Start with Prayerful Seekers
It has been said that convenience and conviction do not live on the same street. Often our convictions will take us to places that are not the most convenient for our personal comfort. In the Scripture passage that we are reflecting on today, the believers looked for a place where they could find people praying on the Sabbath day in a city where there was no comfort of a Synagogue.
This is particularly significant for us in this time where the covid19 pandemic has often prevented us from worshipping in our comfortable church buildings. We need to have the wisdom and conviction to find ways of connecting with people who are prayerfully seeking to connect with God.
They went outside the city gate by the river, to find a place of prayer. This was not a place of prayer for fellow Christians. These believers sought to find people who were already prayerful from this city. It is very significant that they trusted that if someone is already prayerful, then fellowship with that person provides an opportunity to share the good news of the Gospel with them.
We are challenged to trust that God is already at work as people who may not share the same faith with us are praying. Praying is at least a sign that the person acknowledges that there is God. Such a person needs fellowship from believers so that God will open hearts for belief in the good news that we proclaim. May we seek to find such people wherever they may be found and not wait for them to come to our own places of worship! Praise God when hearts are opened in unlikely places.
| On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there. A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying. After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, "If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us. (Acts16:13-15) |
