I’ve been reading through Acts with an online community of Truth seeking women. We ended 2018 reading Luke and have started the first month of 2019 by reading a chapter a day in Acts. This daily ritual has been such a Spiritual refresher and strengthener for me. Luke opened my eyes so much to where I feel God leading my focus for the year – to get moving. To walk with Him and let the Holy Spirit propel me forward in obedience. Enough of being a sponge. In this season, for the most part, my cup runneth over with spiritual zest. Time to let it ooze out and time to pour out. To let the fire of the Holy Spirit burn bright through me.
So Acts has been timely. In this book of the Bible we see men on fire for their Savior. Men compelled to travel and share His word. Men moving on mission KNOWING they will be persecuted and finding themselves gleeful when they do. (Acts 5:41) Men SO odd compared to those around them. Men sold out for Jesus and changing lives like it was their job. Because it was. The mission of their lives. And it can be ours also.
This morning, I was getting caught up on my reading, and came across Acts 19:17-20.
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. Acts 19:17-20 (emphasis, my own)
Here’s what I know about reading my Bible. That God is THERE. He’s ALIVE. Which means His word is alive and when we are truly putting our intention into reading His word and seeking Him, the Holy Spirit is moving. He’s there. We can tap into that power and He can and will move.
What caught my attention was first the reminder that fear = honoring God. I over-complicate fearing God. If I’m honoring Him with my words, my actions, my heart and my thoughts – I am fearing Him and, therefore, in His will for my life.
BUT THEN. Reading the verses about the sorcerers (magicians) literally burning what they lived for (in public!) to turn their lives over to Him stopped me. I had to re-read. These individuals were making out well financially, but yet, when they realized that they were living in sin, they burned what they were putting their hope in so that they could put their hope in Jesus. A fresh start. The old gone. They let it burn. And walked away into a new and eternal changed life.
AND IT GETS BETTER. Because of that…the word of God spread and grew in power. Talk about a fire. A message of hope. A message so culturally abnormal…literally spreading like wild fire. Seizing anything in it’s path that surrendered.
I can’t just leave this thought on those pages. I can’t help but wonder from these words, what is it that I need to burn and walk away from…never to pick back up. Is it something in my thoughts? Is it a lie I tell myself? Is it a lie I portray? Is it a daily action?
What I know is that He wants a changed and refined heart in all of us. And it’s a-never-fully-there kind of change. YET His grace covers us once and for all every moment and wraps our surrendered heart with a clean sweep that promises eternity in His love. So I come to Him asking how to draw nearer, how to love Him more and He says, “Let it burn.”
grace and ashes 