Acts 16:1-12 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Acts 16:1-12. Let’s go!
Acts 16:1-3 (NIV)
1 He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek.
2 The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.
3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
On verses 1-3: Lystra was the city where Paul experienced some of the worst persecution of his life. He was stoned and almost killed in Lystra (Acts 14:19). Yet Paul never gave up on Lystra and continued to reach and care for the believers there. Eventually in Lystra Paul would meet Timothy, who would become one of his dearest sons in the faith and one of his most important teammates. It goes to show that when you don’t give up on the place God has called you to, great things will happen eventually. You just need to last long enough to see it.
Acts 16:4-12 (NIV)
4 As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey.
5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.
6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.
7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.
8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.
9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis.
12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
On verses 4-12: Paul had plans to go to Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit stopped him. How? It was through both external and internal considerations. Externally, it seemed that the door to Bithynia didn’t open the way they had hoped. Internally, Paul has a vision of a man of Macedonia begging him to come to Macedonia to help. Putting these external and internal considerations together, Paul reasons that God wants his team to go to Macedonia to preach the gospel. So they “got ready at once to leave for Macedonia” (v10).
What can we learn from this? When God interrupts your plans, instead of getting frustrated and sulking, be open to the fact that God is up to something different and better than what you had planned. When God closes a door, He is giving you an unexpected opportunity.
Father, thank You that whenever You interrupt my plans or close a door, it’s because You have a better plan that You are executing and You are giving me an unexpected opportunity. Help me to perceive what that unexpected opportunity is and not to miss it. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
