Acts 28:17-31
Have you ever noticed how God works in mysterious ways? I never cease to be amazed when I look back and see how God works things out perfectly. Go figure. Well Paul's situation definitely fits into the "mysterious ways" category. Paul could never have never planned his circumstances in Acts. Yet, they were just right and helped Paul's ministry. Think about it. Getting arrested took Paul right to the heart of Rome. It got him in front of a select audience, gave him a platform to boldly present the Gospel to the Roman and Jewish leaders, it highlighted his message and all the while he was protected. Kind of cool how God arranged things so nicely.
So knowing that God is in control, how do we recognize and accept that what God has for us is, in fact, right for us and then live it out to the fullest? Tami W.
I believe it takes maturity in Christ to live a full life. Paul knew where his strength and courage lay, he knew his role with Christ and he feared no one. That's where I want to be. I don't want to be tossed to and fro like the waves of the sea but to have my feet firmly planted on the rock of the Lord.
I also noticed how Paul accepted what God had for him (the good and even the rough circumstances) because he knew that God would deliver him through it all. He was eager to serve the Lord and go wherever the Holy Spirit led him- he didn't try to finagle the situations but he submitted wholly to Him. Paul is a wonderful lesson for me and I pray that I walk and live like God would have me to do.
In order to be used by God, as our steps are ordained by Him, we always need hearts, minds, and lives that are open and available to Him! Nobody we come into contact with in life is by accident - it was divinely arranged by the Lord. Let the love of Jesus shine through all His children!
THat is where I'm at, right now, in "the heart of Rome", with a captive audience. In the flesh, it's never more frightening, but in the Spirit, this is such a vital, vibrant and important place to be. Amen. I'm finally where God wants me. PTL!
God has worked in mysterious ways in my life many times. Just when I think HE is not there or things seem terriably wrong HE comes through. My husband is a pastor and we have had many struggles with our present church. We will be moving to a new church at the end of June so the struggles I know will change.
I feel like my husband and I have lived it. I look back all the time at things that didn't go my way, but God's way! My husband underwent treatment for Hep C (that he contracted through a blood transfusion as a newborn) at the same time I had a very difficult parent of one of my students to deal with. I had secretly hoped that God would send the family to a different school the following year, but He did not. That following year the difficult mother and her husband shared that he was going to start on treatment (they had not known about my husband's condition). As I shared our story with them, her heart changed and I was able to minister to them. I was so thankful that God used me in this way!
I know the same is going to happen with my husband losing his job. God wants my husband in a different place now. Hopefully there is someone else God needs to use him to minister to! Consequently, that is what happened at his former job. He quit a "tenured" position to go where he was just let go from. There is a 4th grade teacher who felt he could live a moral life without God. My best friend ended up teaching at this same school. The 4th grade teacher and my best friend are dating and we are introducing that 4th grade teacher to a relationship with Jesus, not just the "religion" he was brought up in. It is so awesome to watch God work!
For the past three months my life has been to walk by faith and not by sight, for if I walked by sight I would be destitude at this point. My wife left me, and I am unemployed; not to mention I'm in college on line. This left me without a home as well, and no food; as well as not being able to make my car payment. Our church stepped in and put me up in a motel for a month, gave me food and gas for my car. At the end of that month, just when everything looked bleek and I thought I'd be on the streets. God stepped in and gave me a check to make a car payment, gave me a place to live with a family from the church, and food. Today I am leaving for a men's retreat for the weekend, I know God has something for me this weekend. By going through all this I have learned to not rely on the things of this world, and let God direct my path completely. I know that he designed all this before I was born, so I pray and wait on his comand. My life is a testimony to his great works and existance, grace and mercy. When someone asks "how do you know that God exists?" All I have to say is look at my life, know how many times I should have died either by my own doing or others; yet I still wake up everyday to do his work whenever he asks. I breath, therefore he is. Nothing else could ever explain my existance, for I am living the life of Paul.
Wherever we are, whatever the circumstances, God is there. He is with us through it all. He gives us opportunities, wherever we are, to point those around us to Himself. Paul looked beyond his circumstances to prove the existence of Jesus as Messiah to the Jews, using Scriptures that they knew. That is a great example for us too - use what people already know to draw them to Christ. Knowing that God is in control means that He will use our efforts to His glory - feeble as we may be. Praise God!
I KNOW that God is in control, because His Word declares it...and I believe His Word. However, it's not until I walked in His ways and followed His leading that I could KNOW with all my heart that His way is perfect. His Word declares that He Knows the plans He has for us.....and while I can't always see the plan, I can trust Him for He has proven Himself trustworthy in my life. There is a song that I heard a few years ago....about trusting God's heart when you can't see His hand....I have learned to trust the heart of God, things that have been revealed through His Word. These are the truths that carry me through when everything around me is upside down.
Nobody we come into contact in life is by accidenta s Ed notes. God is in charge and if we keep in His Word and trust Him we will reap the fruits. We have read some of those today in the blog. God is faithful and just. We are the ones who change so do not allow anyone to lead us astray. Keep in the Word and be faithful to our Lord.