Acts 14

God does some pretty amazing stuff in this chapter. It's unfortunate that often when God works, others get the credit. In this chapter, it was the Greek Gods (through Paul and Barnabas). In our world, often it's scientific knowledge and chance. Whenever someone gets healed from a sickness, whenever something amazing happens, we have to find the scientific proof of why and how it happened. Often, the solution is a confluence of external factors and luck. It's so hard to admit that it really was God's hand. Paul and Barnabas are very impressive in this chapter. As soon as the people started to praise them, there was no hesitation in them. They instantly tore their clothes and gave the glory to God. This is something that I need to do more often in my life. A couple of years back, I was walking back from class with a few classmates. I don't remember what we were talking about but suddenly, one of them said, "You know Dennis, I don't know why but you're a very happy person all the time. Why is that?" I had an opportunity here to testify as a witness for God. Here was an opening for me to begin to sow the seeds of the gospel in my classmate's heart. But, I failed to rise to the opportunity. Instead, I mentioned something about me naturally having an optimistic personality (which is completely untrue) or some other untenable excuse. When I got back home, I thought about what had happened and repented. I swore to never let go of another opportunity to stand up for Christ. Paul and Barnabas were willing to stand up for Christ, even to the point of being stoned. But God protected them and continued to bless them throughout their journey. How great He is!

Stand up for Christ today!

Acts 13

I'm a very visual person so I'll begin with a map. In this chapter of Paul's first missionary journey, it covers his trip starting from Antioch, to Salamis, to Paphos, to Perga (in the region of Pampylia), to Antioch (through the region of Pisidia), and it ends with Paul and Barnabas leaving Antioch. The description of Paul's trips always confused me until I realized there were multiple Antioch's. These Greeks apparently weren't the most creative people in the world when it came to naming cities.

From the very start, this was a journey inspired by the Holy Spirit, but using people who were prepared for the mission. The second verse mentions ministering to the Holy Spirit and fasting. This concept of fasting is pretty foreign to me. I read about it all the time in the New Testament, but I really don't know how to apply it. When do you use it? How do you go about doing it? Do you fast for a set amount of time? Or do you go until the Lord answers your prayers? Are you allowed to drink water? I've done it in a few situations in the past but I don't really remember what I was fasting for or how I went about doing it. I think it's something that the Lord will eventually have to reveal to me. All I know is that from this scripture, these people were actively preparing for the journey before the Lord even sent them. I always wonder what mission the Lord is going to send me on. Will He ask me to serve in the hospital? Will He call me out to full time service? Will He send me out as a missionary? But I think the right question I should be asking is how am I preparing right now for wherever the Lord will send me? For Paul and Barnabas, they prepared by ministering and fasting in Antioch. For David, he was prepared by shepherding sheep in his youth. For Moses, God broke him for 40 years so that he would be ready to lead the Israelites. I am confident that if we follow the Lord closely, and continue to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, He will prepare us for great things. Allow the Lord to prepare you today!

Acts 12

This story of Peter's arrest is first and foremost a testimony to the power of prayer. God is so amazing that sometimes, we can't even believe how He answers our prayers (like the brethren who didn't believe Rhoda). But I think there's a smaller story here with the servant-girl and for some reason, this is the story that jumps out to me today. There has to be a reason why the author of Acts included so many details of this story. In the story, it seemed as though all the brethren were gathered together at the house of Mary and were in the middle of a deep prayer meeting. They were praying fervently with purpose hoping the Lord would protect Peter. Suddenly, in the middle of the prayer meeting, there's a knock at the door. As the servant girl, it is Rhoda's duty to answer the door. But in the midst of such a great and fervent prayer meeting, it could have been all to easy to ignore the knock. Maybe it was someone delivering a message, maybe it was a solicitator. Surely, whoever it was could come back later after we finished this awesome meeting! But Rhoda was faithful in the small duties that were entrusted to her. She went to answer the door, and because of the faithfulness she displayed in the small things, Peter was saved before any guards could find him. God also her worthy enough to be remembered throughout history in the book of Acts. One other thing that Rhoda did that I found impressive was that she held firm to what God showed her. Even though all of the elder brothers and sisters doubted, she did not. She had heard Peter's voice and there was no mistake. I think this shows us that first and foremost, we trust in God. Whatever He has shown us, how ever He has led us, we should hold onto those things first. Even if other people doubt or tell us otherwise, if it was something the God revealed to us Himself, then we should not doubt. Of course, older brothers and sisters are great resources. They have walked with God for much longer and know His character very well. But, they are not our God. It's always better to trust Him than to trust anyone else. Be sure today, in whatever the Lord asks of you, to be faithful to Him in the small things. And He will bless you far beyond your craziest imagination!

Acts 11

I think God's definition of a good man is very different from my own. If I was going to pick people to lead the church and to evangelize to large cities, I would find people who were naturally leaders, empathetic, and eloquent. When interviewing students for Case, it's always the same attributes that I look for: good background knowledge, experience in the medical field, passion for the practice of medicine, good teamwork skills, and not socially awkward. But when God interviews people, He only looks for one thing: love of Christ. When the author of Acts describes Barnabas as a good man, the only traits he mentions are that he was full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith. Anywhere in the New Testament, when they describe people who served God mightily, it never mentions any of their personal skills or attributes, it only talks about their faith in God. In reality, I think this is really the correct measure. When God calls us to serve, He doesn't call us because we're better speakers, more intelligent, or have more skills, He calls us out because we have faith in Him. As a doctor in training, I've been learning a lot of skills in interact and empathizing with people. But when I minister to them, I must remember that I can't use the skills I have developed, but I need to rely on the Lord. Only in this way can I truly heal them, not just body and mind, but also their spirit.

Acts 10

The verse that stands out to me today is verse 15: "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy". For some reason, this verse shows me a revolutionary way God interacts with His creation. In the past, God gave out rules and commandments. It was do this or do that. Don't eat animals that chew the curd or split the hooves or don't do any work on the Sabbath. These seemingly simple commandments can turn into monstrosities when people try to interpret them. What is considered work? How much contact with blood will make you unclean? Throughout the Jewish history, there has been constant changes in the interpretation of His laws. (Feels almost like congress.) But here in Acts, it is evident that God has changed the way He's speaking to us. He no longer gives us written rules or commandments to follow, but we are to follow the commandments in our heart. We no longer have to use our mind and logic to interpret what He's trying to say, rather the Holy Spirit interprets His Words for us. At times, it can be incredibly frustrating. It was especially hard when I was a new believer. After I was baptized and gave my life to God, I felt like there should be some kind of change in my life. So I did the only thing that I knew, I imitated others. Whatever the older brothers and sisters did, I tried to copy. The way they talked, the way they acted, I thought this was how a Christian was suppose to be. From the things I read and the movies I saw, I had this idealized picture of a Christian. They're always happy, always joyful. Never angry, never frustrated, never offends other people. This was the kind of person I aspired to be, and I was constantly disappointed. Try as I might, I still lost my temper, I still felt sadness and frustration. Soon, I almost wanted to give up. There's no way a perfect Christian could exist! Thank goodness that God doesn't demand us to be. What I had wrong was my definition of a Christian. A Christian isn't someone that inspires hope in others, that never criticizes other, that never gets provoked. A Christian is someone who follows God. I was trying to make myself more perfect than even Christ was. Even Jesus Christ was angry when he found people trading in the Temple. He also argued constantly with the Pharisees and many times won. What I did was throw away all the grace and mercy that Christ gave us and picked up the rules and regulations of the Old Testament. Don't get me wrong, often the Lord will want us to be even more perfect than what the law says. In Matt 5, Jesus said that the law may have said you cannot commit adultery, but if you even look at a woman lustfully, you have already committed adultery with her (paraphrased...alittle). But whatever He demands of us, He gives us the strength to complete. It's incredibly liberating. Once again, God shows us how much He wants to have a real relationship with us.

Be liberated today!

Acts 9

I always think of Paul's road to Damascus moment as an amazing conversion, that in one moment God could even make a person with as hard of a heart as Saul convert. But in reality, Paul's road to conversion was much longer than that. Even in past chapters, we can see how God had been preparing Saul for this very moment. First of all, Paul was a student of Gamaliel (from Acts 22). This same Gamaliel was the one who prevented the Jewish counsel from crushing the apostles in Acts 5 and instead said that if this was not the will of God, it would be self-limiting. If it was the will of God, then there's no way man can overthrow it (paraphrasing...alittle). From Gamaliel's teaching, I think Paul had this same attitude. It wasn't the laws, customs, or traditions the he loved, it was God. He would follow God's ruling even if it was against everything he was taught. Second, Saul was present at Stephen's defense in Acts 7. He must've seen the peace and joy on his face even as he was persecuted. I don't care how hard-hearted he was, it must've had some kind of influence. All of these factors made Saul ready so that when God revealed himself, he would be fertile soil.

I know that for myself, I've never had a "Road to Damascus" type of conversion. It was a very slow and uneventful progression for me to realize that God was real and that I wanted Him to be my God. But I think all of us have moments in our lives where God makes Himself real. For Paul, he repeatedly mentions his conversion and experience with God in his later letters to the church. For myself, it was an experience I had with God my freshman year (ask me to share it with you one of these days if I haven't already). But these events are the moments I meditate on every time I begin to lack faith. They remind me about how real God has been in my life. Recently, I've been beginning to realize that there shouldn't only be one or a two of moments in our life that we remember. But God is making himself real to us everyday. There have been countless times when after something happens, I say to myself, "Wow, that was God!" But after a few days, I always forgot what had happened. I remember the emotion and the feeling that God did something, but what it was is hard to recollect. This might be a good time for me to actually start writing a journal to record how He has guided me in my life and how He has answered my prayer requests. It would be a great tool to use when I'm feeling spiritually weak or when I just want to remind myself of how great God is. ...mmm....okay I just convinced myself. It's decided, I'm starting one.

Lastly, I feel like I can relate to Paul a lot. In Paul's future letters, he write that he was the least of the apostles. I think he feels this way because of how he persecuted the church before being saved. I can't say that I've ever killed anyone, but before I was saved, I was a heavy atheist. When I was in school, I constantly argued with my Christian friend pointing out holes in their belief. I feel as though I may have turned more people non-Christian than Christian in my lifetime. This will be something that I'll always regret. I'm glad that by God's grace and mercy, He was able to show me the light. I only wish that I could go back and tell them how right they were, and how wrong I was. No amount of logical deductions or rigorous analysis can compare with the love, joy, comfort, and peace He gives me. Blessed be His name!

Acts 8

Reading through this story, it's easy to criticize Simon and denounce him for being so selfish. Even after he accept the Lord as his savior and was baptized, he still sought after his own gain. Yet, when I read this, I feel like I can relate to Simon a lot. After he was baptized, he continued to followed the apostles and saw the power that they had. He wanted that same power so that he too could act as an apostle. Although I was never skilled enough to get people to pay me for performing fake magic, I still had that same desire to be admired and praised. I will be the first to admit that I have a lot of spiritual pride. When I began service in the church, I was far too young. Leading Bible studies, organizing meetings, planning retreats, I was naturally blessed with many of these abilities and I knew it. I took every opportunity to be deeply ingrained in the ministry. Of course, I had some desire to see the church built and to glorify God, but secretly, I knew that what I wanted even more was admiration. But when serving God, He doesn't look for your natural skills. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says that God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, the weak things of the world to shame the things that are strong. He wants to use people won't rely on themselves but depend solely on the Lord. God taught me this lesson the hard way, through His cross. And by the admonition of His cross, I will never forget this lesson. While back in Seattle, I use to serve the Lord by translating from Chinese to English. Although the first few sessions were very tough, eventually I got into the rhythm. It got so bad that eventually, I didn't even pray before going up to serve. One day, while on the podium, I found myself stumbling at almost every sentence. I kept wondering, what is wrong with me? Maybe it's cause I didn't get enough sleep or maybe it's cause I forgot to eat breakfast. I mean, your brain needs glucose to run efficiently, right? Halfway through the translation, it finally realized that it was because I didn't have the Lord with me. I was relying on my own abilities to serve the church and not the Lord. Afterwards, I got down on my knees and repented. From then on, I always made sure that in all my services for the church, I would really solely on the Lord and he has blessed me ever sense.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, You will not despise.