Acts 8:30-31

So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.

Personal Challenge

Have you ever had God ask you to do something for Him? Before you answer, “No!”, take some time and look back on your life and I bet you will see many times that the Holy Spirit has tried to nudge you to do something, something for God. Sometimes it is that fleeting thought to perform a simple act of kindness to someone. A thought that was suppressed because of the busyness of life or the discomfort of the action. God does ask us regularly to do His work. We are His hands and feet in this world. We should be like Phillip and run into the task that we are being asked to do. We will see God’s hand at work in our lives through us. Glory be to God!

Psalms 63:1 (62:2)

O God, my God, I rise early to be with You;
My soul thirsts for You.
How often my flesh thirsts for You
In a desolate, impassable, and waterless land.

Personal Challenge

This temporal world is a desolate, impassable, and waterless land compared to the glorious kingdom that awaits us. If we are striving to live our lives for Christ, we will have within us an incredible thirst for Him, a thirst that only He can quench. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Acts 6:8

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

Encouraging Words

We are all called, as followers of Jesus Christ, to live our lives full of faith and power. If we do that, then we too can see great wonders and signs happening in our lives. In today’s day of enlightenment and scholasticism, we put more stock, and therefore our faith, in the things and workings of the temporal. By doing this hinder ourselves from being full of God’s faith and power. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Psalms 62:8 (61:9)

Hope in Him, all you congregation of people;
Pour out your hearts before Him;
God is our helper. (Pause)

Personal Challenge

God is our helper. There is no denying that if we strive to live our lives for our God, loving Him and loving our neighbor, we will see His mighty hand at work in our lives. Unfortunately, it often becomes easy to lose sight of this and to start putting hope in the things of this world. Ourselves. Our jobs, Our wealth. Our politicians. Our priests and pastors. Everything but God. This is always a significant error. Our hope should only be in God, Glory be to God, and God alone.

Acts 5:40-42

And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Personal Challenge

Once again, we see an example of how God’s economy, His way of doing things, is so much different than the ways of the world. Usually when we get beaten down in life, whether deserved or not, we recoil and find a safe place to heal our wounds. Peter and the other apostles were just beaten by the authorities of the synagogue for preaching Christ. Upon their release, they immediately went right back to the temple and starting teaching and preaching about Jesus again. They were operating in God’s economy because they knew that He would take care of them. Do I love my Lord that much? Do I trust Him entirely with my life? Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Psalms 62:6-7 (61:7-8)

For He is my God and my savior,
My protector; I shall never be moved.
In God is my salvation and my glory;
He is the God of my help, and my hope is in God.

Encouraging Words

Who, or what, is my God? He is my Savior. Savior from what? Death and damnation. He is my Protector. Protector from what? Every large or small thing, in this earthly realm that is being thrown at me by the enemy, the accuser. In Him I will never be moved. Moved by what? Every wave from the storms of life that try to drive me away from my destination. He is my glory. What glory? Every aspect of my life that brings me recognition, joy, or comfort is my glory and all comes from Him. He is my help in all of this, and my hope is in Him. Praise be to God!

Acts 5:29

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.

Personal Challenge

To whom do we give our obedience? Ourselves? Our employer? Our peers? Our politicians? If we are truly trying to live righteous and Christlike lives, then we can only be choosing to obey God and not men. God is our source of all life and since we appreciate that so much, we choose to give all of our obedience to Him rather than anyone or anything in this world. This is a choice that we must make every moment of life. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Psalms 62:5 (61:6)

However, be submissive to God, O my soul,
For my patient endurance is from Him.

Personal Challenge

The ultimate goal for us in living our life for Christ is total submission to Him and the Father. This is the essential act of humility before the Creator and Sustainer of all. This is also the most difficult thing for us to do because it means yielding our free will to God and embracing His will. But He does not expect us to do this on our own. He fills us with His Holy Spirit and His love and mercy to give us that patient endurance that we need to be obedient and submissive. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner!