As soon as I had recorded, sung and prayed through the words to this song, the Lord brought to mind a dream I had in the night. I know there was more to it, but all I remember of it is the end. THE DREAM: I saw my friend B.H., who was my very best friend for many years, who in real life died of cancer in 1998 or very early 1999. Her face looked bright and alive – radiant. Her cheeks were full and rosy. We had not seen each other in a very long time (not since her death). She realized I had not seen her since… and then she let me know that she had been healed, and that the cancer was completely gone. END
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Acts 14:
In Iconium
1 At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. 2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. 4 The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. 5 There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them. 6 But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, 7 where they continued to preach the good news.
In Lystra and Derbe
8 In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15 “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” 18 Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe….
My Understanding: I see a lot of cause and effect here going on in this passage of scripture, so that is what I am going to be looking at today.
The apostles spoke effectively the gospel of Jesus Christ. The result was that many people believed in Jesus. Amen! Praise the Lord!! Yet, there was another effect present here, and that is that those who refused to believe in Jesus stirred up those who were listening to the gospel, and they poisoned the people’s minds with lies against the brothers. When we are following Jesus with our whole hearts and we desire nothing more than to obey him in all things, and that is evidenced by our lives and our testimonies for him, there will be both those who gladly receive the message of the gospel and who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, and those who refuse to believe. Among those who refuse to believe, there may even be those who will make up lies about us and who will poison, against us, the minds of those who were listening. We can’t let that discourage us or to cause us to lose hope. We have to keep persevering, and that is what Paul and Barnabas did.
I love Paul and Barnabas’ response to this persecution. The Bible says, “So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord…” Wow! I looked up the word “so.” It means “indicating the reason for an action or situation, or its result.” So, the reason that Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, was wrapped up in what had just previously taken place – people believing in the gospel and people not believing, and subsequent persecution. They were encouraged, I believe, not only by the salvation of the people who believed, but they were also encouraged by the persecution they received, because that meant not only that God was working miracles in people’s lives but that Satan was angry and he was on a rampage against them. This only caused to spur them on and to make them even more determined to continue sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, that we would respond in that same manner, as well, when we are faced with such opposition from sinful man.
As a result of the disciples/apostles continuing to remain there and continuing to spread the gospel message, yet also as an effect of the opposition that was against the apostles, the people were divided. Some went with the opposition forces and some went with the apostles. Then, a plot among those who were standing in opposition to the gospel message arose among the people, and among the leaders of the people, to mistreat God’s messengers and to stone them. We have not yet faced much of that kind of mistreatment in America, but it is coming. People all over the world have faced this kind of mistreatment for the gospel. We will not be spared. Yet, when we are mistreated unfairly for doing what is right, we need to respond as Paul and Barnabas did.
They found out about the plot, they left, they went somewhere else, and they continued to preach the good news. Sometimes the Lord says stay and keep on going, which was Paul and Barnabas’ initial response. Yet, other times the Lord says “go someplace else,” and then we must leave and take the gospel message to other people who will listen. And, we need the sensitivity to the Holy Spirit to know when he is saying “stay” and when he is saying “leave.” Yet, even though they left, they did not leave with their tails between their legs. They were not leaving in defeat. They were leaving in victory, and they continued sharing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen! Hallelujah!! Praise the Lord!!
Then, they went to another place where Paul was instrumental in the healing of a man lame from birth. The effect of this was that the crowd of people thought they were gods and they wanted to worship them. Notice how their response to being acclaimed as gods was so much different from that of Herod who God struck dead because he failed to deny he was a god, and he failed to give glory to the only true God. The apostles, nonetheless, did not accept that proclamation for even one second once they learned what was being said about them. They tore their clothes, which was a custom of that day to express great anguish of soul. And, they pleaded with the people to not worship them or to call them gods for they were mere mortals just like them. And, then they took the occasion to express to the people that they were there on a mission from God Almighty to bring them the good news, telling them to turn from these worthless things to the living God. What worthless things were they talking about? They were talking about our man-idols, i.e. the worship of men. We, too, should not allow men to give the glory to us belonging to God alone.
So, what was the result then of them telling the people about the One and Only true God and about the truth of the good news and how they could turn from sin and from the worship of man-idols to faith in Jesus Christ? The opposition got a hold of the people, again, and they won the crowd over to their way of thinking. Then the crowd, who had been calling the apostles gods and who wanted to worship them, stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. Does this sound familiar? I seem to recall that a similar situation happened to Jesus Christ. The crowds were one day throwing palm branches at his feet and waving them and singing praises to him and then when the opposition got a hold of them, they were shouting “Crucify him!” Oh, how easily swayed us humans can be when we are not grounded in the word of God and in our faith in Jesus Christ so that no amount of opposition will sway us from our pure devotion to Jesus. They thought they conquered Jesus and they thought they conquered Paul. They guessed wrong on both accounts!
My friend’s cancer did not defeat her, either. Jesus took her home. She had finished her work for the Lord on this earth, and God blessed her by taking her to be with her Lord. And, she is healed! She has no more cancer. She is victorious in Jesus Christ, her Lord!! And she is radiant! Thinking about that immediately brought this scripture to mind:
I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame (Ps. 34:4-5).
We cannot fear man – what he may think about us, say about us or do to us. We need to look to Jesus and place our trust in him so that our faces, too, can be radiant and never covered with shame. This story of Paul and Barnabas is a great story to illustrate this truth, too. Paul was left for dead, yet many of the disciples gathered around him. Then he got back up and went back inside the city. We so need that, too! We need to have people of God who will gather around us in prayer, encouragement, in words of comfort, hope and healing so that we, too, can get back up on our feet and can go right back into the battle ground after we have been knocked down in battle by our enemy, and we need to do this for others, too, all the more, the Bible says, as we see The Day approaching.
The next day, the apostles went to another place, they preached the good news, and a large number of people became disciples of Jesus. Then, they went back to where they had just been poisoned in the minds of the people against them, where there was a plot to mistreat and to stone them, where the crowd had been swayed by the opposition to their way of thinking, and where Paul had been stoned and left for dead. Why did they go back? – To strengthen the disciples there, to encourage them to remain true to the faith, and to let them know “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” We, too, will go through such hardships, and we, as well, need to remain strong in our faith and put on the full armor of God and not get discouraged, but to “press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).
My Jesus, As Thou Wilt! / Benjamin Schmolck / Carl M. von Weber.
My Jesus, as Thou wilt! Oh, may Thy will be mine!
Into Thy hand of love I would my all resign.
Through sorrow or through joy, conduct me as Thine own;
And help me still to say, ‘My Lord, Thy will be done.’
My Jesus, as Thou wilt! Though seen through many a tear,
Let not my star of hope grow dim or disappear.
Since Thou on earth has wept, and sorrowed oft alone,
If I must weep with Thee, ‘My Lord, Thy will be done.’
My Jesus, as Thou wilt! All shall be well for me;
Each changing future scene I gladly trust with Thee.
Straight to my home above I travel calmly on,
And sing, in life or death, ‘My Lord, Thy will be done.’
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