Going to Gaza

Scripture: Acts 8:26-40

Abiding in Christ is to hang out with Christ, or to be His friend. This is my ultimate goal to be a friend of God and to encourage others to be also. I guess I am in the right worship community since I’m in the Friends Church. That being said intresting things begin to happen when your relationship with God deepens. You begin to have strong desires to do things you previously would not have done.

In this scriptue we read about Phillip, he is told to head out to Gaza and along the way he encounters a Ethiopian eunich. There are several things about this man that would make him unacceptable according to the laws of Moses: one he is a gentile, and secondly he is a eunich. Yet he is sitting in his charriot reading scripture, with a strong desire to understand what it is talking about. Along comes Phillip.

I often sit wondering about things. I identify with this Ethiopian guy because some scripture is pretty hard to understand. I also really want to know God, intelectually as well as relationally. I have often sat wondering things when somone enlightened me, sometimes they did not even know they did.

Phillip listened to the Spirit of God and followed His leadings. There is nothing to indicate he was on this road for any other reason, he went to walk and to be obedient. By doing so he had the opertunity to spread the gospel of Jesus to another land. I wonder if Phillip was wondering why he had to walk to Gaza as much as the Ethiopian was wondering about the passage he as reading?

One thing I know, Phillip wated to serve God. He was named as one of the decons of the church. He was given a ministry to serve others. I can see why God would use a man whose ministry was to serve the needy to reach out to a servant (slave) of another land. I wonder if I am as obedient as Phillip?

Over the past few days I have entered into several random conversations, many of these eventually turned toward a spiritual disscussion. It is not that I purposfully directed the topics, it just sort of happened. I happened to be on a road to Gaza, when someone needed or wanted to talk. These random conversations tend to become the highlights to my day, the more I have the more excited I get. At times these talks spill into my next break or even the next day.

I would not realize these opertunities if I were not abiding in Christ. If I did not spend time drawing closer to Christ, I might have missed a chance to see God’s kingdom advance. As you pray remember a time you were like the eunich, wondering about an aspect of faith and having someone meet you just when you needed it. You might want to spend some time praying blessings to that person. Maybe you are seeking answers, I would encourage you to ask for assistance and be open to the Spirit of God’s teachings wherever they come. Maybe you are abiding and chilling with God and feel like you need to take a trip to Gaza, be open to this explore it a bit and be obedient. Who knows you just might meet a person God wants to use to expand His kingdom into a new age.

Enjoy you trip!