You Have a Purpose

 

Photo by dylan nolte on Unsplash

God has a specific purpose for you.

Do you ever wonder who you are supposed to be? Or why you are here? I have wrestled with this a lot, and probably spent much unnecessary time worrying about it.

Once I was watching a cartoon with my children. I do that occasionally or I might not ever get to watch a show. The cartoon had different animals and they were having a sports "field day." It came time for the long jump event. There were several participants, including a frog. Naturally the frog won that event. She had long legs and was made to jump and could jump long distances.

Watching this made me start thinking about God's creation.

Everything He had created was fashioned with a purpose in mind. The frog was made to jump. The horse was made to run. The rooster was made to crow. Clouds are made to deliver rain. Snow is meant to blanket the earth in preparation for new life to grow.

If part of God's creation is fashioned with purpose, should we, men and women, created in His image and likeness be any different?

In the book of Jeremiah, God tells Jeremiah:

"I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations."-Jeremiah 1:5

So, we can infer from this passage that God is the one who forms us, and He has a plan when He does it. Not one person is a mistake. They are all created by a loving God with a special plan in mind.

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John's Baptism, Apollos, and Priscilla -Happy International Women's Day!

Photo by Fa Barboza on Unsplash

 

This morning I was reading about John’s Baptism. You can find accounts of John baptizing Jesus in all four Gospels. You can read more about that here in a post I wrote about the Baptism of Jesus.

Reading that passage of Scripture led me to a few different thoughts today. 

First, John was baptizing people. This is very interesting. Under the law, people had to do certain things to be forgiven of sins. They had to bring offerings. Blood had to be shed. Priests had to be involved. But that isn’t what is happening in these passages with John baptizing people.

John’s name means “the Lord is gracious.” In the beginning of the Gospels, with the stories of Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, Elizabeth, John, Jesus, and a couple of others, we see a new age being introduced, the age of grace. When you understand this, it makes more sense why John was baptizing.

Thinking about this led to other thoughts, ones regarding women in the New Testament, and the age of grace. This is what I want to share today on International Women's Day, a day where we celebrate women around the world, and their accomplishments. I think the three women I am going to discuss merit mentioning.

So what do my thoughts about John’s Baptism have to do with women in the New Testament? Well, we see John mentioned again in the book of Acts.

Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and was fervent in spirit. He spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him in and explained to him the way of God more accurately.-Acts 18:24-26

Apollos, a Believer in Jesus, had been instructed in the way of the Lord, but he only knew about the baptism of John. So, a couple had to take him aside and explain to him more accurately about things. That couple was Priscilla and Aquila. They are mentioned many times by Paul throughout the epistles. They had many churches in their different homes. Priscilla’s name is often mentioned first, which brings me to my next point.

In the passage of Scripture, it says “they” took Apollos aside and explained to him the way of God. It doesn’t say just Apollos, but them combined together as a team. This means Priscilla had a part in teaching. 

In Ephesians 4, Paul lists the ministry gifts apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher and evangelist. These are gifts that are given by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. They are spiritual gifts, but we can see their affects or influence with our eyes.

Sometimes women are left out of some of these gifts, but I think if we look more closely at the Scriptures, we will see these gifts operating in the lives of women mentioned in the Book of Acts and the Epistles. 

When I think about the gifts I think about Priscilla, Chloe, Lydia, Nympha, and Junia. They are all women listed in Scripture who appear to be in leadership positions.

I think people often mistake women who want to function in a leadership position as wanting to rule over men. But according to Jesus, that is not what the Kingdom of God is like. 

But Jesus called them aside and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their superiors exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, -Matthew 20:25-26 (BSB)

You can see this throughout the lives of women in Scripture, those submitted to the will of God for their lives. Other examples I can think of are Deborah. She was a prophet and judge in the Old Testament. She served Israel for forty years. Another woman is Phoebe. She can be found in Romans 16 in the New Testament. She is commended by Paul for serving (as a deaconess) the church in Cenchrea. Many scholars also believe that she was the one who delivered the epistle to the Romans to the church in Rome. If that is true, what an honor!

Today on International Women’s Day, I pray you recognize and take your place in the Kingdom of God. He has somewhere for you to serve, where the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be flowing from you, and you can build those in your sphere for ministry so they can also serve the people they come in contact with.

Many blessings to you as you grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus!

Beth 🌴

Here's a few posts that share more information about some topics I mentioned in this post!

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit-The Life of Jesus

A Foundation of Grace: His Name is John

Women and Ephesians 4

Women of Romans 16

Bold Women in the Bible

Risk (A Post About Priscilla and Aquila)

Five Minute Friday: Attempt

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Today I am participating in Five Minute Friday, where a group of writers get together and free write about a one word prompt for 5 minutes. Today's word is "attempt."

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.

                                                                     -Acts 16:6-8 (ESV)


I love this story. I have come back to it many times, especially when a BIG decision is looming in my life. Not so much for the smaller ones-it’s usually only the big decisions that I decide to refer to this story.

Maybe that should be different? Hmmmm….

This morning, as I was perusing Scripture trying to select a passage to go with the word prompt “attempt,” I came across this story again. This time, I decided to get my map out and look at it through geographical eyes.

Phyrigia and Galatia and Mysia all sort of border around the region of Bithynia. They form sort of like a bowl underneath. Paul was so very close. Yet, the Holy Spirit didn’t want him to go there…yet.

He decided to yield to what the Spirit said, and they went down to Troas. If you read the rest of the story, you will see that He had a vision during the night of a man from Macedonia pleading with him to come help him. So, they went. And a new church was born. (Read Acts 16 for all the details.) We literally have another letter in our Bibles because of this incident.

A couple of things I want to point out. First, Paul was attempting to do something. He was in motion. He had gone many places in the area, with the leading of the Holy Spirit I am sure. Many may have been because it seemed good. That phrase is also used in the Scripture.

But when he got to Bythnia it was a big no. This leads me to my next point. Did the Holy Spirit say no because He didn’t want Paul to go to Bythnia, or was it because He had something else for him to do? It may not have been that danger awaited him in Bithynia (because Paul often encountered danger, beatings, etc.), but it was because the timing was there for the people that were awaiting him in Philippi.

I also searched the word Bithynia when I was looking words up today, and that region is also found in 1 Peter 1 in Peter’s greeting to the Believers of specific regions.

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To the elect who are exiles of the Dispersion throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosenaccording to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.”-1 Peter 1:1-2 (BSB)

Bithynia was still included. They didn't get left behind or left out.

I think the biggest takeaway (for me anyway), is to always attempt something. Keep moving. You can trust the Lord to direct your steps, and care for those that you thought you might be going to, but it turns out you weren’t. There are more people for you to encounter ahead.

P.S. Read the Bible with a map. (I love geography.)


Many blessings to you as you continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus,

Beth

Five Minute Friday: Opinion

Photo by Harris Vo on Unsplash

Today I am participating in Five Minute Friday, where a group of writers get together and free write about a one word prompt for 5 minutes. Today's word is "opinion."

Begin.

After they had arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, “Does your Teacher pay the two drachmas?”

“Yes,” he answered.

When Peter entered the house, Jesus preempted him. “What do you think, Simon?” He asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs and taxes: from their own sons, or from others?”

“From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus declared. “But so that we may not offend them, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the first fish you catch. When you open its mouth, you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for My tax and yours.”

                                                             -Matthew 17:24-27 (BSB)

This is an interesting passage of Scripture. In it Jesus actually asks Peter’s opinion, what he thinks. Jesus likes to ask questions.

Has He ever asked you a question? I have had Him ask me questions before when He was trying to lead me to the solution to a question I had. It helped a lot.

In the above passage, He also uses the question to provide not only a solution to a current issue, but to do so in a supernatural, miraculous way.

Have you ever gone fishing before? Do you like to fish? I used to go fishing with my dad when I was a little girl. I remember because I would always get some kind of treat from the snack shop. We fished in a stocked pond. I am assuming this expedition for Peter took place in the Sea of Galilee since they were in Capernaum. But in all of my fishing trips, I have never gotten a fish that had a coin in its mouth. How would that even be possible?

Another interesting fact about this passage is that Jesus told Peter to cast a hook. This is the second time Jesus has told Peter to do something regarding fishing and a miracle happened. The first time was with the net-breaking catch of fish when Jesus called him to ministry. Do you think he was building in Peter that he was the solver of all problems?

I don’t think he needed Peter’s opinion, but He might have wanted Peter to arrive at the conclusion on his own.


Stop.