Reasoning, Race, and Repentance
Okay y’all, this morning nature was calling (as it always does) and sometimes I will tell nature to hush so I can go back to sleep. I am not talking about nature outside either. I am talking about having to pee first thing in the morning (yeah yall know I just cut to the chase with it). LOL!
Some times I can actually hold it. But most times I can’t. I used to always tell my 1 Hour Prayer Group that God will use you having to pee to get you out of bed to pray! Well that’s exactly what He did this morning. I only reasoned with myself for a second before He told me that getting on up would benefit me today.
I got up and did what I had to do (LOL) and I started the conversation!
I prayed. I worshipped. I sang. I talked to Holy Spirit. I opened my Bible. I read.
Here’s what Holy Spirit said to me through scripture, specifically Acts 17. But before I get there, I want to set the foundation for this conversation with 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
God has breathed life into all Scripture. It is useful for teaching us what is true. It is useful for correcting our mistakes. It is useful for making our lives whole again. It is useful for training us to do what is right. By using Scripture, the servant of God can be completely prepared to do every good thing. — 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIRV
Now speaking of scripture, when I read in Acts 17 this morning, I noticed that it said in verse 2 that Paul reasoned with them from the Scriptures. I heard Holy Spirit say: Don’t argue with people, reason with them from the scripture.
How many times do we find ourselves arguing with people? A lot of times it’s about nothing, but what if we reasoned with people…from the Scripture! What a revelation! What if we allowed Holy Spirit to guide us in what to say verses just saying what we want to say?
Then I noticed in Acts 17:11 that Berean people were eager to receive the word. Holy Spirit said: There will be some people who are more eager for My Word than others. They will want to read and examine the Word daily! Dr. Tony Evans study notes said as believers we should all be like the Bereans and welcome God’s Word with anticipation and regularly mining it in order to be transformed by it through obedience.
Okay, so what else did Holy Spirit point out to me in scripture this morning? Still in the book of Acts 17, verse 26, he showed me that He made every nationality from one man, to live over the whole earth. This means there is no room for racial superiority! God wants all of us to seek Him. And we are share the gospel whenever and wherever with whomever we have an opportunity. We are to be faith to make Jesus known and invite people to place their faith in him for the gift of eternal life. Then leave the rest in God’s hands as the Holy Spirit works in their hearts. So don’t be so prideful that you only want to help your race. God made all races and nationalities. It says so right in verse 26. Let that sink in.
In him we live and move and exist.’ As some of your own poets have also said, ‘We are his children.’ — Acts 17:28 NIRV
Just a reminder from Holy Spirit that God is closer to us than our own breath! Dr. Evans says that since God is the sum total of all of life, it is in getting to know him intimately that you truly come to know who you are and what you were created to be.
Also notice that verse 28 ends with letting us that we are his children! Let that sink in too!
Finally Holy Spirit pointed out to me that we should not fool with no idols. What is an idol? Idols are nouns: (person, place, thing, or thought) that you look to as your source! That job could be an idol. That money could be an idol. That thing you do could be an idol. That thought or idea could be an idol. Idols misrepresent and diminish the glory of the living and true God.
Nothing…and I mean NO THING is the source other than God. God is your source for everything. Acts 17:24 says: The God who made the world and everything in it— he is the Lord of heaven and earth — does not live in shrines made by hands.
Thank God for Acts 17:30 because it says that God having overlooked the times of our ignorance, commands all people everywhere to repent.
I know that I have had some ignorant times and if you be honest with yourself, you have too! But let us be encouraged by the Word of the Lord to know how to use scripture, what’s in scripture, and how to be obedient to scripture.
P.S. I just love my Conversations With God! Don’t you?
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SALVATION PRAYER
If you don’t know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and you’re not a believer, but you have a desire to be, all you have to do is openly confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). When you pray that prayer, you are saved. Get connected with a good, bible-based church in your community, stay connected to other believers, and start having daily conversations through prayer with God every single day. Welcome to your new life with Jesus Christ!!!
ASSIGNMENTS
What did Holy Spirit say to you in your conversation with Him this morning?
What was more revelatory to you regarding reasoning, race, and repentance?
Record yourself reading the Word of God on video or audio and watch how God will use your own voice to give you revelation and build your faith (keeping this assignment on here for a while).
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