Tag Archive | Holy Spirit

Acts 8 – are you tuned to the right frequency ?

Sep16

Good evening y’all. Today we are studying chapter 8 of the book of Acts.

In this chapter we see Saul persecuting the church and in spite of the persecutions we see how the church is progressing.

Below are few points I got from the chapter.

Be blessed 🙂

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– Even though they were faced with persecution, and as a result got scattered all over the world, the believers still continued to preach about Jesus. They made sure that wherever they found themselves, they spoke about Jesus: even if it lead to persecution.
I ask myself, “what am I doing with Jesus?” Am I keeping Him to myself; or am I living my life in such a way that it preaches Jesus to those around me?

– The believers were so full of the Holy Spirit such that their lives made an impact everywhere they went. They felt the impact and the presence of God through Phillip in the city. Verse 6 – 8 says : 

“Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed.  So there was great joy in that city” (NLT).

I want to be full of the Holy Spirit. I want His full reign in my life so that my life can be impactful and lead others to Jesus.

– The gift of God cannot be bought, and that’s why it’s a gift. Simon assumed he could buy the gift. What amazed me about him was that he had accepted Jesus in His life but he didn’t fully understand what he had accepted and his past was still following him. I can see why Romans tells us to renew and be transformed cos it’s possible to proclaim Jesus yet our past still has a hold on us.

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Rom 12: 2 NLT)

– Simon’s motive was wrong for wanting the gift. He wanted to be famous again, since he used to be famous and performed miracles before the apostles came.
What is our motive for the things we desire? Do you want the best voice so that the crowd can applaud you and praise your voice, yet your worship has not touched God at all (your heart was far from him and  it was all a show)? Let’s check our motives today. I’m reminded of Psalms 19 : 13- 14 and Psalms 139: 23 -24

“Keep your servant from deliberate sins!
    Don’t let them control me.
Then I will be free of guilt
    and innocent of great sin.

May the words of my mouth
    and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer”  (Ps 19: 13 -14 NLT)

“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
    and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Ps 139: 23-24 NLT)

– Phillip was obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit. He was instructed to go somewhere and he left immediately without hesitating.  Phillip’s job was to help the eunuch understand the scripture, thereby leading to his salvation. Do we yield to the Spirit’s leading or do we choose to do things our way? Are we sensitive enough to hear His voice?  My Pastor said something that stuck with me: ” … Just as you have to tune your radio to the right frequency in order to get the station you want, it’s the same with us and God. We have to tune our ears to His frequency so that we constantly hear from Him”.

– The Eunuch had a open heart to learn. He desired to to know more about the Messiah and God sent him help. This shows that if we truly seek God, we will find Him. He will always reveal Himself to us.

Prayer:
Dear Lord thank You for today. We thank You for Your Holy Spirit. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will fill us afresh; we pray for grace to be courageous and bold; we pray for grace to yield ourselves completely to the leading of the Holy spirit; and that our ears will be constantly tuned to You. Please remove anything in our lives that will hinder the work of the Holy Spirit. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus’ Name we have prayed. Amen

Thanks for joining. Pls feel free to share your thots on the chapter 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

Acts Chapter 5 & 6

Sep14

Good morning y’all. Happy Monday :). Today I’m doing a combination of chapter 5 and 6.

In chapter 5 we see the story of Ananias and Saphirra who both lied to the Holyspirit. In chapter 6 we see the first conflict arise in the church and the persecution Stephen experienced.

Be blessed 🙂

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Acts 5
I was particularly interested in the story of Ananias and his wife Saphirra. Initially I was condemning them and thinking how can you be so stupid and do such but then I asked myself are you sure you don’t do the same?

So here are my thots on Ananias and Saphirra.

– Ananias wasn’t forced by the apostles to sell his land. He chose to do so of his own accord. Evidence of this is found in verse 4 where Peter said to him, “… you chose to sell the land by your own will, so why are you lying?”

“The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!” (Acts 5:4 NLT)

Perhaps he felt pressured to sell the land because others were selling and giving off their things so that everyone could have. Verse 36-37 of chapter 4 tells of a Barnabas who sold his land…

“For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles”.
(Acts 4:36-37 NLT)

So basically he did what we call “follow  follow” or following the crowd….He didn’t have any conviction to do it, but just because others were, he decided to do it. His motive wasn’t right at all.

If you don’t have conviction to do something, please don’t do it just because others are. When it becomes tough you won’t be able to see it through.

Perhaps it suddenly occurred to him the impact of selling the land (that they would miss out on it’s financial gain) and so decided that they can’t go through with giving all the proceeds.

– Sin always looks for a partner. His wife was his co-partner in the crime and they both enjoyed the consequences together. Women are we the voice of reason for our husbands or we are the ones pushing them to sin? Proverbs 14:1 comes to mind, which says, “… a wise woman builds her home and a foolish one destroy it… ” I feel Sapphira did the latter.

“A wise woman builds her home, but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands”. (Proverbs 14:1 NLT)

In all of this it’s easy to condemn them but I wonder how many of us are actually guilty of the same offence in some form or the other. Those times we cheat and skive off work yet we claim we worked the full hours, the change we keep when we are sent on errand and we say, “well, I’ll give a round figure: a couple of pennies or pounds won’t hurt.”  God is watching us. Had Ananias known he won’t get a chance to repent, perhaps he would have thought twice about lying.

May God help us be honest in our dealings when people are watching and when they are not.

Acts 6
In this chapter,  the church experienced their first conflict. Prior to this, Luke had been painting a picture of a perfect unified loving church. It just goes to show that conflict is inevitable no matter how close and loving a group is. The key thing is how we respond to the conflict.

Few points from the way the apostles handled the conflict.

– The apostles didn’t ignore the issue by saying it’s irrelevant …blah blah. No, they paid attention and acknowledged there was an issue on ground that needed to be resolved. It might have not been important to them but they realised it was important to their members. A good leader will listen to his/her followers; take on board their concerns and look for ways to resolve them effectively so peace and unity can continue to reign.

– They didn’t try to resolve and do everything on their own. A good leader knows how to delegate to others. For the apostles they had other things to do but that didn’t stop them from delegating and assigning all the other tasks to their members. There are some leaders who want to do it all and in the process they struggle and eventually burn out. The apostles understood there was no way they could focus on preaching the word and prayer while also trying to make sure all the widows and children are dealt with accordingly so they delegated.

– Note they didn’t impose on the people the 7 delegates. They asked the people to select them. They empowered their followers by giving them the criteria for the people that can do the job and then asked them to find the people.

– The apostles emphasised the reason they couldn’t take on this role themselves. It wasn’t because they were lazy or felt too proud to be involved with food distribution to widows rather it was so they could focus on the word and prayer. This was their first assignment. They couldn’t afford to be distracted from doing what God has commissioned them to do. Some leaders avoid responsibility because they feel they are too big to do such. They are full of themselves whereas Jesus taught us the opposite. He said we should be servants . A good leader will not have an issue serving his or her followers.

I pray God gives us a servant’s heart; and the wisdom to know when to delegate and when to take on responsibility. I also pray that we will not get distracted from our calling but we would remain focused on that which we have been called to do, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Thanks for joining today. Pls feel free to share your thoughts on the chapter.

I’m blogging through the book of Acts a chapter a day with Good morning girls. Check us out at http://www.goodmorninggirls.org

***With God all things are possible***