To Know and To Be Known
Father, enable me to keep focused on the task at hand – walking closely by Your side. May I have a listening ear and a willing heart. Amen.
Acts 10:1-8 (<<click here to read the passage)
We all know that life can be difficult…and for some of us, that is the understatement of our lives! Many of us struggle but as I’ve been told on numerous occasions, you can always find someone worse off than you. But believe you me, it is most certainly not a competition!
Regardless of where we find ourselves along the continuum of life, we must never forget that as followers of Christ, God is always by our side – with us, guiding us, encouraging us, all with a love that only He can live out in and through us!
But we also must never forget that though that is of utmost truth, that God is also diligently pursuing all those who do not know Him. Though some want nothing to do with Him as well as many who don’t believe in His existence at all – we must understand that that does not deter our loving Father. (Never give up praying for friends and loved ones, don’t give up on them for God surely hasn’t!)
But then there are also individuals in every age who want so desperately to know God – the true God. They strive to live out everything they can think of to follow Him, though they too do not know Him. And though they do not realize it, God is there for them as well, working behind the scenes, if you will, setting things in motion so that He may be known by them. He is eager and exuberant to be known!
Cornelius, the Roman centurion in today’s passage, fit into that last category. One of the many features of my Life Application Study Bible is the Personality Profiles which highlight key characters throughout the text. The one regarding Cornelius states,
Four significant aspects of Cornelius’s character are noted in Acts: (1) He actively sought God, (2) he revered God, (3) he was generous in meeting other people’s needs, and (4) he prayed. God told him to send for Peter, because Peter would give him more knowledge about the God he was already seeking to please.
Cornelius was doing all he knew to do to please a God he knew of but did not know personally. Even in his ignorance, he diligently sought out God and God instigated a connection!
The Apostle Peter was the key – though initially a somewhat reluctant one…but we’ll look at the rest of Cornelius and Peter’s story tomorrow!
Mar 29th, 2022, Tues, 6:12 pm
Lift Up Your Eyes and Look to the Heavens!
Though the beginning of this day was a little crazy with an uncooperative bus, it all panned out in the end. Thank you, Father, for Your guiding hand and watchful eye. Bless our time together. Amen.
*********
Early this morning on my high school / middle school route I saw one of the most beautiful sights! The crescent moon was setting in the east as the sun was just starting to color the horizon with a rosy hue. And to add to the beauty, the planet Venus was brightly visible to the upper left of the moon. It was stunning – and of course, I couldn’t take a picture and drive! (The above picture is Venus and the moon setting near Taos, New Mexico.)
I know I’ve written along these lines in the past, but it always takes my breath away, especially knowing Who set it all in place.
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
….Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
….and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
….not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26 NIV
My words seem so feeble to express it all! One of King David’s many psalms is glorious!
O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!
Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:1-9 NKJV
Indeed, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth! Can I get an “Amen”!
Mar 28th, 2022, Mom, 8:37 pm
Rich in Acts of Kindness
A good morning of services, Father. I am ever grateful for the ministry You have provided me. Use me to fulfill Your will as we continue on. Amen.
Acts 9:32-43 (<<click here to read the passage)
My paternal great-grandmother, Mary Virginia Fowler, was a wonderful woman of God. Her home life wasn’t the best for sure – she gave birth to 17 children and her husband said he hated them all (not a great guy)!
But that didn’t stop her from doing all she could to help others. When she died in the spring of 1953, the other side of the river in Annapolis, Maryland, where she lived, was lined in tribute by many in the black community whom she had helped in some way or another. I’m sure she didn’t have much to work with (with all those mouths to feed and bodies to clothe!) but she didn’t let that slow her down.
We may not realize it, but our acts of kindness may have a great impact on the people around us. A lot of people with that mindset are extremely hard working but are often extremely humble, as well.
In today’s passage, we shift gears from Saul back to Peter. Peter was in the coastal city of Joppa. A believer by the name of Tabitha lived there, and the Amplified Bible said she was rich in acts of kindness and charity which she continually did. v36b Tragically around that time she became sick and died. v37a
Right before this Peter had been in a community not too far away by the name of Lydda, where he had healed a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years and was paralyzed. v33 I’m sure word traveled fast and when the disciples heard that he was not far away they sent for him, urging him, “Come to us without delay.” v38
Peter left at once and was taken to the room in which they had laid her body and if that was not tragic enough, all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing [him] all the tunics and robes that (Tabitha) used to make while she was with them. v39 He sent them all out [of the room] and knelt down and prayed; then turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise!” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. v40
Of course, they all were overjoyed and because of these acts of the Holy Spirit through Peter, many came to believe in the Lord [that is, to adhere to and trust in and rely on Jesus as Christ and Savior]. v42 AMP
Yes, they saw a miracle of God which led them to believe, but like my great-grandmother, Mary, Tabitha had invested her life in others. Neither of them just talked a good talk. Their actions proclaimed their relationship with the Lord Jesus. Their diligence in service to those in need impacted them for eternity!
Lord Jesus, we may not think what we do is all that important but if we are seeking Your will and doing what we can with what we have, You will bless our efforts. Help us to be rich in acts of kindness and charity. We will be blessed, and others will be blessed, as well. And most importantly, Your name will be glorified! All praise to You, our Lord and Savior!
Mar 27th, 2022, Sun, 12:25 pm
God Has Great Things in Store for You!
I am grateful, Father, that You are always with me. It brings comfort and if I will listen, it keeps me on the straight and narrow way. Enable me to abide in You. Amen.
Acts 9:19b-31 (<<click here to read the passage)
Followers of Jesus, I would encourage you to embrace your uniqueness! So many think so little of themselves and their talents and abilities. If need be, we should be about reminding ourselves that we all are unique creations. Our loving heavenly Father made you just the way you are for a reason. And we need to live it out! Ask Him, if you’re not sure what your giftedness might be, and He will show you!
Saul was most definitely a gifted and well-learned Pharisee. He would later make it very clear where he stood in God’s eyes.
But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Galatians 1:15a NLT
God knew who he was before even he knew himself! Saul was unique. I am unique. You are unique. And God knowing all there is to know about us can use who we are to impact His Kingdom.
Saul from a young age was pretty confident in who he was but many are much less so. Take Gideon, one of Israel’s judges before there were kings. His story is found in Judges 6-8. He was just an ordinary guy, doing his best to survive in a time of great turmoil in Israel. God knew Gideon was far more capable than he thought he was. It took a fair amount of convincing but once that was accomplished, Gideon did outstanding work in the service of God by overthrowing the oppressive Midianites army. Through him, he destroyed their huge army with what ended up being a very small group of warriors, ram’s horns, and torches hidden under clay jars!
God knew who Gideon was before he even knew himself! Gideon was unique.
God did more with Saul – whom He later renamed Paul – than Saul could ever have accomplished on his own, regardless of how zealous Saul thought he was for God and His purposes
God knows me and he knows you. You may not think much of yourself, but God surely does! And God can use us – our unique selves – to accomplish great things for His Kingdom! And we can’t go by the world’s definitions of what those great things are. For as God proclaims in Isaiah 55:8-9,
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
….“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
….so my ways are higher than your ways
….and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. NLT
Trust. God. Open yourself to His will and guidance in Your life. You just never know what great things God has in store…for you…and the world!
Mar 24th, 2022, Thurs, 5:05 pm
Read What He’s Written
Dear Father, my mind is like spring! Things are popping up that I did not realize were there! May my joy continue, and may they continue to grow under the rays of the Son and the Living Water that is poured forth! Amen.
Acts 9:19b-31 (<<click here to read the passage)
I want to begin by saying that reading the Bible is very important for any follower of Jesus. There are so many things that we discover when we do so. One thing that stuck out for me were the number of songs that came to mind, especially hymns! Of course, it makes perfect sense that God’s Word would inspire so much great music. So many other genres of music have had quite a bit of inspiration from the Scriptures as well.
Reading the Bible has to be something you put your mind to. Some sections can be difficult to get through – the Old Testament books of the Law for example. Some years ago, I made a point of reading through the Bible several times over an extended period. With a 40-minute commute at the time, I also listened to the Bible on CD several times over. I am not attempting to be boastful; it is just the path that I took. I was amazed at how much that overall view of God’s Word made me aware of how many things touched each other and overlapped from Old Testament to New.
Right before I started journaling back in 2015, I switched gears and begin very methodically going through the Bible. I picked up right where I was reading at the time, which was the book of Ephesians. So instead of striving to read the entirety of Scripture as often as I could, I shifted to reading and thinking about much shorter sections of Scripture. It allowed me to go deep and not just wide.
It’s getting close to 7 years, but I still have gotten through even the New Testament! It’s been a much slower process. But honestly, both are beneficial to our growth spiritually.
The reason I speak of such things is that I learned something through today’s passage that I never knew. I heard it for the first time in my attempt to delve a bit into podcasts. I started listening to one entitled, The Early Christian Church. (I enjoyed it, though it’s probably not a topic everyone would get into.) Then I read it again in the notes of my Application Study Bible.
I never realized that Saul (later Paul) didn’t go straight from his place of conversion, Damascus, to Jerusalem! That happened three years later! Why did I not know this?!
We learn the chain of events in Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia. Following his conversion he states,
…I did not rush out to consult with any human being. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.
Then three years later I went to Jerusalem… Galatians 1:16c-18a NLT
My point simply is…read the Bible! Do what you can. Try to be consistent. Don’t feel pressured to read it all. The Gospel of John is a great place to start. The New Testament is a bit easier to get through but there are many wonderful things in the Old Testament as well.
You’d prefer seeking out a bit more depth of a smaller amount of Scripture? Get a study Bible. The Life Application one I have is great and it’s available in many different translations. Not sure which translation to use? Reach out to me and I can give you some direction.
All in all, one of the best ways to draw closer to God is to read what He’s written for us. Go for it!
Mar 23rd, 2022, Wed, 1:00 pm