When God's on the Move

[S] Acts 8:1 --
 ¹Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
 ⁸So there was much rejoicing in that city.  

[O] "That day" is when Stephen was stoned to death by the mob for testifying the what the Jews had done to the plan of God's love for them. You'd think that such a powerful testimony would move people's hearts to repentance and return to Him, but no -- quite the contrary.  They were scheming for a greater persecution against the church.  This scattered the believers to other parts of the land and they continued to preach the word while God displayed His power and brought forth much rejoicing.  What I'm observing here is that whenever God's on the move, the opposing forces work very hard to move the hearts of men to dampen the momentum of God's work.  However, God continues to use the faithful men despite the set-backs to further His ministry with much rejoicing.

[A] This is a wonderful template to keep in mind as I involve into various ministries such as parenting my children, ministering to workplace community, and serving at church because in the end I desire God's power to be present in my "ministries" and following this template, the opposing forces will be rampant in conjunction.  However, my take-away is to sustain my faithfulness to Jesus' Cross and stay on course because the second wind will come in rejoicing.

[P] Dear Jesus, as my desire is to be in Your presence at all times, I realize it is going to be a walk in the park because of the inadequacy of this world.  In fact there will strong oppositions such as Saul's mentioned in this passage.  Please grant me the intimacy with You daily so that I may stay focused and faithful to Your purposes.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.