I was reading a blog from a friend of mine the other day. He requested prayer for a conference he and a buddy would be speaking at in South Africa for 400-500 ministers this week. Their focus –
Holy Dissatisfaction: “a discontentment with anything less than God moving mightily on a daily or even hourly basis in our lives!” After hearing their stories every time I am blessed to know God is moving mightily and through beautifully humble disciples of His.
So, after reading of Holy Dissatisfaction it gave me a hope that God still wants to move mightily through His people. I went back to Acts, a book that I sorta glance over thinking I couldn’t learn anything new, but whoa! I’ve just reread the first 14 chapters over that past three days and was touched at His mighty power through the new believers. I was moved as I read the stories, laughed a few times, but mostly was saying ‘I want that!’ Here are just a few good verses that stuck out to me:
2:42 The were devoted! To the
teaching – they wanted to learn more of Him, they had a holy thirst that needed to be quenched. To
fellowship – I can only imagine, knowing God’s sense of humor, that they had good times but also quality too. They weren’t too busy for each otehr for they knew how much it meant to be together and how it built them up. To
the breaking of bread – literally the communion services to remember Jesus. I like to think they ate together too, how often do we value meal times with others as opportunities for God to eat with us, commune with us, see Him work and hear about Him? To
prayer – they weren’t forced to prayer meetings or an opening/closing prayer during a meeting. No, they knew, they lived the power of prayer in daily life.
5:33-39 This made me laugh. In verse 29 Peter tells them that “We nust obey God rather than men!” A bold statement I myself don’t make nearly as often as I should. But in the later verses as a dude named Gamaliel was trying to be smooth and have them wait to kill Peter, we see after years of Christian martyrs that this is a God thing not a mnan-made religion. So I wonder, hope, and pray that lives can begin living in a way that makes freaked out people say “But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you till only find yourselves fighting against God.”
9:15 This is when the Lord Ananias, who is afraid that Saul/Paul will arrest him, “This man is MY chosen instrument to carry MY name…” How many times do we judge the people in leadership or the ones who are actually allowing God to move mightily in them – too often, they’re easy targets. Let’s stop that. If they are chosen and working in His name then Praise the Lord! This verse was also pretty sweet when I think of Jesus sayin’ “Yeah, she’s MY instrument to carry MY name.” I wanna live with that confidence.
10:34 Simply put – God does not show favortism. Pretty cool I didn’t know that was in the Bible word for word. Alright, God doesn’t show favortism so why do we? Why do we put some people on higher platforms for whatever reasons then look at orhons kids in Africa and pity them? They…we are all sinners and He died for us all didn’t He? Sometimes knowing that we’re all equal in His eyes makes it easier for me to apporach His people with love after knowing the unconditional love He’s shown me throughout the years.
12:5 The church prayed earnestly. Earnestly: serious in intention, purpose, or effort. What role models were the people of the early church. They didn’t just post “Peter is in jail” in their weekly newletter. They prayed for real. Have we forgotten how to do that? God, I hope not. Remind us, Lord! The result of their prayers and God working mightily – Peter walked out of jail, totally cool just past the guards, not a problem at all. I wanna see that stuff happening.
13:44 Almost a whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. They didn’t come for a light show, a drama, special effects, or a really entertaining speaker – simply the word of the Lord. So precious. People, all they wanted to hear was the word of God. If that’s all it takes to draw crowds in and reach people in the name of Jesus then can we please just stick with the basics?
Ok, my prayers are with my friend in SA and with my World Race buddies ’cause that time is gonna be sweet. But now – heck yeah, the Lord’s still gonna move mightily now! Check it out – prayers for the people of Michigan, friends down south, and oh yeah, the Lord’s alreday told me that He’s gonna do A-mazing things this summer at camp.
Thank you God for being the God of yesterday, today, and tomorrow! Help show us Your mighty love in our lives.
