Acts 18:22-19:7
Be still: Father God, thank you that you are already here. I open my heart to you now. Amen
Read: Acts 18:22-19:7
He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervour and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. (v25–26)
Encounter: I love a good TV series. If I’m honest, my wife and I love settling down and binge-watching a great series. Then you reach the point where there are only two episodes left, and your heart starts to sink because it’s almost over. You finish the final episode — it was everything you hoped for — and then the screen says, Coming next Spring. Surely I’m not the only one who loves that moment! Wait… there’s more? How could there possibly be another season?
Twice in today’s reading we meet people whose understanding of Jesus was incomplete. Apollos knew only John’s baptism, and later Paul met disciples in Ephesus who had not yet received the Holy Spirit. In both cases, God graciously invited them into the fullness of what he had for them. God wasn’t finished with them. There was more to learn, more to receive and more to experience of his grace. There was a ‘Coming next Spring’ moment for them in the present.
There is always more of God to know and more of his grace to receive.
Apply: Where have we settled with God for what we have already received? Maybe we have limited him by our weak faith and poor imagination? Not thinking that he could do so much more in us, for us, through us. Invite God today, to move in power in you, in your daily life. Be bold in asking for more of God. He wants to fill us to the full measure of his love, to overflow out to others, drawing them also to him. Pray today that he would that.
Devote: Fill us afresh, Lord, with your Holy Spirit. We’re hungry for more of you. Open our eyes wider, expand our horizons, enlarge our hearts for more of your holy, powerful, transforming presence.
