Saturday, October 20: Acts 19 - Normalized faith.

After two-thousand years of the Christian faith, the church and the world with the church have normalized. The church has hammered out through Scripture study and the voice of the Holy Spirit the basic truths of the faith. Though differences remain, the core teachings of Christianity are set and normalized. The world, too, has adjusted to the presence of the Christian faith. In fact Christianity is now one of the dominant religions of the world, if not the dominant world religion. As such, Christianity is known throughout the world and believers are present in most regions.

How different life was in the early first century AD. Through apostles and evangelists, the Word of Jesus was only beginning to spread through what would now be called the Middle East and Europe. And the basics of the faith were far from catechized.

As we can observe with the account of Ephesus, people with half-knowledge were sharing this new faith as they traveled about. On the one hand, this was good because the faith was growing but on the other caricatures of the faith, which needed correcting, were also popping up.

All this was disrupting the stability of the world religiously. Jesus’ Faith was growing and displacing other forms of worship.

While the normalcy of central truths is a wonderful gift we, in the 21^st century enjoyed, thanks to the labors of Christ-followers who have gone before us, I fear as I read this chapter and others in Acts, that we have lost some of the vibrancy, life transformation and expectancy that the Holy Spirit would show up in dramatic and tangible ways of these first believers in Jesus.

Oh, that we would regain the vibrancy, life transformation and expectancy without sacrificing the core beliefs hammered out over the centuries…

Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father Above, I dare to pray for vibrancy in my faith and in the Church’s faith. Lord, I dare to pray life transformation in me and in all my brothers and sisters of the faith no matter the ‘brand.’ Oh, God,

 I pray for expectancy, that believing inside each and every follower of Jesus that You, God, will show up and show Your power in ways that draws women and men to You! May it be so, Oh God, may this be so!

And, Lord, I pray for the courage to bear persecution and trouble and heartache in our lives if that is necessary to see the prayer above realized. Through Jesus, I pray. Amen.