Daily Devotions

When the Flesh Rules​


READ THE SCRIPTURE: ACTS 23:1-5
Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day. At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck! Those who were standing near Paul said, How dare you insult God's high priest! Paul replied, Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.
Acts 23:1-5

What a left-footed beginning! There is a noticeable kind of reckless audacity about the apostle in his introduction. He seems to be careless, almost, of the consequences of what he says — like a man burning his bridges behind him. I rather suspect that he is aware, by now, that he has blundered into a very untenable situation and so he is trying to bull his way through, no matter what.

He does not begin with his usual courtesy. The customary address to the Sanhedrin was a standardized form which began, Rulers of Israel, and elders of the people... Paul does not employ that, but instead puts himself right on a level with these rulers, and he addresses them simply with the familiar term, Brothers. That was an offense to these Jews. He also implies that there is no possible ground of complaint against him. This was certainly true. Yet it seemed to imply that there was no reason for this meeting at all, that it was absurd to have called this council together.

So, for this seeming impudence and impertinence, the high priest commands that he be slapped across the mouth. That was an unusually degrading form of insult to an Israelite and Paul's anger flashes out at this offense. He whips back this sharp, caustic retort: God shall strike you, you whitewashed wall! That was a typically Judaistic way of calling him a bloody hypocrite. It certainly is not the most tactful way for a prisoner to address a judge. It is very likely that Paul recognized who Ananias was, but what he did not know was that Ananias had recently been appointed high priest. The moment it is pointed out to him that Ananias is indeed the high priest, Paul is instantly repentant, for he recognizes that he is in the wrong. He apologizes, for the law says that the office deserves respect, even if the man does not.

This should not surprise us. The apostle has gone to Jerusalem in direct disobedience to the Holy Spirit. He is thereby a man who has put himself in the position of being mastered and controlled by the flesh, that principle of evil inherent in every one of us. Remember that the Apostle Paul himself is the one who tells us, in his letter to the Romans, that if we yield ourselves as servants to the flesh, we become the servant of that which we obey (Romans 6:16). In other words, if we give way to the flesh in one area, then other areas of our life will be affected. If we give way, the flesh always carries us farther than we want to go. It sits at the controls of our life and rules us, whether we like it or not. No matter what we try to do, it all comes out fleshly.

Father, reveal to me the areas in which I have allowed the flesh to be in control. Teach me to walk not in the flesh but in the Spirit.

Life Application​

Are we acknowledging the reality of lifelong encounters with 'the flesh', that 'inherent principle of evil'? Are we learning to recognize its subtleties, invoking and submitting to the indwelling power of Christ's indwelling Life?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
 

Restoration!​


READ THE SCRIPTURE: ACTS 23:6-35
The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.
Acts 23:11

Literally, what the Lord Jesus says as he appears to Paul is, Be of good cheer. Cheer up, Paul. That is certainly a revelation of the state of Paul's heart at this time. He is anything but of good cheer. He is defeated and discouraged, wallowing in an awful sense of shame and failure, but he is not abandoned. Isn't it wonderful that the Lord comes now to restore him to his ministry?
I am sure that Luke does not give us the full account of what transpired between Paul and his Lord on that night. But there is enough here that we can see what our Lord is after. He restores Paul to usefulness. He promises Paul success in the desire of his heart, which was second only to his desire to win his kinsmen, i.e., that he might bear witness for Christ at the heart of the empire, the capital of the Gentile world itself. You remember that Paul had announced that, after he went to Jerusalem, he must go to Rome. And his prayer as he wrote to the Roman Christians was that he might be allowed to come to them. The Lord Jesus now gives that back to him.

And yet the very form which he employs contains a hint of the limitation which Paul had made necessary when he disobeyed the Spirit of God. The Lord Jesus puts it this way: As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome. In other words, the emphasis here is upon the manner in which this witness will go forth. In the way that you bore witness to me in Jerusalem, in that same way you must bear witness in Rome. And how had he testified in Jerusalem? It was as a prisoner — chained, bound, limited.

This encounter with the Lord Jesus must have been a wonderful moment in Paul's experience. The Lord restored him to spiritual health, as he often must do with us. Have you ever been in this circumstance? Have you ever disobeyed God, knowing that you shouldn't have but wanting something so badly that you've gone ahead anyway? How wonderful to have the Lord ready to restore us. I have been there too, so I know how God can tenderly deal with us and bring us back to a place of being yielded.

After this Paul is his usual self again. From here on the things he says and does have that same wonderful infusion of the Spirit's power which makes unusual things happen. And from Rome he is to write some of his greatest letters — letters filled with power, which are still changing the history of the world. The joy of the Lord is back in his heart. The glory returns to his ministry. The love of Jesus Christ is filling him and flooding him, empowering him and enriching him. That is the glory of being a Christian. You can be forgiven. You do not have to wait. And you do not have to pay for anything. You do not have to go back and try to placate God in some way because of what you have done. You must make it right, as far as you can, with any people you have wronged — but you can be forgiven, and all the glory of your relationship with the Lord restored.

Father, thank you for your restoring love, for the fact that you have never abandoned me, that you keep me and bring me back.

Life Application​

How do we respond to God's incomparably tenacious, enduring love? Do we receive such love with deepening, humble gratitude? Do we frustrate such love with our futile efforts to repay him -- assuming that to be possible? Or do we persist in defying his love by refusing his sovereign and wise authority?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries
 

Discipline of Delay​


READ THE SCRIPTURE: ACTS 24:1-23
Then Felix, who was well acquainted with the Way, adjourned the proceedings. When Lysias the commander comes, he said, I will decide your case. He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard but to give him some freedom and permit his friends to take care of his needs.
Acts 24:22-23

This is an account of one of God's inscrutable delays, which often afflict us. We think that something we want to have happen is just around the corner. Then as we move toward it we find that it seems to move away from us, recede from us, elude us. Sometimes it takes us months or years to reach a point which we thought was right there. These circumstances raise questions in our minds and hearts. So with the apostle. Here we begin to see God's discipline of delay.
Felix really doesn't need to have Lysias come down. He has already received from him a letter exonerating Paul. But he uses this as an excuse, in order that he might hear something more from the apostle. Felix's curiosity has been awakened and, as Luke tells us, he knew something about Christianity, and he wants to hear more. So he retains Paul in custody, even though he has every legal right to set him free.

Now, don't blame Felix, because he is being used as an instrument to carry out God's purposes with Paul. This is the work of a loving, heavenly Father who is concerned with a beloved son. Remember that Paul, by disobedience, despite the consistent warnings of the Holy Spirit, had chosen the pathway which led to bonds and imprisonment. He had disobeyed the direct command of the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem.

There is a very instructive lesson here for us. It is simply that when we disobey God and are later forgiven, as Paul was forgiven and restored, that forgiveness does not change the pathway we have chosen. God doesn't eliminate the trials and the difficulties we have deliberately assumed. What the forgiveness does is to restore to that pathway all the power and joy and gladness that was our experience before we walked in disobedience. You find that this is what happens here with Paul. When he was restored to the fellowship of his Lord by the appearance of the Lord Jesus to him in prison in Jerusalem, as we saw in an earlier chapter, that pathway of imprisonment was not canceled. He remains a prisoner, and ahead of him lie two long, weary years of waiting in Caesarea, and three more in Rome, as a prisoner of the Lord. God doesn't eliminate that, but he does transform it into a fruitful and profitable experience for the apostle.

This is the point this whole section is making for us. We see Paul now going ahead, bound as a prisoner, yet finding, nevertheless, that the fullness of God's power and glory is able to work in him just as freely through the channel of imprisonment as it did when he was free. The imprisonment was not comfortable. It added a good deal of agony and heartache to the apostle's own experience. But he accepted it as God's provision for him, and found it to be no less the instrument of God's working and power than anything else he had experienced before.

Father, thank you for this lesson again from the life of this mighty apostle. How faithfully you dealt with him! How deeply he learned these truths! How faithfully he passes them on to me so that I might learn to accept your delays, not as denials, but as opportunities for enrichment and advance.

Life Application​

Time management is a learned discipline. Are we resentful that God has the last word? Or are we learning to rest in his sovereign wisdom and ways?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
 

The Judgment to Come​


READ THE SCRIPTURE: ACTS 24:24-27
Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, That's enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you. At the same time he was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe, so he sent for him frequently and talked with him.
Acts 24:24-26

Paul told Felix about the judgment to come. There is coming a time when every life is going to be evaluated, when each human being will suddenly find himself standing naked before God, with all his life laid out for everyone to see. Then to all will be evident the value, or the lack of it, of that life. Jesus spoke of this. He said that there will come a time when that which is spoken in secret shall be shouted from the housetops, and that which is hidden shall be revealed. All the hidden secrets of the heart, and everything done in secret shall be openly displayed.

Undoubtedly Paul pointed out to Felix that God is aware of the hearts of men; he does not merely read the outside. We are so content if we can fool people by the exterior of our lives. But Paul laid before the governor the fact that he was dealing with a God who reads the heart. Wouldn't it be interesting if we had a television camera which could record thoughts. Suppose that today that camera was on you, and all the thoughts you have had running through your mind this last hour were recorded on videotape. What would you think if it was announced that next Sunday morning at church this would be played back on a screen?

That is exactly what God is talking about — a time when everyone will see the life of everyone else, exactly as it was, with nothing hidden, nothing covered over, all of it there. Then the great question will be: What did you do with Jesus Christ? When Paul reasoned this way before the governor, he was afraid. It all came home to him. The logic of it hit him right between the eyes. But this was his response: That's enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you. He procrastinated. He had a hunger for God, but he also wanted money from Paul.

Jesus said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all other things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33 KJV). But you can't put them on the same level of priority. You can't want God and money. That is what destroys men. That is what blinded this man so that he could not see the importance of this moment. He had one of the most unusual opportunities ever afforded a human being: To spend hours with the Apostle Paul, but he passed it by. Go away, he said, until I have a more convenient time. Do you know anything sadder, more pathetic, than those words? And though he called Paul to him and talked with him often, he was never afraid again. That is the danger that men face when they are confronted with the reality of Jesus Christ and do nothing about it. Their hearts are hardened.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you have made provision for me to have your righteousness covering me at the day of judgment.

Life Application​

Do we welcome full disclosure of our sinful thoughts and actions so that we may experience God's amazing, gracious forgiveness? Does unbroken communion with him trump prideful cover-ups?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
 

By Faith In Me​


READ THE SCRIPTURE: ACTS 25:1-26:23
Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
Acts 26:16-18

Here is the heart of Paul's message before King Agrippa — his own transforming experience with Jesus Christ, in which in a nutshell he lays the good news out before the king. What a marvelous declaration of the gospel! Here from the words of Jesus himself, as Paul recalls hearing them on the Damascus road, is an accurate analysis of the problem with humanity. What is the matter with people? They are blind, Jesus says, blind and living in darkness.

Two thousand years later that is exactly what is wrong with our world. People do not know where to turn; they do not know where the answers lie. They do not even know how to analyze the problems accurately; they cannot see what is happening. They cannot predict the end of courses they adopt nor of the forces which they loose. They do not know where we are going. They are utterly blind, like men staggering around in a dark room, groping and feeling and trying to find their way through the course of history. This sense of being lost pervades our society. Two thousand years later we can see the truth of Jesus' words. How accurately he analyzes the problem!

Then the Lord Jesus analyzes why men are blind. Because, he says, they are under the power of Satan. Behind the darkness is the great enemy of mankind, who is twisting and distorting the thinking of men, clouding their eyes, and spreading abroad widespread delusions. He has loosed into this world a great flood of lying propaganda. And everywhere today men and women have believed these delusions and lies.

You hear them on every side. All the commonly accepted philosophies of our day reflect the basic satanic lie that we are capable and adequate and independent, able to run our own affairs. You also hear that if you live for yourself, take care of number one, you will find advancement and fulfillment in life. And you hear that material things can satisfy you, that, if you get enough money, you will be happy. All these lies permeate our society. That is the power of Satan.

But the power of the gospel is that it comes in to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to the power of God. God has found a way to forgive men's sins, to wipe out all the guilt from the mistakes of the past, from all that they have done in their ignorance and enslavement to the lying propaganda of Satan, and to give them a resource from which they may live in fulfillment and strength. That is what Jesus means by a place among those who are sanctified. How do you get this? Jesus says precisely: By faith in me. That is why we believe him when he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man can come unto the Father but by me. We have no other choice, because it was Jesus himself who said that all this happens by faith in me. Wherever men have turned to him, they have indeed turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to the power of God.

Father, how grateful I am that this same mighty, delivering power is just as available to people today, that you can turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, and forgive their sins, and set them free, and give them an inheritance, a new position, a new resource from which they may live.

Life Application​

Have we been so impacted by Jesus, the Light of the world, that we are passionate to spread his Light into the deep, dark blindness that holds this world hostage to the enemy? Do our lives demonstrate the transcendent wisdom and power of Jesus? Are we spreading the fragrance of Jesus everywhere?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
 

That You May Become What I Am​


READ THE SCRIPTURE: ACTS 26:24-32
King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do. Then Agrippa said to Paul, Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian? Paul replied, Short time or long — I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.
Acts 26:27-29

As Paul continues speaking directly to Agrippa he says, King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe. Do you see what he's saying? He is saying, You know the historical facts of Jesus' life. You believe the prophets. So put the two together. What did the prophets say the Messiah would do? Where does that drive you? Jesus fulfilled what the prophets wrote.

At this point this enslaved king, mastered by his own lusts, is faced right into the issue. You can just see him squirming up there on his throne. Unfortunately his answer is to turn his back on what Paul says. It is a little difficult to understand exactly what he replied. The Greek is a bit obscure. Certainly he didn't say what we have in our King James Version: Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. He is not saying, You've almost got me, Paul. You almost have me convinced. Many a message has been preached on that theme, as though Agrippa had almost come to the point of becoming a Christian. It is much more likely that he said with almost sneering sarcasm, Do you really think that in this short a time you're going to make me a Christian? You've got to do a lot more than that if you're going to make me a Christian!

Paul's reply is magnificent. With a heavy heart he says, King Agrippa, whether I had to spend a short time or a long time with you, I just want you to know that the hunger of my heart is that not only you, on your throne with your wife beside you, but that every one in this room could be like I am — except for these chains. This is a magnificent answer! It is hardly the answer of a prisoner, is it? As he stands there he says, I wish you could be like I am. I wish you had the peace, the liberty, the power, the joy, the gladness of my heart and life.

What an appeal out of a great heart! What a revelation of the greatness of the gospel! It can rise above every circumstance, every situation, and fill the heart with joy, so that a man in chains, bound and a prisoner, can stand before a king and say, Even though you are a king, and you have all that wealth can buy, I would gladly recommend that you become like I am, so great is this glorious liberty in Jesus Christ. It is a challenging moment, a marvelous presentation of the freedom that the gospel gives, that this chained prisoner could thus challenge a king upon his throne and offer to trade places with him. But remember that Agrippa is a Herod.

He is an Edomite, a descendant of Esau. Esau stands throughout Scripture as a mark of that independent spirit which refuses help from God, which turns its back upon all the love of God poured out to reach us, and in independent arrogance refuses the proffered hand of God's grace. That is what this king does. And now he fades from history. He is the last of the line of the Herods. But Paul's great words ring in our ears down through the centuries. There is nothing like the liberty of Jesus Christ. No external condition of wealth or prestige or power is worth a snap of the finger compared with the freedom and the power and the joy and the gladness that a man can find in Jesus Christ.

Father, thank you for the freedom you give me in Christ, a freedom so great that no human circumstance can rob me of my joy in you. Please let this freedom and joy make me unashamed of the Gospel like Paul.

Life Application​

Are we unfettered from our circumstances, liberated by new ownership to the transcendent power of our indwelling Savior and Lord? Are we claiming the liberating practice of Christ's presence as the essence of life?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2022 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
 
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