Join us as we read the scriptures and a daily devotion written by Don Crisp. We pray these messages will bless us all at this time.
Acts chapter 14 v 8-13:
Categories: Don’s Daily Devotions
Acts chapter 14 v 8-13:
V8: At Lystra, they encounter a man lame from birth. Though it is not actually said, he was probably dependent on begging for alms, like the man Peter and John met in ch 4.
V9: It seems that Paul is actually preaching wherever this man is, and as he listens intently and Paul looks directly at him, the Apostle is given Holy Spirit discernment to see that he has come to faith, and to believe that he can be healed.
V10: So, he simply calls on him to exercise that faith and stand up – and the man who has never walked now stands and walks. All this is surely in the Name of Jesus, and by His power alone, of course.
V11-12: The people of Lystra, Pagans of course, see this happen and try to account for it in the terms of their own “religion” and its myths. There was in fact a local legend that once before the ” gods” Zeus and Hermes had visited the city, been unrecognised and unwelcomed, and so angrily punished the people! Eager to avoid angering their gods again, they quickly identify Barnabas with Zeus and Paul, because he is the main speaker, with Hermes, often the ” messenger of the gods.”
V13: The local priest of Zeus ( the “king of the gods”) is quick to bring what is needed to offer sacrifice and worship to these “gods come down.”