An Update from Pastor Daniel
This entry was posted on Jul 11 2009
Through God’s Word the Holy Spirit instructs, convicts, and encourages us. What has God been showing you in you as you have read through the Book of Acts?
Pastor Daniel
The Lord has been so gracious to reveal Himself to me as I have been reading through the Book of Acts. Without Him there is no truth! My words and my being are best spent pointing to Him… His holiness, His glory, His righteousness, His grace, mercy, and love!!!
I am so excited for the opportunity to corporately worship our Lord tomorrow morning—may we lavish Him with praise, giving Him honor He so richly and rightly deserves.
The Holy Spirit has put me on a mission to put some of the doubt that I have had in my life (mainly stemmed from the religion of evolution) to rest. The more the spirit leads me through this exploration of creation, and the lies that I was being taught in school, the more my foundation has been strengthened. I always told myself that evolution is true and the days in the Bible had gaps in them and were longer than our days.(basically calling the Bible and Jesus liars) The spirit has showed me that even though microevolution is very true, it is also the crutch that macroevolution has leaned on. I live on a earth that is less than ten thousand years old and I did not come from any monkeys or rocks. I came from the Intelligent Designer and I have been on his mind since the beginning of creation HALLELUJAH.
The Holy Spirit is so awesome in knowing exactly which direction I need to go to continue to move forward with my walk with God. I thank God for Midcities, the book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit and for tearing the veil giving us access to God through the Holy Spirit. They have given me a great perspective on which direction I need to go in my walk through life.
Every day, God shows me new mysteries in Acts! What a journey! It always amazes me when I read verses that I have read probably hundreds of times; jump out at me with new meaning and application! This has been so true through the book of Acts.
There are many things that God has shown me, but the two biggest things for where I am in my life right now are the power of God is real and the Apostles spoke “boldly” despite fierce opposition.
As I read about the numerous miracles that are recorded in Acts, I get a strong sense that God wants to show those same miracles today. He is looking for a group of people who want to see His glory manifested and are willing to believe in modern day miracles! I want to be in that group! I am ready to see His glory in a new and wonderful way to encourage me in the things He is calling me to. But I also love that He shows the characters of Acts as real people! I love Acts 9 where God calls to Ananias and Ananias is so familiar with His voice that he responds, “Here I am, Lord.” But then after receiving instructions from his Lord, he immediately says in my paraphrase, “Are you crazy, Lord? Have you heard what this man does to Christians? You obviously don’t know the whole story, Lord! You obviously don’t understand what you are asking me to do.” I love that God used REAL people! People who even when they KNOW they are hearing the voice of the Lord, they question because of what could happen to them when they follow that voice. This makes me feel so much better about my own conversations with God.
Then just a few verses later, after calling Saul, soon to be Paul, a chosen instrument of God, God tells Ananias, “I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” God never promised this life would be easy for even His “chosen instruments”, He just promises He will give us everything we need to live it! And tells us in Acts 5:29 that we must obey Him and not man…that means even when the persecution and accusations come.
Then there is the word “boldly”. It is used 6 times in Acts. I have noticed that usely after it is used, there is a stoning. I don’t know what encouragement that brings, but somehow it does bring comfort in my current circumstances. God has put me in a position right now where I am speaking for an oppressed people group in Liberia. It has brought me before audiences such as US and Liberian Congressmen as well as Liberian government officials all the way up to the Vice President and President. God continues to call me to be bold with these government officials. Many people question my boldness because often times, it is followed by a stoning (the stones in my case are words and actions of other people….especially fellow Christians). Acts has been such an encouragement to me to hear God’s voice and speak His words regardless of the opinion of the general public of my actions. Acts is reminding me that God’s opinion of me is all that matters. I should seek wise counsel and surround myself with a few close Godly men and women who can speak hard truth into my life, and beyond that, them the opinion of others should not be my main concern. This has been a hard truth and lesson to learn….still learning it!
Through these truths, I faced one of the toughest weeks in my life as far as walking in my calling, full of peace and confident in the actions I took and words I spoke! I was able to cast all the “stones” throw at me back at God and asking Him to take them, He did! He carried my load to make my burden lighter!
So that is a really wordy say of saying, Acts is literally changing my life! I am so enjoying
it and getting to discuss it with my Mid-Cities family!