Category: Look

Acts 9:10-19 (NIV) – In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

“According to the Barna Research Group, a majority of people who attend Christian worship services leave without feeling that they experienced God’s presence. Less than one-third of the adults feel as though they truly interacted with God. Eventually people cease to expect a real encounter with God and simply settle for a pleasant experience. So what happens when the pleasant experience is replaced with the real encounter?

“With the Scripture and Church history as our guide, it becomes very evident that when a holy God encounters sinful people, at least one of the following three things usually occur: 1) Sinners are radically converted; 2) Christians are transformed and renewed; or, 3) The mind of the saint or sinner is offended and the state of his heart is revealed. Just as a storm is produced when high and low fronts converge, so too a storm of a different kind emerges when the glorious and radiant presence of the Lord comes near.” [Steve Beard, Power, Holiness, and Evangelism, p.136]

Let’s pray that God would encounter us, giving us his visions and his dreams. We’re not seeking after the visions and dreams, we’re seeking after the One who reveals Himself through them. May we experience conversion, transformation, renewal as they come. Also, as the college conference is this weekend, let’s pray for real encounters of the Holy Spirit for each person coming.

“This We Know” – Link:

– AK

Isaiah 6:1-8 – In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

“Isaiah was worshipping in the temple one day when, for the first time, his vision was lifted beyond the familiar surroundings into the presence of God. The temple in Jerusalem represented the rule of God coming down to us. But on this day, for Isaiah, the earthly symbol merged into the heavenly reality. As the earthly king lay dying, the true Sovereign was reigning, holding court, and Isaiah saw it.” [Raymond C. Ortlund Jr, Isaiah: God saves Sinners, p. 76]

Today, as you read and pray through Isaiah 6, may we also see through the eyes of Scripture, that regardless of the circumstances around us, it is God—the true Sovereign Lord who is the one reigning, holding court, and who empowers us to live.

“God and God Alone” – Link:

– AK

Acts 10:9-10 (NIV) – About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

“In verses 17 and 19 Peter was grappling intensely regarding the meaning of the vision when the Holy Spirit spoke to him. At first Peter vehemently refused to be open to change, as is expressed by his cry, “Surely not, Lord!” He had strong convictions. But when he sensed that God was indeed teaching him something new, he seriously considered the implications of the vision. Thus, both divine guidance and Peter’s willingness to grasp what God was showing him combined to produce a change in his thinking, even though it was something he was uncomfortable with. A passion for obedience makes God’s servants open to changes with which they may at first be uncomfortable. God found in Peter a person who was open to living with the uncomfortable. That helped him to be open to God’s surprises…and this made him open to more of God’s revelations.” [Ajith Fernando, NIV Application Commentary: Acts, p.324]

To dream or have a vision is one thing, but obedience to the Spirit’s truth and leading is the deeper/fuller measure of receiving; not only are we transformed but we are lead to love another. The lyrics to the song, Build My Life, expresses it this way, “Open up my eyes in wonder, show me who You are and fill me, with your heart and lead me, in your love to those around me.” Let’s pray for a passion for obedience to the Spirit’s leading.

“Build My Life” – Link:

– AK

Acts 2:26-33 (MSG) – Later God’s angel spoke to Philip: “At noon today I want you to walk over to that desolate road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza.” He got up and went. He met an Ethiopian eunuch coming down the road. The eunuch had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was returning to Ethiopia, where he was minister in charge of all the finances of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He was riding in a chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit told Philip, “Climb into the chariot.” Running up alongside, Philip heard the eunuch reading Isaiah and asked, “Do you understand what you’re reading?” He answered, “How can I without some help?” and invited Philip into the chariot with him. 

If God does speak to us, what is the purpose of prompting?

1. A prompting is often an invitation to reach out.

The Spirit of Jesus is seeking out and saving the lost, telling good news to the poor and the spiritually impoverished, releasing prisoners from captivity. So many of the promptings of the Spirit are simply the commander-in-chief directing the rescue operation. His is not an abstract campaign waged in generalities. Person by person he is extending the influence of the kingdom. Philip knew this full well. So when the prompting came to go to a specific road, near a particular chariot, he was ready to reach out. If you sense the Spirit drawing your attention to a particular person through a dream or an inner voice, or a knowledge that goes beyond natural means, be alert to the possibility that you are being prompted to reach out to that person.

2. A prompting is often an invitation to intercede.

The Spirit is an intercessor. Is it any wonder, then, that the Spirit’s promptings would frequently be an invitation to intercession? Not just a general encouragement to pray, but a specific prompting to pray for someone, here and now, or in a certain way. [Rich Nathan and Ken Wilson, Empowered Evangelicals, pp. 197-198]

As we worship with the song, “Holy Spirit”, let’s intercede for the people God places on our hearts. Perhaps a face, a name, knowledge of a need will come to mind, pray over them with the heart of the lyrics to this song “come flood (their) place and fill the atmosphere, let (them) become more aware of your presence”.

– AK

Acts 2:17-18, 21 (NIV) – In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy…And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

“Up to this moment, God has acted by is spirit among his people, but it’s always been by inspiring one person here, one or two there – kings and prophets and priests and righteous men and women. Now, in a sudden burst of fresh divine energy released through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God’s spirit has been poured out upon a lot of people all at once. There is no discrimination between slaves and free, male and female, young and old. They are all market out, side by side, as the nucleus of God’s true people.

“This work of God is wonderfully inclusive, because there is no category of people which is left out: both genders, all ages, all social classes. But it is wonderfully focused, because it happens to all ‘who call on the name of the Lord’ (verse 21). All who call…will be saved.

“‘Being saved’ doesn’t just mean, as it does for many today, ‘going to heaven when they die’. It means ‘knowing God’s rescuing power, the power revealed in Jesus, which anticipates, in the present, God’s final great act of deliverance’. Peter will now go on to encourage his hearers to ‘call on the Lord’s name’, and so to know that ‘salvation’, that rescue, as a present reality as well as a future hope. If these really are ‘the last days’, then ‘salvation’ has already begun. Anyone who knows they need rescuing, whatever from, can ‘call on the Lord’ and discover how it can happen.” (N.T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, pp. 33-34)

As we worship with the song, “Same Power”, let’s pray in faith for God’s salvation in every area of our lives and for the circumstances of our brothers and sisters that they too would know God’s salvation. Let’s pray that God would give us His visions and dreams to direct our prayers and to increase our faith for these salvation moments.