Hosanna Restoration Church

The more the Lord teaches me about responding correctly, the more I realize just how necessary and fruitful it is! Once again, we will look at how Paul and Barnabas responded to situations in Acts chapter 14.

Right after the man with the crippled feet responded by jumping to his feet, the people went crazy and elevated Paul and Barnabas to god status. How did they respond? Needless to say, this was better than having people want to stone them, but they were not about to take the glory that belonged to God. At the risk of offending the people, they told them the straight truth about what they were doing. They informed them that the reason God sent them was in order to convince them to stop worthless things they were doing and turn to the living God.

Well they no more than got the people see a little light than here came the crowd that wanted to kill them from Iconium and sure enough they stoned Paul and left him for dead! How did the other believers respond? Did they just run on that occasion? No! They gathered around Paul and God raised him up. The next day they continued on with the Father’s business. They went to Derbe and strengthened the believers telling them to continue in the faith!

So what can we learn from all of this? First of all, we can learn to resist the temptation of allowing some success in our walk to go to our heads and throw us off track. It would have been easy for them to bask in the glow of the miracle. The enemy would have provided them all sorts of justification for going along with the people if they would have just let up for a bit. We can never let up in our walk with the Lord. It is always about the Good News. It is always about bringing glory to God. You may think, “Look what it got Paul!” Yes look at what it got Paul! When they stoned him, God raised him up. It could have been a different story if Paul were taking the glory and letting up on his faith.

After he got up, he did not dwell on what had happened to him. So often I hear people dwelling on everything that has gone wrong or that probably will go wrong. When I hear people talk about what a struggle being Christian is, I can see why they are struggling. Life may have struggles but being a Christian is what is supposed to take care of them. We usually struggle when our eyes are on the problem and not the solution! In the natural we would wonder how Paul could continue with all that he went through. The answer is just that. He continued in faith. In faith, we cannot help but continue. As scripture says, the love of God constrains us. That is why the devil tries to get us out of love and out of faith. Our response must always be to continue in the faith. God promises that in due season we will reap if we don’t quit! Always respond with your eyes on God.