Acts of the Spirit in the Apostles

Yes, I know the book in the Bible is called Acts of the Apostles, but with careful reading one might want to title the book Acts of the Holy Spirit. Through these reading we see lives changed. People willing to face persecution, stoning, death. All for the privilege of following and knowing the risen Christ. It was dangerous to be a disciple(still is in many places in the world). A disciple was putting his/her live on the line for Jesus. I wonder if my faith is that strong. Do I share how God has worked in Jesus and in my life? Do I endure everything for the sake of others who need to hear the gospel? Then I remember that it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that these people acted. The power of the Holy Spirit gives the words, the strength, the passion to be faithful in all circumstances. In Antioch the followers of the way of Jesus were first called Christians. They endured hardship, but the church continued to grow, because they never stop sharing Christ with others. In my community there are still many who need to hear about Jesus yet the challenge is to share Christ even if we don't face hardship and persecution. The challenge is to share Christ even when not our lives but our feelings are on the line. My prayer is for the Holy Spirit to empower me for this challenge in this time.

Joshua continues

Reading Joshua is difficult. It does help me understand the on-going problems in the Holy Land. Land has always been a priority to Israel. "Not one of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass." 21:45. According to the book of Joshua the promises were around land and conquest. I find uncomfortable the stories of fighting, pillaging, and dividing of the land. The God I know in Jesus teaches another way.
I do like the blessing of Joshua to the people, "Take good care to observe the commandment and instruction that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, and to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul." 22:5 How does the destruction and the blessing in Joshua match your understanding of the teachings of Jesus?

April 24-May 1 Bible study

The readings for this week are Job 25- 31, Joshua 9-22, and Acts 10:34-14

Job continues to defend himself and cry out to speak to God. He believes in his innocence and integrity. Job longs to understand why his suffering continues. Job allows us to struggle with the theology of God blesses with prosperity and curses with suffering, with the theology of the good get blessed and the sinner gets suffering in this life. The cries of Job are surely the cries of many. He feels abandoned by God and does not understand why. How do we share God's goodness with those who are suffering and feeling alone? How do we redefine blessing to not include prosperity?

Job's Woes

Read Job 18-25 today. Job is an interesting book on how people talk theology. Job's friends think that God blesses only the good and punishes only the wicked therefore Job is wicked. Poor Job says no, the wicked prosper on earth so prosperity must not come directly from God. Job feels abandoned by both friends and God. This is also good study in the difference between the theology of prosperity (God wants the faithful to be wealthy) and the theology of abundance (God is able to provide all things necessary for God's work on earth.) I side with Job and the theology of abundance.

New Beginnigs

Some of us have decided to read the Bible in a year. This weeks readings are
Deuteronomy 29-34; Joshua 1-10; Acts 7:1-10:48; Job 18-25.
I read the Deuteronomy passages today. Chapter thirty was the one which has me thinking. Verses 11-14 and 15-20. I was using The Jewish Study Bible. God's instruction has been put in our hearts so we might observe it. God sets before us life and prosperity or death and adversity. God says choose life. Life, blessing, prosperity is loving the Lord, heeding God's commands and holding fast to God. According to the Tanakh this should not be baffling. Today I choose life.