Tag Archives: Acts 20

Chapter-a-Day

On Miracles and Prophecy

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On Miracles and Prophecy (CaD Acts 20) – Wayfarer

“Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.”
Acts 20:25 (NIV)

Along my journey, I have witnessed some pretty cool things with regard to the miraculous and prophetic. This coming weekend I’m going to drop a Wayfarer Weekend Podcast and my interview with a wonderful Scottish lady and amazing artist, Heather Holdsworth. In the interview, Heather shares about her debilitating experience with Long Covid as well as her sudden and unexpected healing. Her doctor even showed her the note he put in her medical file: “Miraculous recovery.”

Likewise, I have had people give me words of prophecy that were really quite amazing. Several years ago, I was approached by a headhunter and interviewed for the job of CEO of a company in a completely different city hours away from where we live. I was one of two finalists for the job. Wendy and I kept this very private.

About this time, after a particularly difficult meeting with my business partner on a Friday, I shared with a close friend the following Sunday morning about my frustrations. I told him about how I wished for the job I’d interviewed for, and how I wanted that other job in another city where I could move to a new place and start fresh in a new company.

As we were walking out a few minutes later, a different friend happened upon us. I knew from previous experience that she had a prophetic gift. She said she wanted to pray for me, and I agreed As she was praying over me, she suddenly said, “The Father says to you, ‘I see the suitcases in your hands. I want you to let go and drop them.’” It was pretty wild. Sometimes, God does give clear direction.

But not always.

I have also experienced those who boldly and intensely proclaim that God has revealed this or that is going to happen. But, then it doesn’t.

In today’s chapter, Paul experiences the miraculous when a boy named Eutychus falls to his death and Paul brings the boy back to life. Then Paul calls for a meeting with the elders among the believers in Ephesus. Paul is on his way to Jerusalem, and he tells the Ephesians elders that he knows he will never see them again. He gives them what he believes is his final encouragement to them. They have a teary and emotional goodbye.

But Paul was wrong.

Years after the events of today’s chapter, after the final events recorded in Acts, Paul made a final visit to Ephesus. He references it in the opening of his first letter to Timothy (1 Tim 1:3).

In the quiet this morning, this had me meditating on the nature of prayer and the prophetic. I have many stories of people experiencing miraculous healing. I have many stories of the prophetic like the one I just shared. But, I also have stories of difficult situations in which the miraculous didn’t happen, and times when people utter emphatic and prophetic “sure things” don’t happen.

I have learned along my journey to hold on loosely with regard to miraculous promises and prophetic proclamations. One comment I read about Paul’s proclamation he would never see the Ephesians said, “the gift of prophecy does not mean omniscience.” Indeed, it does not. So, I humbly embrace and have faith that God can and does work in miraculous ways and speak through prophecy. At the same, I’m mindful of Bob Dylan’s lyric about God: “You think He’s just an errand boy to satisfy your wandering desires.” God is God. I am not. Faith is believing what God can do while maintaining Job’s humble and surrendered attitude: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Life, Death, Sacrifice, & the Multiverse

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However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
Acts 20:24 (NIV)

Over this past week Wendy and I watched the third season of the Amazon Prime original, The Man in the High Castle. Most every television or movie drama hinges on some kind of threat to life. Someone’s life is in danger. Someone is trying to escape those who seek to end his or her life. Someone’s life had been taken and the protagonist must find out who did it before more people die. In The Man in the High Castle the writers throw in the twist of the multi-verse, the theory that parallel realities exist and people known as “travelers” can slip between them. Nevertheless, seeking to stay alive and striving to avoid the threat of death don’t change. They are always the common themes.

As I read today’s chapter, the themes of death and life are just as prevalent as they weave themselves through Paul’s story. The Jews plan another attempt to assassinate Paul, so he changes his travel arrangements. A boy falls from a third-story window and dies, but Paul miraculously brings the boy back to life. Paul then declares to the elders of the believers at Ephesus that he will not see them again on this earthly journey. Even though Holy Spirit has continually revealed that prison and persecution await, Paul is ready to face it: “I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me.”

Here we have yet a different twist on the theme of life and death: the willingness to sacrifice one’s life for a higher purpose. Paul has faithfully followed the footsteps of Jesus. Self-sacrifice is the way of Jesus:

  • “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
  • “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
  • [Jesus] said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
  • “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

In the quiet this morning I find myself wrestling with the themes of life, death, and self-sacrifice. In a relatively safe midwest American existence the threat of death is incredibly low. The odds for a long and relatively easy life are incredibly high. So, what does the way of Jesus, the way of self-sacrifice mean for me on this journey? In a culture that values a “better life” as defined by the acquisition of things and the accumulation of bucket list experiences, what does it mean to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow? I live in a completely different reality that Paul, Luke, and the Ephesus elders. I know what self-sacrifice looked like for Paul, but what about me in this place, in this century, in this reality?

Monday morning. More questions than answers. I’m gonna keep wrestling with this one.

Have a good week my friend.

Chapter-a-Day

Hope and Reality

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What we hope life's road looks like (top) and what we sometimes find to be the reality (bottom).
What we hope life’s road looks like (top) and what we sometimes find to be the reality (bottom).

And now, as a captive to the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me.
Acts 20:22-23 (NRSV)

One of the things that Wendy and I found fascinating about our time in Edinburgh a few weeks ago was that there’s hardly a straight, level street in the entire city. There are steep inclines, winding roads, angled streets, narrow alleys, and stairs upon stairs. We felt like we were constantly going up a steep hill or down a sharp incline. Our calves were killing us.

That came to mind this morning as I read today’s chapter. I’m reminded that life’s path is not always easy, and the way does not always meander through pleasant, level places. The theme of Dr. Luke’s account of the first generation of Jesus followers if filled with difficulties, persecutions, executions, imprisonments, riots, shipwrecks, and floggings. And, time and time again Luke says that the Message flourished and daily the number of believers grew.

I found it interesting to bullet out Paul’s conversation with his fellow believers from Ephesus in today’s chapter:

  • I was a living example in my time with you. Follow it.
  • I’m going to Jerusalem and expect to be persecuted and imprisoned.
  • You’ll never see me again (I’m going to die before I can return)
  • Be on guard! Wolves are going to infiltrate your flock.
  • Give, and don’t expect anything in return.

The message was followed by weeping and grief.

It’s not exactly a Thomas Kinkade scene come to life. And, so it is with life’s journey. Sometimes the path leads through difficult terrain, but there is purpose in our pains and in the places God leads us. Paul wasn’t complaining about the road ahead. He may have felt fear and grief as he set out, but courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is the willingness to press on in spite of fear.

Today, I’m thinking about the balance of hoping for the best while knowing that “the best” does not always look the way I want it to look.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Acts 20

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Fluoxetine (Prozac), an SSRI
Fluoxetine (Prozac), an SSRI (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” Acts 20:24 (NLT)

It is a depressing thing not to have purpose in life. We were created for a purpose. When we are blind to or unaware of that purpose, it can slowly erode the health of our soul. Days become burdensome. Existence feels meaningless. At that point, I’ve observed that we either seek after endless distraction and pleasure to medicate and cover the growing sense of emptiness, or we fall into despair.

I watched a recent television news program that cited statistics showing well over half of all Americans are on antidepressant medication. We are in arguably the wealthiest, most well provisioned and stable nation on the face of the Earth where we recognize everyone’s  right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And yet, a majority of us are so depressed we are taking prescription medication for it.

Contrast that with Paul who, despite a terrible problem with his eyesight, worked the menial job as a tentmaker so that he could frugally travel from town to town sharing with others the Message of Jesus. He was ceaselessly harassed, beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked and threatened. He was constantly on the run from those who sought to kill him. Multiple attempts were made on his life. And, his soul experienced a fullness of meaning, purpose, and joy.

Somehow, in our “pursuit of happiness,” I believe we have misplaced our understanding of what gives life true and motivating worth, meaning, and purpose.