It is important to read the verses leading up to these two verses that I have highlighted, but I wanted to draw attention to a prophet that reminds me so much of so many of us. God showed His power through His work in Saul’s life, then appeared to Ananias and gave him instructions. Ananias immediately put self into the equation and needed to explain to God that He must be making a mistake to ask him to go and minister to this man Saul! Wow! Can you imagine how much we must disappoint our Maker when we try to question Him about His awesome power to reach even the vilest of sinners, and when He wants to use us to do those things that we would never dream of doing under our own power. God wants our availability and obedience, not our human, logical thinking and explanations! Enough with the excuses, just do it! Do the will of God and watch Him work miraculously through us! No more excuses, please?

This particular verse really opened the floodgates for me for understanding sincere obedience to God. So often we do Christian-based things because of the company in which we find ourselves, or because of the teachings of our church, or because a particular thing is the root of ministry by a certain individual that we admire and follow. When we make a covenant with God, without conditions attached, we are basically agreeing to follow that covenant regardless of circumstance around us. Oh that I could make a covenant like King Josiah did: to obey God, keep His laws and commands with all my heart and soul, and to put into practice all that His book of instructions (the Bible) demands of me. How about you friend, are you ready to make such a covenant with God? I know that He is looking for that kind of people so that He might grow His kingdom using totally committed individuals, and not half-hearted Christians swayed by every wind or fashion or worldly trend. God will direct our path and give us the strength to stay true to such a commitment! Let’s start a new revolution by making such an awesome covenant today! I believe that God is anxiously awaiting committed individuals that He could use to touch the lives of so many unsaved, and also the wandering and uncommitted folk who carry the badge of being a ‘Christian’/believer/follower of Christ!

There are two aspects to these verses that spoke to me, and I wanted to share it with you as a reminder of how the Holy Spirit works in us and through us. First, to the Ethiopian, the Spirit worked in his life to prioritize reading of God’s Word. Yes friend, to the unsaved it would not be normal for them to open the Word of God. But through the urging and prompting of the Holy Spirit, and in His perfect timing, the good gentlemen found himself immersed in the Word. Also, wouldn’t you agree that it was miraculous that even out in the desert there was someone available to answer his questions about what he was reading? Secondly, this was a divine appointment for Philip to be available, even in such a deserted place. When God prompts us to visit a certain place, or with certain folk, yes even strangers, we should never question. God had a divine appointment for Philip in a very unlikely place. How much more should we expect to see the miraculous hand of God in and through us, when we are obedient to Him? So a plea for obedience is actually commanded to the only two types of individuals that exist: 1). To the unbeliever (those who have not invited Jesus into their hearts and lives yet), please be obedient to follow prompting that you know must have come from God, because you suddenly have an urge to do something spiritual (go to church; read the Bible; ask someone questions about the Bible, etc.), for this may be a divine appointment being arranged by God. This may be your day of salvation! 2). To the believer, please ask God daily for ears to hear and eyes to see, so that you may be fully aware of His prompting to witness for Him or help someone searching for Him. Failure in being obedient in this way could totally distract the desire of an unbeliever to come to Jesus, so it is very important that we be obedient. Not a preacher? Not a problem, remember that God can do all things in and through you! In faith, be obedient to whatever God is prompting you to do.

There was an old song “Money Can’t Buy You Love”, and I wonder if the writer of that song hadn’t read these verses highlighted today! For Peter and John had the same experience with Simon who wanted a piece of what they had, and thought he could get it by giving of his financial resources. Friends, God really spoke to me in this and reminded me that there is no substitute for true surrender to Him. I’m afraid that there are many who are ‘missing the boat’ through some of the misunderstanding ideas prevalent today. The truth is that you can be the most generous person in your neighborhood, or in your church, or to the poor, or have been good in every way people may assume Christians might be, but if you have never humbled yourself before God and asked His forgiveness of your sin, and invited Him wholeheartedly into your heart, then you are destined for Hell having left a legacy of being a generous person here on earth. The same applies to those who are faithful attenders to church – sinners are always welcomed into church, but the Bible teaches that Heaven is only accessible by those who have personally invited Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives. It’s definitely an easy step to take friend, but please don’t fool yourself into avoiding this step. Jesus acts as a filter for Heaven. Only those who have accepted Him as their personal Savior and Lord, will be allowed into Heaven. There are no ways around it. All other acts are worthless when it comes to acceptance into God’s eternal home for us. Won’t you seriously consider surrendering your life to Jesus today and accepting Him as your Savior? If you are unsure or have questions, please see a Bible teaching pastor, or you may email me at nuggetsfromgodsword@outlook.com so that I could pray with you and guide you into the biggest and most important decision of your life! Jesus loved you enough to sacrifice His life on a cruel cross, so that through Him you might have eternal life! Love Him in return by accepting His gift today, won’t you?

I can hardly imagine what our families, our churches, our cities and our nation would be like if we had men following the example of King Hezekiah! We are told in verse 21 that this king was extremely successful because….. everything he did was in a spirit of complete loyalty and devotion to God! Wow! In our Bible Study last night I was reminded about the importance of loving my wife in complete loyalty and obedience to God, and the difference this made in the life and marriage of at least one brother at the study who shared with us. I could only imagine how much better our workplaces would be if we (Christians) went to work with a spirit of complete loyalty and devotion to God. Friends, I know that many jobs will not allow Christianity to be advertised or practiced within its walls, but what is inside of us cannot be taken away! We take Christ into our jobs through our actions, our stands on certain things, through our sincere dedication to our work and our bosses. Christians should be the best employees for any employer, if we do our jobs in complete loyalty and dedication to God. He will stop us from cheating, stealing, lying, gossiping, and any other ungodly actions. God will drive us towards being the best in everything expected of us by our employer. In addition to committing yourself to loyalty and devotion to God, please remember to daily pray God’s blessings on your boss and your employer every day. Yes, even the boss that may seem hard and uncaring towards you. Just as Jesus made a difference in your life, He will also impact the life of your boss! As you meditate on this and consider following this commitment, please notice that Hezekiah had no conditions to his commitment. The Word says that as a result of his commitment, many conditions changed for the good, because he was successful in everything he did. So will you join me in committing to being completely loyal and devoted to God? I pray that our commitment will be sincere and that it would impact those around us for the glory of Christ!

When we are commanded in God’s Word to spread the gospel to the world, isn’t it interesting that He didn’t place exceptions on that command? He didn’t say that we are exempt from spreading the Word if conditions are poor, or if we may receive opposition. In the preceding verses we read where Saul was persecuting the church, in fact, he was going door to door dragging out believers and throwing them into jail. Yet in these verses the believers just moved on to other places and continued preaching the Word of God. Isn’t it interesting how today we let such little things prevent us from attending church, or visit the shut-ins, or minister to those in need? I wonder what God must think of our lack of faith? Think about the excuses why we think that we can’t teach or share the gospel with others. We must be willing to do whatever God demands, knowing that He will protect us, guide us and powerfully use us for His glory as we accomplish His will for your life. Lord, I pray that I might not be just a ‘sunny day’ Christian, but to follow Your commands knowing that You are concerned only with my availability and willingness, not my known abilities. May I learn to depend on You for all things!

Imagine for a moment that someone was facing the most awful time of their life. Challenged with possible harm, maybe even impending death. Imagine how you would feel to comfort others by saying like was quoted of Stephen in this verse: “It’s OK brothers, for this man is full of the Holy Spirit, and there he is looking into the face of Jesus who is standing at the right hand of the Father. This man is going to be OK. You had best work on yourselves and your relationship with God”. Now, what about you, are you at the place where this could be said of you friend? Are you the real deal, or are you still trying to impress God and others with your ‘religion’? We really have no one to impress friend. God knows our heart, there is nothing we can do to impress Him or change His mind with any action or outward pretense of our own. Lay yourself bare before God and allow Him to cleanse you, so that you can be open and honest before Him and all your fellow brothers and sisters. Whether a person knows you or not, let them see the same person when looking at you. Dear God, please open my eyes to any pretense that I need to expose and correct in my life. Please allow others to see Jesus in all that I say and all that I am. Not for any praise of myself, but that they may catch a glimpse of You, even through me.

Many of us go to church at least once per week to worship God? Praise God that you have found a place to worship Him in a corporate setting, but where do YOU worship God. Friends, as you develop a personal relationship with God, you begin to recognize His awesome power through answered prayer; through Godly direction in your decision making and daily living; through His unending and unhindered love for us, and everything in between! Think about the beauty of everything as you drive to work each morning, such as when you see another sunrise, and the night clouds blowing gently away to reveal the beautiful blue sky for your day; perhaps the wild animals parading around looking for their daily food for the day; perhaps luscious pastureland with dew dropping from the leaves of grass grown by our Father for the cows that will provide milk for our cereal and beef for our steaks and hamburgers. We are so prone to taking these things for granted, but it is at those times that we need to turn the radio off and just thank and praise God for His wonderful touch on everything around us, so that we may be fed, or kept warm, or just to glory in His majesty! What about those times that you walk into a store and see someone struggling to walk, or like in my case yesterday, have a blind person walk in to have lunch across the restaurant where I was at. It is at those times that we worship and give God thanks for blessing us so richly! And please don’t forget to thank God when you see those who may appear to be more blessed than you are. They may have more wealth, but do they enjoy the peace that you do? They may have a whole body, but do they use them for God’s glory like you do? Learn to praise God in all walks of your life friend! God has never made ‘junk’, so you are a blessed creation of His. Worship Him and praise Him for making you in His image – His likeness! He is worthy of your praise friend, not just at those times that the church worship leader may ask you to raise your hands in worship. God is omnipresent – always in your presence. There is no church building that contains God, even though He loves to be in the presence of His believers who worship Him. I believe that a one-on-one worship to our heavenly Father is way more meaningful and appreciated by God than corporate worship that is often driven by leadership and/or peer pressure.