There are lots of things happening simultaneously, Father. Help me to focus on the right areas to do what needs to be done. Amen.
Romans 16:1-16 (<<click here to read the passage)
God can bring so many things together to focus on something very important. This is my leaping point…

Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches. Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home. vs3-5a NLT

My study Bible* has this to say about that…
Priscilla and Aquila ministered effectively behind the scenes. Their tools were hospitality, friendship, and person-to-person teaching. They were not public speakers, but private evangelists. For some of the Romans, their home was used for church meetings (16:5). Priscilla and Aquila challenge us with what [we] can do together to serve Christ.
And then, I recalled that a couple of Sundays ago I shared the following illustration under the point, “God’s will is always better than our best-made plans.”
Author Gary Thomas, founder of the Center for Evangelical Spirituality, writes in Discipleship Journal: When my wife and I prayed extensively about buying a house we gave God many opportunities to close the door. God appeared to bless the move. Five years later, our house is worth considerably less than what we paid for it. “Why didn’t God stop us?” my wife and I kept wondering. After all, we had given Him plenty of opportunities. But one day as my wife was praying, she sensed God asking her, “Have you ever considered the possibility that I wanted you in that neighborhood to minister there rather than to bolster your financial equity?”
The point is that Priscilla and Aquila were just ordinary people who chose to actively live out their faith in Christ. They weren’t apostles or preachers, they simply decided to live as Christ lived. They loved people. Nothing stopped them.
A little background… We first meet them in Acts 18:1-3,

Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. They had left Italy when Claudius Caesar deported all Jews from Rome. Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was.

A little in verses 24-26 it says,

Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt. He had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he knew only about John’s baptism. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately. NLT

They loved people and served Christ to the utmost!
The last portion of notes from my study Bible* asks some very pointed questions to be contemplated by our hearts and minds.
Do we regard our families and homes as gifts through which God can accomplish his work? How might God want to use your home and family to serve him?
We need more Priscillas and Aquillas in our world!

*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation

Sept 7th, 2023, Thurs, 6:46 pm