EXPAND TO READ: ACTS 28 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 31): Paul became such a bold and obedient follower of Yours, Father. He was unfairly tried and imprisoned for YEARS due to several false claims made by his own people. Regardless of his circumstances, he remained faithful and obedient to You throughout all of it. I cannot say the same for myself, unfortunately. When I hit a hard spot in this life, since coming to faith, I tend to revert back to my anger and irritability, essentially turning away from You temporarily in those moments. I am weak in those moments and instead of leaning on You for strength, I delve back into what I feel is easy, which is my old, fleshly ways of living. Please forgive me for my self-inflicted hindrances to my faith, Father. Just as stated here, Paul proclaimed You and taught about You with full boldness and without hindrance. Help me to be more like Paul in this manner, because even after all the suffering he wrongly went through, he still remained bold and without hindrance towards professing his love for You and the testimony You gave him.
PROMISE (verse 14b): The promise You had made to Paul many years prior to this verse was that not only will he make his testimony heard in Jerusalem, but also in Rome. He had to endure many storms and trials along the way to get there, but he did endure. As a result, his testimony became far strong than even he probably could’ve imagined at the start of this whole ordeal. Thankfully, however, Your promises are always fulfilled when we are faithful and stick to Your steps for our lives. The latter part of this verse shows the fulfillment of that promise by saying “and so we came to Rome.” Promise fulfilled in Your timing after what You knew needed to be done had been finished. Thank You for another promise fulfilled, Father!
ATTITUDE (verses 1-2): Paul and the crew that was transporting him to Rome had essentially crash landed on an island called Malta. They were now without ship, washed ashore in a location they were likely not familiar with, and amongst people whom they did not know. The people of Malta, however, did not care about any of this, nor the fact that some of the people from the ship were soldiers and some prisoners. They simply greeted them with “extraordinary kindness” and welcomed them to their home island of Malta. This is an amazing attitude to embrace that I have often failed at. Kindness should not have favorites or discernment when it comes to the general population. We should not show more kindness to soldiers and less to prisoners; rather, the kindness You have showered me with I should be allowing to flow out of me onto all those around me. Help me to fully live in an attitude of kindness like the people of Malta, Father. Help me to be better at exemplifying Your kindness to others, regardless of what my flesh or the world may want me to do in the moment. Thank You for showing me this example with the people of Malta and how they reacted to these surprise foreigners on their shores.
COMMAND (verse 31): I put this as my sin confession today, but I also feel this is a very direct command of Yours through Paul’s example. You say that Paul proclaimed the kingdom of God and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with “full boldness and without hindrance.” This is Your command to all of us; to me! I already proclaim Your kingdom and I already do some teachings about Jesus, but do I follow through with full boldness and without hindrance? Definitely not. I often find myself being hindered in some way when going through a teaching moment, be it my own confidence levels or maybe distractions like I have experienced in today’s quiet time. I also find myself not being bold in the words You want me to speak. By this I mean that I often give into the weakness of my flesh by being passive in some conversations instead of standing bold and firm in my faith by proclaiming Your kingdom and Your truth boldly for all to hear. Please continue to remind me about these commands, Father, so that I may truly testify about You with boldness and without hindrance.
EXAMPLE (verses 25-28): Paul was always very bold when he spoke, but he backed that up with a deep, intricate knowledge of both the Law of Moses and the Roman law. Here, when there was a little fuss and disagreement amongst the leaders of the Jewish community in Rome, he professed the Holy Spirit’s words through the prophet Isaiah, which would be something that many people would find difficult having told directly to them. By quoting this specific set of verses to them, he essentially said that they were so stubborn and hard-headed that they couldn’t truly see, hear, or embrace the truth that was being testified to them through Paul from the Lord in that moment. I imagine a preacher standing up before me with his sermon and stating, y’all are too stubborn and hard-headed to understand what the Lord is trying to tell you today. That would definitely stir up some commotion in the church for sure and rightfully so. I really need to continue to dig deeper into my faith and my confidence so that I can speak boldly the truth You have given us to all who I encounter, regardless of how harsh it may sound at times. I was not called to faith to be “politically correct” at all times as You have shown me through Paul in this example.
*DAILY NOTE: I’m sad that the story of Saul/Paul has come to an end today, but I am so grateful for the story as a whole. Thank You for the last month in the book of Acts, Father, and for all the great convictions, revelations, and stories I have felt in my heart. The book of Acts can be a bit confusing at times, but it is also extremely powerful and I am so grateful that I was able to hold steady and consistent to this conversation with You over the last several weeks. I am grateful for the lessons learned and for now knowing the full story of Saul/Paul as he went through a drastic change and years’ worth of trials and storms to become the bold man of God that he was by the time Your promised was fulfilled for him to testify in Rome. I look forward to the next book You bring me to tomorrow, Father.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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