As a Man Thinks In His Heart

Photo by Duo Chen on Unsplash

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.-Proverbs 23:7 

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. When I was a waitress, I trained waitstaff. I had to show them what to do, and then let them loose on their own to do it. They had to be able to see themselves as doing it though. If they didn’t think they could, then they wouldn’t.

When we first come to Jesus, he shows us what to do, and then we eventually do it. We have to see ourselves the way he sees us.

The disciples traveled around with him for three years. They watched him heal people. They heard the gospel. And they felt the love he shared.

After his ascension, and when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, they began to do what He did. They preached the gospel. They healed people. And people felt the love they shared.

We are no different from them. We, who are born again, and have been baptized in the Holy Spirit can preach the Gospel. We can heal the sick. And we can communicate the love he shared.

He lives in us.

We have to see ourselves correctly. Just like the waitstaff I trained, we have to see ourselves doing those things.

Will we be perfect at first? No. Neither were the disciples. They did some more learning as they went. But they did it. And they did it like Jesus.

Five Minute Friday: Risk

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 "risk."

Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who have risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.-Romans 16:3-4

I love Romans 16. I have this thing about learning about people. 

In the 16th chapter of the letter to Romans, Paul lists many people’s names which were part of the early church in Rome. In verses 3 & 4 of that chapter, a couple named Priscilla and Aquila are mentioned.

The first time the couple is mentioned in the Scriptures is in Acts 18. Luke, the writer of the Book of Acts, tells that they were expelled from Rome because of an edict set forth by Claudius, the emperor during that time, forcing all Jews to leave.
We don’t know why this event happened exactly. I imagine if we explored history, we might get a clearer picture.

Priscilla and Aquila were a married couple. Aquila was a Jew, we are told, but we aren’t given a clear explanation about Priscilla’s nationality.

My own personal opinion is that she was most likely a Roman. Her name is a Latin name, meaning “ancient.” I researched a little and Latin and Greek were the official languages of the Roman empire, but Latin was the original language. So, it stands to reason, having a Latin name, she was most likely a Roman.

They are mentioned throughout the epistles by Paul, in Romans 16 and then again in 1 Corinthians and 2 Timothy in Paul’s salutations at the end of the letters.

We aren’t exactly told what the risk involved, but we know that living in any of the above cities at the time wasn’t easy and it wasn’t safe.

It has been a while since I charted their route, but it appears, based on the dates of which the epistles were written, and the mention of their names in scripture, that Priscilla and Aquila's journey originated in Rome, then on to Corinth.  Then they went to Ephesus, back to Rome, and then back to Ephesus.

The Early Church and Food

Acts 2
Acts 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe [4] came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.


The early church fellowshipped over food. That must have been something that was important. It should be important to us as a church today as well. It is so difficult to get to know others during a church service. It seems like people rush into church and then rush right out. If you have children, you must go pick them up as soon as service is out to allow the children’s workers to clean up and prepare to leave. There is very little opportunity to fellowship during the service. Under these circumstances, it is hard to develop relationships with others in the church or it just takes a really long time. The early church must have done some things we don’t do now. They fellowshipped over food. They must have lived in close proximity to one another because cars were not an option. There were methods of travel via the use of animals, but they still had to live close. The Bible says they shared everything in common and everybody’s needs were met. These are things that are not taking place now. Could it be possible that the Holy Spirit was more present because of the love that existed between these people? We are too busy now. We need to slow down.

*Note: I wrote the above passage BEFORE I went back and read the above scriptures. More will come on this subject because it is something on my heart and I feel like it requires much attention. I just wanted to get my thoughts out without agonizing over perfection in my writing at this point. I realize there is so much more in the passage of scripture above.