(Editor’s note: This is the first of a two part article.)
Scripture Acts 16:9-15
The Word of God spread, because of a few disciples who loved God and purposed in their heart to obey God sharing their story of Jesus saving them and the wonderful, miraculous truth that Jesus died and rose for all of humankind. We have the awesome responsibility of sharing that same truth to a broken world of people who need to be saved.
Scripture tells us that at Troas, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Paul, Silas, and Timothy traveled through Phrygia, Galatia, Macedonia to Troas then Samothrace to Neapolis and to Philippi (leading city of Macedonia.)
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The Holy Spirit led Paul and his companions to Philippi. Has God ever put a person on your mind? Were you obedient by calling or visiting that person? If you followed through, you were obeying the Holy Spirit. Similarly, have you ever been drawn to carry on a conversation with someone you do not know in the grocery store, at the airport, the barbershop? Nothing happens by chance for Christians.
If we believe our steps are ordered by God, then when we have these wonderful God moments, we should journal them, embrace them, learn from them, realizing that God allows our paths to cross to help all of us grow more like Jesus, to prepare us for Jesus’s return, so that we are ready when Jesus comes.
Paul obeyed the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit tells us what to do, oftentimes it may not make sense to us. I am sure traveling through all of those cities did not make sense to Paul. After all, God asked them to “go make disciples of Jesus Christ.” If that is the case, why were all of those people maybe ignored and not witnessed to in the cities where Paul and his company passed through on the way to Philippi? God knew they were not ready.
We might not want to go where God leads us; however, if we are obedient we will grow in the love and grace of God. (Remember what happened to Jonah, when he disobeyed God, because he did not want the people of Nineveh to be saved. God made him go preach repentance to them after his whale and pity party experience. Lol! Let’s obey God.)
We walk by faith and not by sight. Paul and his companions knew that truth. We do not know what today or tomorrow holds for us; however, since we know who holds tomorrow, Jesus Christ, we must trust that God knows what is best for us and follow God’s lead. We know God is Omniscient, all knowing; Omnipresent, everywhere; and Omnipotent, God Almighty. So, it should be easy for us to obey God.
On the Sabbath day, Paul and company went outside the gate down by the river, where they supposed there was a place of prayer. It was customary for believers to pray down by the riverside. (The peace and serenity of the water for me is a natural place to enjoy God’s beautiful presence and to talk with God among the elements.)
They sat and talked with the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia seemed to take in every word that the men spoke. She was hungry for understanding the Word of God. God had prepared her heart to receive the message Paul and company brought. God had ordered their steps and her steps to that place at that time for God’s purposes.
She was a business woman, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira. It was very unusual in biblical times for a woman to be in business. She was a wealthy woman, but she recognized her need for God. She was also a worshiper of God.
Wouldn’t it be great to have one label you a “worshiper of God.” She was known for her worship. She led worship. She loved God and worshiped God without reservation. She and other women were praying “down by the riverside.”
Lydia listened to the men. When you are conversing with someone, you can tell whether they are paying attention or not. The men knew she was attentive and hungry to know God more intimately. The Lord opened her heart (v14) to hear what was spoken. When we receive the messages of God from the Bible, from one another, from Sunday school or through a song, God gets the glory, because only God can open our understanding.
Like Paul, we are simply messengers or ambassadors for God. People nowadays want to take credit for everything, even if they have to steal another person’s idea or patent or money, like the tax collectors during biblical times did. That was not the case for Lydia.
She and her household were baptized. There were a good number of people down by the riverside suggesting several could have been baptized; however, Lydia was the first convert in Rome. Lydia must have taken her family with her down by the riverside.
After the baptisms, Lydia asked, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” She was so persistent, that Paul and his company went to her home.
Lydia knew that she needed to learn more about this wonderful Jesus and these men could teach her and her family and her neighbors. She was determined to bless others, not just herself. Paul and his company spent several days with them (v12). This is how churches were started in biblical times. Church was held in homes for new Jesus believers. Lydia’s house became one of those church homes.
The Rev. Edna Morgan is pastor of St. Luke United Methodist Church in Pine Bluff. Her husband, David Morgan, is a retired pastor in the Arkansas Conference, and together, they established a 501(c) (3) non-profit retreat center, Healing Place Ministries, in 2004, that serves the Pine Bluff and Jefferson County areas.
Editor’s note: Pastors, ministers or other writers interested in writing for this section may submit articles for consideration to shope@adgnewsroom.com. Writers should have connections to Southeast Arkansas. Please include your name, phone number and the name and location of your church or ministry.