August 9th, 2012
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Right Timing

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Opening Prayer

Gracious Father, I thank You that You give me strength for today’s demands, patience in problems, and power for pressures.

Read Acts 19:1-20

[1] While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples [2] and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” [3] So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. [4] Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” [5] On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. [6] When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. [7] There were about twelve men in all. [8] Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. [9] But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. [10] This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. [11] God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, [12] so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. [13] Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” [14] Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. [15] One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” [16] Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. [17] When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. [18] Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. [19] A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. [20] In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Eccles. 3:1).

Think Further

God’s timing is so often different from ours, much to our frustration. Before, Paul had been prevented from preaching in the province of Asia (16:6). Now, after a major circular journey through Greece, back to Jerusalem and on to Antioch, then through Galatia and Phrygia (check a map!), he is back in Ephesus (1), capital of Asia and one of the key cities of the Roman world. One of the real challenges in ministry is knowing whether to persevere in the face of difficulties or whether to do something else while waiting for the “kairos” moment, the right time.

Paul’s discovery of a group of disciples in Ephesus (1) is a reminder that when it came to this new Christian movement, the edges of belonging were sometimes fuzzy. Something made Paul suspicious of this group (2), suspicion that was well founded. Not only had they not heard of the Holy Spirit, they had only received John’s baptism. They were disciples of John, not Jesus, but they were honest seekers, responding to Paul’s teaching about Jesus, and were baptized into his name (5). Whether or not we see their experience (6) as the norm for all Christians, as John Stott says, “Pentecost caught up on them.” 

It’s easy to see Paul as essentially a thinker, preaching and debating wherever he can (8-10), but this passage reminds us that signs, wonders and miracles (11,12) were central to his apostolic credentials (Rom. 15:19; 2 Cor. 12:12). God was at work through Paul’s preaching, through the miracles and even through the impact on the false exorcists (13-16). The proof of authentic ministry is the same today: honor for the name of Jesus (17) and radically changed lives (18,19). God’s power was evident (20).

Apply

Is anything you are waiting for causing you real frustration? Pray about it specifically, asking God to help you see the kairos moment.

Closing prayer

Father, I believe that Your clocks keep perfect time. Help me to embrace that truth in the complexities of daily life.

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