Follow the Leader

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

FOLLOW THE LEADER

 

Acts 16:11-15

11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. 13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.

NIV

Clearly, a travel log is the beginning of this section, but as we know, they are making their way to Philippi, the leading city of Macedonia, where the Spirit was leading them. Paul had that vision in the night and they had no other place they could go except Macedonia, so here they are. It is interesting that Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia asking him to come as they needed help and the first encounter we see is Paul talking to Lydia and the women who had gathered at the river. We know Lydia was a worshipper of God, thus not a pagan, but one who was sensitive to the ways of God, and thus he was able to open her heart to the message about Jesus. Certainly, Lydia had the gift of hospitality as she persuaded them to stay at her home. She was a woman of substance being a merchant of purple cloth so we could surmise she had a large enough home to accept visitors. Several men were in this party that we know of, Paul, Timothy, the author of this account, Luke as well as there may have been a few more. We know after accepting Jesus she was baptized as well as the rest of her household, who again we do not know who or how many they were. So what can we learn from this? What can we apply to our lives from this story? Perhaps all this was told to us because they were going to the river expecting to find a place of prayer. Although we know that we should be in prayer on all occasions when we are walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. We are told, in fact by Paul, in his letter to those in Ephesus when he talks about the armor of God and that we should pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Yet here we are seeing them going to a place to have prayer. There is something about finding a place to be alone with God, without the distractions of life. Although we should always be aware of God, in communication with God, at all times, there is something special about our alone time just with him. This is the time we can be still and know he is God. This is the time we can hear from him deep within our souls. It is also true they were a group that was going to this place of prayer, they were going to pray as a community of sorts. This too is important for us to see as although we do need our alone time, we also should be praying with others. This may not be the time for personal confession or petitions but a time of direction for the community of believers. What does God desire us to do as this community of believers? How can we further his kingdom? What is the focus of our life together? Perhaps prayers for the city we are in, and the people God will bring us in contact with. We are not told what they were going to pray for, but we know arriving at that place, they were presented with an opportunity to share the gospel message. God has led them straight to Lydia. God had a plan. Paul and the group could have said, “Oh no, we told we could be alone to pray, and here is a bunch of women”, but instead of prayer, he was able to share the message of Jesus Christ and he followed the leading of God, doing that which he was called to do. We can also learn from this truth as well, in that what we might this is an interruption in what we think we should be doing for God when it might be just what God intends for us to do. It is all about following the leading of the Lord.