Read New Testament in Three Months - November 15 - Acts 17 - 19

Read New Testament in Three Months

November 15 - Acts 17 - 19

So much is shown to us in these chapters as we read the acts of the apostles and disciples. We see where women are becoming acknowledged more in a positive light. There was no denying that Jesus held women in high regard and we see this growing through the disciples. We see the many women who were added to believers, and the fellowship that lasted years with Paul and Priscilla and her husband, Aquila. We also read about the anointing that was so strong on Paul that people were healed by handkerchiefs or towels that had been on his body and laid upon the sick. Isn't this available today as well, if we are willing to pay the price that Paul did. Remember, this man was named Saul and was an enemy of the followers of Christ - until he had an encounter with Jesus and believed upon Him. Never count anyone out from being changed by our Lord!

And every time I read about the seven sons of Sceva who were employing the name of Jesus whom Paul preached in Acts 19:13-16, I am brought back to an experience that happened several years ago in a church my family attended. Some teens were trying to cast out a demon in another teen after having learned about deliverance in the church. The results were not as dramatic as the one in these passages of Acts but it definitely let the teens know that just using the Name of Jesus does not entitle you to the authority of Jesus Christ. That comes when you truly give your life to Christ and allow He who is in you to have His place and lordship in your life. It comes through the building up of that relationship with Him and submission to His will over your own. When He can trust you with this, He gives you His authority to do more for the Kingdom of God and His people, such as healing the sick, setting the captive free (deliverance is part of this), raising the dead, etc,. etc. Using the Name of Jesus to evoke demons from others isn't a formula it is fruit of a relationship and obedience to God and His Son, amen? Amen!

In doing these devotionals, I have stated how it is as if these words were written for now as they so correlate with the times we are living in. Just this morning I was talking with my oldest daughter, telling her how for a long time I have known that our family was prophetic in the fact that the things happening to us were things that were or would soon be happening in the body of Christ. That for so long we have known and relied on God's mercy, goodness and love while some having forgotten the fear of the Lord and His firm hand of correction. I said that we were about to see God's correction taking place in the body of Christ and in the world. That many were going to be shocked that God was not overlooking our willful wrong doing. There was an accountability within the church, in our nation and in the world that was going to rock the weak in Him. Shortly after that conversation I read Acts 17:30, "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:". Tell me God's not speaking this truth to us today? Please heed His warning, repent and draw close to Him Whom God sent to be a propitiation of our sins...