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In more than three decades of my Christian life, I have been blest by 2 types of Daily devos'
(matter not exceeding 500 words) in universal Christian literature. Not only those Devos'
which have a different theme everyday but also the ones which revolve around a certain
theme over a period of time, say a fortnight, have richly edified me. In fact, both
styles have their own inherent advantages. If the former style caters to the varying
spiritual needs of a christian from day-to-day, the latter aims 'to ground'
a child of God in a certain subject in order he derives the full benefits of the
deep insightful study of a certain topic, spread over a fixed span of time.
In my Daily devo page, I have consciously tried to go in for 'a blend of both the
styles' whereby within a constant theme, I would be aiming to focus on different
facets of it which admittedly is a closer imitation of the 'Constant theme' style
than the 'Varying topics' one.
Having dwelt on the topics
- “The Christian journey”
- “ The Conquest of Canaan” and the
- “Lent season”.
in the previous months, now in the months of April and May, considering that
post resurrection of Christ (one of our concluding themes’ you would remember
in the meditations of March, was Resurrection), birth of the Church was a
landmark event in Biblical history, I want to cast the spotlight on the Book of
Acts (which records the birth and growth of the Church). This would ensure to a large
extent continuity of thought albeit under the ambit of new subject.
Once again, let me wish you a happy and an edifying read…
Suresh Manoharan
May 18th
God’s “NO” to evangelism?
Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching
the word in the province of Ausia at that time. Then coming to the borders of Mysia,
they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not
allow them to go there - Acts 16:6-7
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Having “travelled” along with Apostle Paul back to Antioch, as it were, in our meditation yesterday-in
our own voyage of exploring God’s word-let us set now sail along with the Great apostle in his second
missionary journey and glean some important lessons, related to this historic journey, too.
Firstly, let us focus on a “Divine injunction”, can you believe it (!) to an earnest missionary effort.
Can our Lord, who spelled out His global evangelization plans to disciples
(Matt 28:19), ever instruct
His disciples “from fishing for souls”, as the above-captioned Scripture portion seems to imply?
YES, HE CAN FORBID US FROM CASTING OUR NET AT A CERTAIN PLACE IF SOMEBODY IS ALREADY FISHING OUT
THERE, FOR HE SEES THE BIGGER PICTURE!
Now Ausia and Bithynia were the places where Churches already existed (established by converts on the
day of Pentecost, to whom Peter wrote an epistle subsequently –
1 Peter 1:1). Paul and his mates
limited by poor communication facilities of those days were oblivious to that fact, hence the
Lord forbade them from “fishing there”. Paul’s missionary efforts were now required in places unexplored
for the Gospel, rather than in places where Churches were established, hence the Divine directive to
cross the Aegean sea (we shall meditate on the same tomorrow).
Strange, as it may sound sometimes we have to be prepared even for a restraining order in our evangelism efforts from
the good Lord, who sees a bigger picture and knows where, we can be better utilized for His glory.
Prayer:
Prayer: Lord Jesus, in Thy omniscience help us to implicitly trust You and obey You with no questions asked especially
in matters about the geographical area of our service for Thee. AMEN.
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