PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Acts 23:12–22
The next morning some Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. More than forty men were involved in this plot. They went to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him before you on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about his case. We are ready to kill him before he gets here.”
But when the son of Paul’s sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.” So he took him to the commander.
The centurion said, “Paul, the prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.”
The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside and asked, “What is it you want to tell me?”
He said: “Some Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about him. Don’t give in to them, because more than forty of them are waiting in ambush for him. They have taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now, waiting for your consent to their request.”
The commander dismissed the young man with this warning: “Don’t tell anyone that you have reported this to me.”
CONSIDER THIS
There was a closing word in yesterday’s reading we can’t miss. It’s so important I will delay commenting on today’s text with hopes to cover it tomorrow (but then there’s tomorrow’s text to deal with!). That’s the trouble with Scripture—we can never adequately cover it all.
The word from yesterday came in the last verse (v. 11):
That night the Lord stood near him and said, “Keep up your courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.”
Remember how Jesus ended his Great Commission to his disciples? “And surely, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (see Matthew 28:20).
I like to imagine Paul standing up in top Leslie Nielsen form (in the spirit of his Airplane movies) saying, “We know that, and stop calling me Shirley.”
All kidding aside, today’s text is an incredible snapshot of Jesus keeping his promise. It also gives us another glimpse of the nature of Paul’s relationship with Jesus:
That night the Lord stood near him and said, “Keep up your courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.”
The words are a stunning example of encouragement, but it’s the gesture that gets me:
The Lord stood near him . . .
It sounds exceptional and unusual as though this were a rare occurrence. I think this reality of the Lord standing near us is the norm of a Holy Spirit–filled life rather than the exception. We simply are not attuned enough to the Holy Spirit to recognize this most of the time . . . or our circumstances are not desperate enough.
Being strong in the Lord is not about mustering up the courage to stand on your convictions. Being strong in the Lord comes from being directly encouraged by the Lord himself. This encouragement can come in the form of another person or in the form of a strong yet quiet inner impression of the Lord speaking to you. It can come in any way the Lord chooses to deliver it. In either case, he is standing there near to you—not metaphorically but literally.
I am also convinced this reality of the Lord speaking directly to us is the norm of a Holy Spirit–filled life rather than the exception. The Lord is always speaking. I only hear him when I quiet myself long enough to really listen. Listening for the whisper of the Holy Spirit is a cultivated skill that must become part of our discipleship. Over time one learns both to trust the inward impressions as well as to test them.
The biggest impediment to this happening for most people is they don’t believe this kind of thing really happens anymore. The truth? For those who don’t believe, it rarely happens. Those who will suspend their disbelief and risk faith can expect surprises and enter into a whole new level of learning to enjoy the Lord and adventure with him.
Paul needed to know his nearness that night and he needed to hear those words: “Keep up your courage!” I need to hear them regularly myself. How about you?
THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION
Lord Jesus, I am your witness. I long to be like you.
I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness.
I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness.
I receive your fullness and release my emptiness.
I receive your peace and release my anxiety.
I receive your joy and release my despair.
I receive your healing and release my sickness.
I receive your love and release my selfishness.
I receive the assurance of your nearness and release my felt sense of isolation.
Come, Holy Spirit, transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father, amen.
THE JOURNAL PROMPTS
Do you ever sense the Lord standing near to you? How do you hear him speaking to you? What is he saying? Do you believe he wants to speak to you? If not, why not?
THE HYMN
Today we will sing “Stand by Me” (hymn 352) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise. Get your copy here.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
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3 Responses
I’m not so sure that it’s a lack of faith that the Lord still speaks to His own, is the reason so few hear it today. While it may be true that many believers now deny anything supernatural, the things that can’t be proven scientifically, and for that reason fail to hear from Christ directly, I believe there’s another reason. I believe that it’s human nature to live out our own lives in our own reasoning and strength as long as circumstances allow it. But, when we find our selves in a desperate situation like Paul did here in Acts, we need to recall what Christ had also told Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” I really don’t think we’re listening to hear that word from the Lord that much, as long as our lives are rocking along smoothly and risk free.
Your comment tracks with the historical observation that Christianity thrives most when it is under persecution.
The Lord is near.
Tune up your ears,
So you can hear
What Christ in you
Is saying to you.
Biblical Christianity is about the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ and the kingdom (government) of God. (See Mark 1:1 and Matthew 24:14.) When Christians let their daily focus drift away from Jesus and what He has done and is now doing and to establish His government and authority inside the heart of each one of His followers by living and working and speaking within them, they get off track and get trapped in “another gospel.” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Accept no substitute for the good news of Jesus and His kingdom within you. Let Jesus live and speak in you and be your Lord so that moment-by-moment you seek to surrender to His presence by listening for and obeying His promptings in your heart.
Christ’s sheep hear His voice. His voice will be aligned with righteousness, holiness, truth, humility, and purity, with the 9 characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit, and with the Bible. If a thought enters your heart that so aligns, that’s the still small voice of Jesus, the beloved Son of God. Hear Him.