Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Mar 6 2020 - Acts 12:24-13:15 – Prayer and fasting

Acts 13 marks a key moment in the book of Acts. Barnabas has been caring for the young church at Antioch. He had recruited the help of Saul/Paul who has now been engaged in multi-cultural ministry for more than a year. In this time others have begun to share the task of leadership within the church. Three names are mentioned in addition to Barnabas and Saul: Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene and Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch). Niger is Latin for “black” suggesting that he may have come from Africa. Cyrene is also situated on the North African coastal area. Truly this was a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic church whose varied members were reflected in the leadership. The mention of Manaen as one who had been a childhood friend of Herod the tetrarch also emphasises the way in which the message of Jesus is touching every class of society.

Barnabas and Saul have made it their business to train up others in ministry. They have done their job well and now, even after a comparatively short while, it's time for them to move on; it’s time for Saul to begin the ministry planned for him by the Lord and for which he is now fully prepared.

We read that it was while the leadership team were worshipping the Lord and fasting that the Holy Spirit instructed them to set aside Barnabas and Saul for the work to which the Lord was calling them. (Before the chapter is out, Saul has become Paul and has taken the lead in the new team; henceforth it's Paul and Barnabas.) Having received this message we read that the leadership team devoted themselves to prayer and fasting before commissioning the missionaries with the laying on of hands. The remainder of the book of Acts will be devoted to the missionary activity of Paul.

Now I like my food. More than that, I enjoy it with thankfulness, receiving it as a gift from God. I have to confess to finding such references to fasting uncomfortable (in the strict meaning of the term). Could it be that in the complacent – though thankful – enjoyment of our comforts we are missing out on some of the ministry and blessings which the Lord has for those who love him more than their necessary food? I find this food for thought.

As Paul begins his ‘first missionary journey’, accompanied by Barnabas and John Mark, we read that they were “sent on their way by the Holy Spirit”. The Spirit is the driving force behind the spread of the gospel. And it was Spirit who empowered Paul’s ministry. In Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, the Roman proconsul, Sergius Paulus summoned Paul, wishing to hear the message that Paul was preaching. But a Jewish sorcerer named Elymas tried to dissuade the proconsul from believing Paul’s message.

Paul looked straight at Elymas and, calling him a child of the devil, declared that he would be struck blind for a time – this is what had happened to Saul when he had sought to oppose Jesus Christ. And that’s just what happened to Elymas. He is led away by the hand and the proconsul came to faith; he had witnessed the power of the risen Lord Jesus who gives sight and makes blind.

The work of the kingdom is powered by the Spirit of the risen Saviour, but it is also powered by prayer – and fasting.

Lord God, teach us to have right priorities in all things and to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. Increase our passion for prayer that our life of communion with you might be more like that of the Lord Jesus. Guide us by your Spirit into the work you would have us do and use us to bring others to faith in Christ.

Mar 6 2019 - Exodus 33:1-23 – God's presence and glory

Moses pleaded with God to spare the Israelites after the incident with the golden calf, and God had spared them. He now instructs Moses that they are to move on to the land he had promised them. God will send an angel to go before them and fight for them, driving out the Canaanites before them, but God himself will not go with them.

This is a strange act of God's grace. If God were to travel with this stiff-necked people their constant rebellion might stir up his wrath to their destruction. It is safer for them to live without God. What a tragic verdict on these redeemed but rebellious people.

But this will not satisfy Moses. Moses would go regularly to talk with God in the Tent of Meeting that was pitched outside the camp of the Israelites. Was this tent outside the camp symbolic of God's refusal to dwell among his people? When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud came down upon it as a symbol of God's presence; God had come to meet with Moses.

Here Moses pleads with God; "Remember that this nation is your people" (33:13). Moses cannot lead this people on his own; God must go with them, "What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" (33:16). God agrees to Moses' request and gives him the wonderful promise, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest" (33:14).

The Lord has told Moses that he is pleased with him. This emboldens Moses to ask one thing more of the Lord; he asks that the Lord will show him his glory. It is a request which God cannot grant in full; were Moses to see the fullness of God's glory it would consume him. But, in his grace and goodness, the Lord hides Moses in a cleft of the rock and passes before him so that he sees something of his glory. God reveals to Moses the glory of his goodness – that he is a God who is full of mercy and compassion. It is because of his mercy and compassion that Israel is spared and will be led on into the Promised Land.

The mercy and compassion of God have been revealed in all their breadth and length and height and depth in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have seen the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. And he is the one who has promised always to be with us, to the very end of the age. God has come to be with us in Jesus Christ, and because of Jesus, we are not consumed. He calls upon all who are weary and burdened to come to him and find rest. It is his presence that makes us his people. It is his grace and his presence which alone distinguish us from those around us. He is with us to lead us; he is with us to bless us; he is with us to make us a blessing until there is no longer any distinction, for the whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

Lord Jesus, show us more of the glory of the triune God. Give us a sense of your presence with us and your gracious purposes towards us, for we know that without you we can do nothing. Help us to keep our eyes fixed on you that we might be transformed into your likeness with that ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Bless us and make us a blessing. May your kingdom come and the day draw closer when your glory shall fill all the earth.

Peter Misselbrook