Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
According to a study reported by Bloomberg, Americans can add as many as two years to the nation’s life expectancy if they stand up more often and watch fewer hours of television. What a concept — move around and you’ll live longer!
Watching the report reminded me of an incident which happened during a party that we threw for our daughter Elianna. Her little one-year-old brother Obadiah was playing with a leftover balloon which suddenly popped in his face. Obi was startled, and about to burst into tears.
Thinking fast, I grabbed an uninflated balloon from the table, blew it up real big and then let it go. Boy did he love that! He laughed hysterically as he watched this balloon zipping around the room until it ran out of air and plopped down on the floor. Obi was fine, and as we played this new balloon game, a funny analogy floated into my mind.
I was thinking… we need to be like these balloons, filled to the max with God’s breath, and then….. let go, to experience the ride of our lives! And…equally important, we need to recognize when we’re running out of air — when we’re deflated and depleted of His power and anointing. Then we need to run back to Him for more, because receiving the infilling of the Spirit is not a single event, but a lifetime of repeated refillings, so that we aren’t living or serving in our own strength.
The Lord hasn’t entrusted us with His power to sit around and watch TV — but to activate us for the work of the Gospel, and the blessing of the saints; to do great things for Him in the power of His Spirit wherever He may take us. Let’s be filled again today! Ask, seek, knock, read, worship, meditate on His promises, get FILLED — you don’t want to sit idly watching life pass you by…. do you?
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]In the early 1800's a preacher gave a message to call men to join him on the mission field in Africa. In the audience were only a few women along with a boy. The pastor knew that few women were expected to volunteer to face harsh African jungle conditions. However, he gave the message; and no one responded. What he didn't realize was that he had touched the heart of a little boy whose name was David Livingstone. This boy would grow up to spend the rest of his life ministering to Africa's unreached tribes.
A.W. Tozer had an interesting commentary on this verse. He said: "Faith is seeing the invisible, but not the nonexistent."
When does God answer our prayers? And when do we receive what we ask of Him? And when are we confident He has heard our requests? Many of us wonder why our prayers seem to go unanswered.
A farmer was showing his visiting citydwelling friend around his farm. "Watch this!" he said. He gave a whistle and his little dog came running from the house, herded the cattle into the corral, then latched the gate with her paw. "Wow, that's some dog -- what's her name?" The forgetful farmer thought for a minute and then asked, "What do you call that red flower that smells good and has thorns on the stem?" "A rose?" "That's it!" The farmer turned to his wife. "Hey Rose, what do we call this dog?"
According to church history, the apostle Thomas, died in Calamina, a city in the East Indies. While there, Thomas had put a stop to the idolatry that was running rampant in the land. The idolatrous priest was not happy about this at all and accused him before their king. The king sentenced Thomas to death -- first to be tormented by red hot plates and then cast into a glowing furnace and burned. When the priest saw that the fire was not hurting him, he pierced Thomas' side with spears and javelins, and finally Thomas died.
A significant response to the current pandemic has been medical professionals in various places offering valuable advice on the role of diet toward building and increasing our body's immunity to viruses and disease in general. This kind of advice can be truly salutary, even life-saving. Yet the aphorism, "You are what you eat", though often heard, isn't always taken as seriously as we might...And that may contribute to unpleasant health consequences.
Missionaries Dick and Margaret Hillis found themselves caught in China during the Japanese invasion. The couple lived with their two children in the inland town of Shenkiu. The village was tense with fear, for every day brought terrifying reports of the Japanese advance. At the worst possible time, Dick developed appendicitis, and he knew his life depended on making the long journey to the hospital. On January 15, 1941, with deep foreboding, Margaret watched him leave.