Everyone needs encouragement

 

READ Acts 13–16

God gave Paul a co-worker. The apostles nicknamed Barnabas “son of encouragement.” These chapters tell how together they experienced receptivity and opposition as they shared the gospel in their travels. They were put on pedestals (reluctantly), persecuted, and led by the Holy Spirit. They dealt with legalism, hidden motivations, evil spirits and being tossed in prison. In all of it, the Lord was with them.

I used these chapters as prayer prompts. My circumstances differ, yet I feel the need for encouragement as I rebuke evil in the lives of those who have been hoodwinked by the enemy and are living in darkness. I discourage legalism in groups so bound up in rules that they seem to have forgotten their objectives. I need wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit. Division happens as will more false teaching, perhaps persecution and even being put on a pedestal at times, which I do not want.

For me, it seems easy to focus on the negatives. While I cannot ignore them, I’m encouraged by these positive verses:

Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord. (Acts 13:12)

 . . . the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath . . . . and many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who . . . urged them to continue in the grace of God. The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord . . .  And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region . . . . and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13:42–52)

Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. (Acts 14:1)

When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God . . . . And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. (Acts 14:21–27)

So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. (Acts 15:3–4)

As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. (Acts 16:4–5)

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them . . . . One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us. (Acts 16:4–15)

Paul . . . turned and said to the (evil)  spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour. (Acts 16:18)

The jailer put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened . . . . the jailer . . . . trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas . . . said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family (Acts 16:29–34)

God’s Word is a great encourager, just what I needed today —  and that is another reason to keep reading it!