Freedom For Today

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Acts 28 before reading the devotional below. 

You made it! Today we finish the book of Acts, so it’s a great time to invite your friends to join us for our next series. Paul finally makes it to Rome, where he makes the most of his opportunity to share the Gospel with the government officials there as well as people who come to his home while he is under house arrest. It is not clear if he is released from custody, stating only that he remained in Rome for two years “at his own expense.”

I find verses 21-22 fascinating: the people have received no word about Paul or his journey to Rome to appeal to Caesar, and the only thing they know about Christianity is that everyone is denouncing it. Wow. Talk about an uphill climb for the early church. Somehow without Twitter or Facebook or 24-hour news, word managed to spread so far that Paul seems to encounter believers everywhere he goes while at the same time the message of Christ is gaining a mixed reputation. And when Paul speaks in Rome, this crowd is not convinced. Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah as he tells them that their hearts are hardened towards God.

God had very clearly told Paul to go to Rome. He goes through a shipwreck and a whole lot of other hardship to get there. He’s placed under house arrest and has to pay his own way to stay there. He preaches to a cynical crowd and it seems most of them are unconvinced. If I were Paul, I’d be wondering if I had misheard God somewhere along the way… What is the point of his mission if people aren’t going to believe? Here we see God’s heart revealed: giving people the opportunity to turn to him is always worth it, even if they do not take it. God always sees people as worth the risk.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Acts 27 before reading the devotional below.

Have you noticed that Paul seems to be in charge no matter where he is? In prison, he gains favor with the guards and saves the day when the jail breaks open and the jailer thinks everyone is going to escape. On trial, he takes command of each situation and becomes an influencer in the lives of the highest ranking officials. In today’s passage, Paul is on a boat to Rome and he manages to turn into a commanding officer. Turns out the supernatural gifts of the Spirit give you a whole lot of power.

Notice verses 23-26: an angel directly visits Paul in the midst of a storm at sea that seems pretty sure to kill them all. Classic angel intro (“don’t be afraid”), followed by a reminder that Paul is on a mission to Rome and to Rome he will go. God is also interested in the lives of the soldiers and his intent is to save everyone from the storm. Fortunately, the sailors start listening to Paul and they all survive the horrible shipwreck. Paul is operating in his prophetic and leadership gifts in order to help everyone make it to safety.

Everything you are and all that you have is from God. Your life is a pile of gifts. But sometimes those gifts have been ransacked and torn apart and you wonder if God ever really gave you anything. Paul’s leadership gifts created in him by God were destructive until Jesus encountered him and poured out more refining gifts of salvation and the Spirit. Your real power lies in living the life God made you to live — whole and free and empowered. Anything less is not his design.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Acts 26 before reading the devotional below. 

If you are hoping for a really stellar ending to Acts, (spoiler alert) you will be sorely disappointed. This book literally just ends with absolutely no resolution. Paul’s other letters give us some clues as to the events that follow, but we really do not get to hear the end of this story.

In today’s chapter, Paul appeals once again to King Agrippa and to the governor, Festus. Paul refers to Agrippa’s intimate knowledge of Jewish theology, so he must have been pretty familiar with the sects to which Paul refers. Festus thinks Paul is just downright insane and thinks he should lay off the books for a while. Paul tells the story of his conversion for the third time, because his encounter with Jesus was just that life-changing. But the last line of this chapter is a kicker: “He could have been set free if he hadn’t appealed to Caesar.”

Paul wasn’t standing there, wringing his hands and hoping for his freedom. He knew two things very clearly: Jesus showed up on that Damascus road and his next move is to get to Rome. He isn’t worried that it isn’t going to work out. He is not intimidated by talking to all these powerful leaders. He doesn’t really even seemed that stressed about being in prison. His mission is pretty much going how he thought it would, and he’s determined to keep following the Spirit. Shed some self-doubt today by trusting God to lead you where he wants to take you.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Acts 25 before reading the devotional below.

Paul’s prison time takes a turn when a new governor, Festus, takes over for Felix. Paul’s Jewish accusers are ready to pounce — two years has not slowed down their determination to kill Paul. Festus hears the arguments and finds the accusations flimsy at best. Festus asks if Paul is willing to go to Jerusalem so the case can be heard there. Paul’s response is once again a critically strategic move that reflects God’s instructions to him on what his next step should be: go to Rome. Paul uses his Roman citizenship to appeal to the emperor himself, which means a free trip to Rome.

Paul’s case intrigues even higher ranking officials, including King Agrippa and his sister, Bernice. So, just to review, in the past two years, Paul has had a free place to stay (prison might be not so horrible if you have the governor checking in on you regularly), frequent contact with the highest officials, and now a free police escort to the very destination God told him to go. If the word “prison” were not involved, you would call it 100% provision.

God works things out for you when you are on his mission. And why wouldn’t he? If God has something to accomplish, and all the resources to get it done, it wouldn’t make sense for him to make it harder. God is for you, and he has invited you to participate in his mission to save the world. When you are doing that work, God lines up next step after next step and provides in ways that are beyond what you could plan for yourself. So go out there and live the mission, and leave the details to God.

Take a moment to read Acts 23:12-24:27 before reading the devotional below.

Recall from yesterday’s post that Paul is in prison awaiting trial for his alleged crimes against the Jewish law. As he is being held, a group of people plot to kill him the next time he is transported to the court. Paul’s nephew gets wind of this plan, alerts authorities and the plot is thwarted. The case has gotten kicked all the way up to the governor, Felix, who hears the arguments from the plaintiffs (the accusing Jewish leaders). They accuse Paul of inciting riots, which from our reading we know do seem to spring up around Paul wherever he goes. Paul defends himself by saying that he is simply following “the Way” and their accusations against him are purely theological.

Felix has heard of Jesus and “the Way,” so he takes some time to consider Paul’s defense. He comes back a few days later with his wife to have a personal sit-down with Paul to hear more about the teachings of Jesus. Paul tells them about Jesus’ message that the law cannot save people since no one can keep it with perfect right living and self-control. Because of this, on the day of judgment Jesus is our only defense. Felix, being very familiar with legal systems, gets pretty freaked out by this message and decides that avoidance of judging Paul’s case is his best strategy. At the end of this nail-biter of a story, all we have is one little sentence to represent a significant amount of time: “two years went by… he left Paul in prison.”

TWO YEARS! If I’m ever waiting for something for two years, it’s going to take up more than a sentence in my memoir… And yet here we have Paul, who has already suffered tremendously, on hold in prison for two years represented by a single sentence. However, there is a key detail in that sentence that reminds us that God was still doing something: Felix sent for Paul “quite often” to have talks with him about Jesus. Paul had the opportunity to preach to the governor personally for two years (with free housing…). God had plans to use Paul and he did not put things on hold for prison. If you feel like you are in a waiting season or in a real or figurative prison, be encouraged. God is using this time for his purposes, and you are not wasting a single moment if you are seeking and following him.