purchase one at a gift shop. On our second trip to Alabama, I scoured the sands for shells, but all I found were broken sand dollars, not a whole one to be found anywhere. The force of the waves breaks them and scatters the pieces on the beaches.
“Still, I longed for just one.”
“Sometimes we think we are bothering the Lord with selfish, trivial requests when we compare them to the really important problems in the world. So I asked Him for just one whole sand dollar. During the night, the wind was high and the next morning my husband, Pat, called me out to the beach because the waves had swept in lots of shells.
“When I walked out onto the sand, I found hundreds of whole, perfect sand dollars.
“I felt so humbled. And very loved. Then, it dawned on me – we think we have to be content with the broken pieces of our lives. When we ask, He will answer, sometimes with a surprise – more than we can ask or even think.”
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Ephesians 3:20
“My neighbour came out with her two boys who were so excited to find the sand dollars. ‘We don’t get these here often,’ she said. I told her that I had asked the Lord for them. Maybe she can also speak to the Lord and ask for a miracle.”
Heather framed the poem about the sand dollar, and surrounded it with some of the shells she found on the beach that morning as a reminder to trust God and not to be afraid to confide in Him concerning her needs.
The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Matthew 21:9 NIV
Hosanna! A celebration word that exalts God. A word of high praise. When “thank-you Lord” and “praise God” seem weak and un-satisfactory, we can dig deep and find that perfect word – Hosanna.
The crowds that hailed Jesus as the long-promised Messiah and led His procession into Jerusalem one week before the crucifixion, shouted “Hosanna!” They had watched Him relieve the afflicted of demons, raise the dead and heal many of debilitating diseases. Some had been recipients of Christ’s miracles. Others had relatives and neighbours who had once been blind and now could see. Many ate of the loaves and fishes and watched as the disciples scooped up twelve baskets of leftovers. They had sat on the hillsides for hours and heard Jesus explain what God was really like. Their hearts had burned within them as they listened. They whispered to one another, “We have never heard anyone speak like this” (John 7:46).
Joy overcame them that day on the road into Jerusalem. It had to be expressed. So they spread their coats on the ground as a carpet for Him. They snapped branches from trees and waved them in the air like flags. They danced, sang and shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Mark 11:9).
Hosanna appears only five times in the Bible. Each time it is used to praise Jesus. It is a word suitable only to Him.
Hosanna can also mean “save us” or “help us.” Do you need His help? Cry out, “Hosanna!” Is your heart filled with thanks? Shout “Hosanna in the highest Heaven!”
When Shirley Brown’s son, twelve-year-old Robbie, disappeared, she had been a Christian for little more than a year. One day, a woman approached her at the grocery store who had heard Shirley’s story on the news.
“You’re the one whose son is missing aren’t you?” she asked.
When Shirley confirmed her identity the woman said, “I’d like you to come to my house. I’m having a séance and we’ll find out where your son is.”
Shirley knew little about the occult, but she sensed a warning from God not to get involved. “My heart ached to know where my son was,” she says, “but I knew this wasn’t the route God wanted me to take.”
Shirley told the woman, “I talk to God every day and when He wants me to know where my son is He’ll tell me.”
Offended, the woman replied, “God works through spiritualists too, you know.”
People in the occult often put a holy spin on it. Some sincerely believe God is working through them, but the Bible is clear, in both the New and Old Testaments, that God’s followers must not participate in pagan rituals. When a person seeks counsel from an emissary of Satan they break the first commandment, “You must not have any other god but me” (Ex. 20:3 NLT). Information coming from psychics, fortune tellers and false prophets comes from the demonic realm of ‘other gods.’
A step into the psychic’s den is a step onto forbidden territory. King Saul’s ultimate undoing was his visit to the Witch of Endor (I Sam. 28). Moses made a list of occult practices. Through him, God warned the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land that they should not adopt any of the wicked customs of the land’s previous inhabitants. The list condemns fortune-telling, sorcery, witchcraft, casting spells, mediums and psychics. Notably, the list also includes calling forth the spirits of the dead, the reason for Saul’s visit to the witch (Deut. 18:10,11).
Saul was not ignorant of Moses’ writings. He knew better.
The occult can be tempting
The temptation to contact the dark side of the supernatural can be strong. Unholy powers promise success, money and influence, the same offerings Satan made to Jesus (Matt. 4:8). Demonic agents claim to heal, produce miracles, and to have special knowledge. These are counterfeits of the gifts the Holy Spirit gives (I Cor. 12).
People who believe all supernatural power comes from God can be fooled. Having one’s fortune told seems harmless, even fun, because Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and his followers do the same (2 Cor. 11:14). His real goal is the ruination of God’s people.
New Converts in the Bible
When revival came to Ephesus through the Apostle Paul’s preaching, converts threw their good-luck charms, books containing magic arts and other items of sorcery onto a massive bonfire. The approximate value of items burned that day was 50,000 days’ wages (Acts 19:18,19). These book-burners were seekers of truth and willing to sacrifice valuable possessions and their incomes – some made a living sculpting idols – to publicly acknowledge Jesus as Lord. This fire followed a demonstration of true signs and wonders by Paul.
The new converts recognized the difference between the Holy Spirit’s work and the devil’s counterfeit.
As we inch closer to Christ’s return we should expect an increase in demonic exhibitions. These may come from unexpected places, under the guise of culture and masquerading as goodness. God provides His followers with supernatural gifts. One of these gifts helps us discern between godly and devilish spirits. Every believer needs to exercise discernment to know the difference between a false prophet and a messenger from God.
True Spiritual Gifts
Supernatural gifts are useful for combating evil. Corrie ten Boom tells of a missionary in a Chinese prison who endured brain-washing. “He felt at the end of his strength. Then he began to pray in a special language the Lord had given him. That fellowship with the Lord was his salvation.”(1) Many who once prayed in tongues have drifted away from it. With intentional practice and prayer this gift from God can operate once again. Ironically, God’s spiritual gifts often receive more criticism than the enemy’s counterfeits. This may account for the lack of emphasis on tongues and the other gifts the Spirit gives.
No matter how desperate or lonely, no matter how pressured one feels, never, under any circumstance, should Satan or his messengers be consulted.
Not everyone exercises godly wisdom as Shirley Brown did. People make mistakes by intention or by ignorance. Satan tricked Peter the apostle. And afterwards tried to destroy him with guilt.
Jesus said to Peter and to all who fall for Satan’s deceptions, “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32a NIV). There’s freedom in this truth: Satan cannot maintain a grip on the child of God. We have the blood of Jesus for protection. His name for freedom. And our testimony as proof that we belong to Him (Rev. 12:11).
No evidence of what happened to Shirley Brown’s son has ever been found. Her journey has been a difficult one, but she made a deliberate decision to put her son, and the circumstances of his disappearance, in God’s hands. When she did that, He gave her a deep and lasting peace. No peace is found in the dark side of the supernatural.
He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ Luke 13:24, 25
These words from Jesus paint a sober picture. A closed door can send an ominous message. Noah spent 100 years building the ark and warning the people of his day that disaster was coming. They scoffed. Life would go on as it always had, they said. But one day “all the underground waters erupted from the earth and the rain fell in torrents.” When Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives were safely inside, the Lord closed the door (Genesis 7:11-16).
When God closes a door, no one can open it.
Now, the Lord’s door is open to all who choose to enter. He is sending emissaries all over the earth with the message that “today is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). At an appointed time, a time set in the future that only the Father knows, the owner of the house, the Lord God Himself, will rise and shut the door. After the door is shut the knocks and pleas from outside will not be heard.
Time is moving the entire world and everyone in it closer to the coming of Christ.
In his book, Rethinking Bible Prophecy, Dr. Gordon Atter writes,
“With Israel coming back to its homeland after being scattered throughout the length and breadth of the earth, and with the doors of opportunity for missionary work rapidly closing, we are now evidently living in the time of the overlapping of two periods, the Dispensation of Grace (the open door period) and the end-time fulfilment of Bible prophecy (when the door will close).”
Jesus said, “When you see all these things taking place, you can know that His return is very near, right at the door (Mark 13:29).
_____
Father, use me to bring others through your grace door while it is still open.
They say the soil of Uganda is so fertile you can plunge a stick into the ground and it will sprout. People have reported sprouts on fence posts. Gardeners who use wooden poles to shore up their rose bushes often … Continue reading →
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your[life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. Colossians 3:1-4
Has life left you dazed and confused? Disappointments and struggles often cause us to forget that God is writing His story in our lives. We see life as a random set of circumstances that just happen. We can’t see that God is taking the threads of our lives – even those times when we disobeyed Him and caused ourselves trouble – and that He is weaving them into a story that brings honour to Him.
The secret? Submission. Each heartache must be offered to Him. Every rebellious act requires repentance. Nothing is irrelevant if it is offered as a sacrifice to God. God doesn’t need or want our money or any other sacrifice. What He wants is us. We offer ourselves to Him by being sorry for our rebellious nature (Psalm 51:17). When we do this, God takes the broken threads of our lives and weaves them into a divine story.
God uses our experiences to make us more like Him. Thus, our story becomes His story. We are part of a large and unfolding story, His story.
What is the theme of God’s story? Love. His is a great unfolding love story. His story tells how God loved the world and everybody in it so much that He gave His most precious possession, His only Son to redeem the world (John 3:16).
Some might think Paul was faithless when he prayed in vain three times for a particular hardship to be taken away from him. Previously, God had healed Paul, opened a prison cell for him and led him through supernatural means, but this time, God declined to intervene. God made it clear to Paul that his suffering would become part of His story and a necessary lesson would be learned from it. Paul submitted his story to God’s story.
When we get caught up in God’s grand story, we become less caught up in our personal problems. Everyone who submits their lives to Christ finds, as G. K. Chesterton said, that “God is the world’s best story-teller.”
We often see our lives as boring and routine, and it is true that most days nothing too significant happens, but behind the insignificant and the random, God’s great love story is being written. Are you allowing Him to write His story in your life?
The greatest event of all time will be the wedding supper of the Lamb and His bride. This magnificent occasion will be the culmination of the divine love story. God always had in mind to provide His Son with a Bride. That Bride will be the gathering of the redeemed. A. W. Tozer wrote, “This and this alone unfolds the meaning behind all history and makes it comprehensible.” God’s grand epic is a love story.
Those whose lives are “hidden in Christ,” will join Him at that great wedding feast.
Let us be glad and rejoice and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear. For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.”Revelation 19:7-9
If you are a Christian, though your life may seem boring and routine, God is at work behind the humdrum events of your life, weaving every fact – the date and circumstances of your birth, the people who daily cross your path, the gifts and talents He has given you, and all the other facts and events in your story. He is weaving it into His grand story.
Selwyn Hughes wrote, “Don’t get caught up, I beg you, with the world’s ideas to such an extent that you forget that ‘your life is now hidden with Christ in God.’ Any life that is in Christ has a meaning that extends far beyond what is obvious from the happenings here on earth.”
The best advice for entering a new year, or for beginning any chapter in life, comes from famous missionary, Hudson Taylor.
Missionaries Jonathan and Rosalind Goforth arrived in China in March 1888. Their assignment to open a new mission in the northern section of Honan province, was a daunting one. The young couple struggled to learn the language, adjust to the climate and raise a family in primitive surroundings. They met many discouraging challenges, including the death of a child.
One day a letter arrived from Hudson Taylor, then a pioneer with China Inland Missions. It read:
We as a mission, have tried for ten years to enter that province from the south, and have only just succeeded. It is one of the most anti-foreign provinces in China. If you would enter that province, you must go forward on your knees.
Jonathan and Rosalind took Taylor’s advice. They prayed. With prayer they mastered the language. With prayer, people responded to Christ. With prayer, their need of an assistant Bible teacher for women was filled. Through births, deaths, dangers and hardships they prayed. In her book, How I Know God Answers Prayer, Rosalind wrote:
“The blessed results of this life is not only the consciousness of Christ’s presence but the reality of His presence as manifested in definite results when, in the daily details of life, matters are left with Him and He has undertaken.”
There is no better way to enter this New Year than on our knees. The Bible says about young King Hezekiah . . .
In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them. 2 Chronicles 29:3
The best way to begin a new year, and to repair what has become broken, is on our knees.
Lord, today I commit to giving you first place in my life. With your help I will make prayer an important part of each day.
So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 2 Corinthians 5:20
____________________
After many years of faithful service the ambassador to a major country was fired. His offense? He became entrenched in the politics and culture of his foreign assignment and ignored his duty to represent his home country. It all came to light when a dispute arose between his home country and the one he served in as ambassador. He was required to speak on his government’s behalf and confirm that their stance on the point in question was the right one, a reasonable expectation of a diplomat.
In a press conference, the ambassador took a bold stand against his home country and took the side of the Communist country where he served as ambassador. He had changed affiliation and seemed oblivious to his blunder. His career as a valued emissary ended in disgrace.
Paul used the analogy of an ambassador to show that followers of Jesus live in the world and speak to the world on Christ’s behalf (2 Corinthians 5:20). In addition to speaking for Him, our mission on earth is to do the acts Jesus did. As His ambassadors, we are to live as His loyal representatives. We must not forget that our real citizenship is in Heaven (I Corinthians 4:2).
Am I a loyal ambassador? When I have opportunity to speak on His behalf do I waffle? Do I compromise? The pressure to conform to the views of the world is strong. But love for Christ constrains us to make a decided commitment to remain faithful ambassadors for Him, regardless of the consequences.
A faithful ambassador for Christ does not become overly comfortable in the land of their ambassadorship and become like the diplomat who failed the test of loyalty. Taking up our assignments as ambassadors for Christ is a major part of the spiritual battle.
_____
Oh Lord, it is difficult to navigate the choppy waters of my ambassadorship. I need Your daily guidance.
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Revelation 12:11 (KJV)
Satan’s main occupation is accusing God’s children. He practices day and night, so no surprise that he is adept at it (Revelation 12:10). Satan cannot keep even one person from believing in Jesus, but by convincing us that our sins are too great for Jesus to forgive, he hopes to keep us weak and ineffective. Satan not only accuses us of sins committed, but he heaps on us all the things we have neglected or forgotten to do. His whole message is geared to drowning the believer under an avalanche of accusations.
To enable us to handle Satan’s accusations, Jesus equips us with the Blood of the Lamb, His blood. His blood is powerful enough to cleanse us from all sin, past, present and future (I John 1:7). Satan cannot prevent even one person from having their sins forgiven. All he can do is accuse. Every child of God has the right to live in victory. Jesus purchased this right for us with His blood. His blood guarantees our victory.
Are you suffering from the Accuser’s arrows? Remember Romans 8:1 – there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
God equips us to live a victorious life (Hebrews 13:21). In our own strength, we are no match for Satan’s lies and accusations. But we have a weapon that terrifies him, the nuclear bomb of spiritual warfare – the blood of Jesus Christ. By confirming that our sins are under the blood of Jesus, we humble ourselves before God and resist the devil. His accusations lose their power. We are overcomers because of the blood of Jesus (James 4:7).
_____
Jesus, thank you for your precious blood that erases all my sin and gives me power over the evil one. Because I am your child, Satan has no hold on me.
There is no better way to enter this New Year than on our knees. The Bible says about young King Hezekiah . . . 
Daily Learning the Ways of Jesus 