Lena's Discipleship Journalin' to Acts 16 - Today

I can hardly believe this passage starts this way today! I’ve been meditating on this all day in my own life and I was not able to get on to my journalin’ till now (7 p.m.)
Timothy was a young disciple who mother was Jewish, and whose father is Greek. How many of us have backgrounds much like this? Things just don’t seem to add up very well, and whenever we look at where or who we came from it is amazing to some of us that we are even alive, let alone faring well.
BUT GOD!
BUT GOD!
When I think about His goodness, it amazes me that He loves me so, draws me into His heart continuously, and is so amazingly patient with me! I am human, and so are you, and no matter how any of us were raised, we can be changed miraculously by God’s transforming power!
I know in our society we are taught through counselors that we are how we are because of some mishap in our past, and we need to get in touch with that and realize it was not really our faults. LET me share a few new thoughts with you.
We have ALL sinned. No, I’m very serious here. We have. And sin has no measurement at all where the judgment seat of God the father over the entire universe is concerned. It all offends Him, because it keeps those who He created to become so like He is, away from being able to do and be who they were created to be!
God hates sin, because it takes me out of His heart. NOT because this one, or that one, is worse than another, but because it all needs to be brought towards powerlessness. It all needs to be dealt with. Sin hurts people, affects people, sends people to hell, and takes them out from God’s desired presence.
Who’s fault is that? We can go wayyyyy back on that one. Back even further than the Garden of Eden, yep further than that! There was a rebellion, an uprising in heaven. That was the root origin. Man followed it, by a willful decision to.
Ok, so you’re older now than you were when you were being continuously led by your parents, or when they abandoned you, or when your parent died. You know a few things, like how to decide for yourself what is right and wrong. If you can decide that, and make new choices on how to live, the Truth of God’s word is available to you for the seeking, finding and taking. Seriously, if no one ever leads you right at that point. If someone lies to you, or does bad things to you, you still have an amazing power inside of you to decide within your heart, whatever you want to decide. It’s no one’s choice, but yours. If you do not choose Christ and God it is no one’s fault except yours.
I was telling my Bible Study group of ladies, that in the good ‘ol US of A, if no one ever told you the story of Jesus, or gave you a Bible, or even if you were taught wrongly as a child, when you grow up, and are old enough to learn or ask questions, there is not one excuse to say you could not know God! We have the internet, TV, the radio, tapes, CD’s, Gideon’s freebie Bibles, the library, or even a Dr’s. Office waiting room “copies” of the word of God.
If are seeking answers and truth and we really want to find it, we can walk to any church on any given corner of any given city-block, at any time that we so desire. We could even call for a ride to a church and I bet a ministry team would find someone to give us one! We are our own persons, aren’t we? We can do what we want, when we want to, right?
It does not matter your raising, background, color, race, or origin, you can know God if you want to! It doesn’t matter who your father, mother, sister or brother are. In present day USA, you can KNOW GOD!
Timothy was so influenced by the gospel, by the Lordship of Christ, that he was able to make a very radical decision towards a life changing action. With the power of his own freewill, he decided to mark his own physical body in such a way as to say, “I am willing to become one with you, in a way that outrightly speaks to you. Since you say that through the circumcision of the flesh, you serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I want to change to be more like you are, so you’ll be able to listen to the message I have been given by Your Lord, for you!
I so want you to know He sent His Son, to solidify His covenant with you. He sent His Son, to seal the deal with you. The deal is what this scar in my flesh represents. I am willing to do away with a part of my flesh, to let you know this truth personally.”
R U led by the Spirit of God?
I’ve heard it said, “We as Christian believers, followers of Christ, can live by permission, or we can choose to live by trial and error.” If we choose to live by trial and error, rather than by permission; later on we can seek forgiveness and we’ll have to seek repair for our mistakes made.
Yes God is gracious and He forgives our sin. In fact, He forgives us every time we confess and turn away from walking in the wrong direction; but wouldn’t it be more pleasing to Him, if we would walk by permission? If we lived in such a way, as to ask first, listen to His wisdom, and apply it to our lives, with the intent to walk it out. Living this way, means we are not needing to turn around and backtrack down a wrongly turned on road as often. We actually gain ground and hold ground, rather than lose ground.
It could also be likened to asking for directions and following the advised course set out for us by others who know the way, or just independently deciding to go which ever way we feel may work, only to find we’ve had to take a very long road around the mountains and obstacle courses on the road of our own choosing.
The Spirit of Jesus did not let them go. The Holy Spirit told them not to go.
What was happening in both of these instances? They were living by permission, refusing to go on to places even God would like them to go to, without His approval first! The Holy Spirit knows everything about everything. He knows what is ahead, and what is the best timing for the best instance or presentation. He may have prevented even their physical deaths, from happening prematurely.
The god of mammon is one of the biggest strongholds that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. It is very hard for rich people to be saved, not impossible, but hard. They have to give up the seeking of riches as their life source, pleasure source, security source, or source of energy, motivation or worship.
Just touch someone where their money is concerned, and watch what comes out of them! Really. If it is anger, violence, frustration, grief, greed, etc, you’ll know what god has been deceptively strangling them towards a slow, but pleasurable death.
We cannot seek or serve mammon and God Most High. If we seek God, it must be Him first and Him alone. We cannot serve God and mammon. We will either hate the one and love the other, or love one and hate the other. We CANNOT, do both!
Be prepared, if you touch mammon, you could end up in jail, BUT God is faithful, as His messenger, He’ll probably get ya out! In the meantime, get the prisoners and jailers saved. As much as is in you, preach the gospel! You have seed in you that has the potential to grow a forest of trees. Each person is an influencer, a part of a greater picture, a family member, who needs the word of God to save them, from their sins.
The city officials and jailers apologized to them. Things are not always as they seem in the long-run, just wait and see the salvation of the Lord!