Transition Series – Being Flexible
In Acts 16, there is a story about the Apostle Paul. He was determined to go a certain way, but Jesus kept encouraging him to go His way. Ultimately, God was able to get Paul on the right course. To do so, God gave Paul a night vision. In it, Paul saw a man saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” The Word says that after Paul saw this vision, he and his team got ready at once to go there, believing that God was calling them to preach the gospel there.
We know that the Apostle Paul was a very, very determined man. He knew what he was called to do. He was on a mission. He wasn’t wandering around trying to figure out what God wanted him to do. He would have been headed right where God wanted him to go, until God started trying to redirect him. So, it appears he stopped at a place on the way, called Troas. Waiting there for the Lord’s direction, he had that vision above. What this story in Acts 16 says about Paul is that he was flexible.
There are times in your life where you are going to find yourself in a decision-making process or approaching a season of change. At that moment, you are going to need to determine that you will be flexible, whatever the Lord is saying to you to do.
“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. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ 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.” (Acts 16:6-10; NIV)
Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:
Examine yourself. Do you go with the flow or are you more set in your ways and routines?
Have you ever resisted the Lord’s leading or redirection? Ask for grace to move with Him, instead.
Is there something He has been trying to get you to do to move forward, but you have been hesitant? Repent and get at it.
Pray for this concern in Church pastors and leaders, especially for those who oversee you. Ask the Lord to make our leaders more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, as they lead the congregations of the Lord.
Intercede for Christian lawmakers. Ask God to give them a holy boldness. It is not a season to stay in familiar habits. It’s time to try new strategies and be very bold. We can’t whittle away at abortion anymore, for example. Liberals have laid down a gauntlet of very late term abortion, even infanticide. Conservatives need to throw all their talent into laws to combat these types of legislation.
A prayer you can pray:
Father, I come before you and ask you to examine my heart for stubbornness and inflexibility. Whenever I think I must do something a certain way, and You are trying to change my ways, shout at me, somehow! Give me dreams and prophetic words by others that clarify what direction You want me to go. It’s so easy to get stuck in a rut. Grace me to embrace change. I repent for sticking my heels in the ground. What exactly do I think I am doing? Aren’t You my Lord, not just my Savior? Get me unstuck! Get my leaders unstuck. You are changing the Church, moving us outside the four walls, into communities, into the harvest, being more effective in the sharing of our faith. Show them how to equip the saints for the work of service, not just wear themselves out trying to do everything themselves. I pray for grace and strength for my leaders. I intercede for my governing leaders, as well. Lord, what a world we are in today! Sometimes it makes no sense, but they must be bold and courageous. Where the enemy is coming in like a flood, they must, together with You, raise up a standard against the evil. Where there is legislation put forth that violates Your Law and Your Word, give them words and strategies to get the opposite, life-giving, laws, instead. I know we can be flexible, as we open our hearts to You, Jesus. Amen.
Today’s decree:
Saints, stay flexible and open to learn from the Lord in this season of great change!
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