A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS
PART XVI - I
"You will remember that Barnabas and I, Paul, recently decided to go our separate ways... Barnabas took Mark with him... I trust the Lord will bless their ministry... I have taken Silas with me as well as a young disciple named Timothy... He is becoming like a son to me.... We tried to enter certain regions.... But we were prevented by the Holy Spirit to go there... We do not know why this is ...However, we know as well that we are not to return home... So we continued to seek the Lord as to where He wanted us to go....Last night the Lord gave me a vision... In that vision I saw a man of Macedonia... He spoke to me... His words were very urgent... He asked us to come to Madeconia to help them.... I then woke up... It is clear to me that we are to go to Macedonia.... I do not know who will be there or to whom our ministry will be.. But one thing is clear.... We are to go to Macedonia.... So we will leave in the morning for Phillipi, the capital city of Macedonia.".... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn how the Lord led Paul to go to Macedonia through a vision...
ATTACHMENT A WALK THROUGH THE BOOK OF ACTS
PART XVI - I
Thankfully, God continued to bless the ministries of both Barnabas and Paul after their disagreement. They both chose new partners to minister with. Paul took Silas with him and later on a young disciple named Timothy joined them as you can read in Acts 16:1-3
He (Paul) came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciples named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 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.
They tried to enter certain regions but the Holy Spirit stopped them as you can read in Acts 16:6-7
Paul and his companions travelled throughout the region og Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When thy came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them.
We don't know why the Holy Spirit did not allow them to go to these areas at that time for He did not tell them why this was so. It seems Paul did not question the Holy Spirit as to why they were not allowed to go to these places; they simply obeyed by not going.
At the same time Paul knew he should not just go home for he was called to preach the gospel. It did not take too long before he discovered which place he was to go to as you can read in Acts 16:9-10
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.
Having shown Paul where he was not to go, the Holy Spirit next showed him where he was to go; he was to go to Macedonia. Having been given direction, Paul and his companions set off for their destination, Phillipi, which was the leading city of Macedonia.
We have here once again an example of someone obeying the Holy Spirit even when it may not have made sense to him. It reminds us of the example of Philip when he was told to leave his very successful ministry in Samaria to go to a particular road in the desert when he met with just one person in a chariot as you can read in Acts 8:26-29
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road - the desert road - that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. So he started out, and on his way he met and Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it."
These examples are for us to learn from, for the Holy Spirit wants to guide us as much as He guided them. The question is: Are we as willing to listen and obey even if His direction does not make sense to us? Or are we more likely to put up an argument and follow our own counsel for it may seem to be more logical to us to go the way we have decided?
Read Part Two HERE
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