Acts 8:1-8
That day a bitter persecution started against the church in Jerusalem, and everyone except the apostles fled to the country districts of Judea and Samaria… Saul then worked for the total destruction of the Church; he went from house to house arresting both men and women and sending them to prison. Those who had escaped went from place to place preaching the Good News. One of them was Philip who went to a Samaritan town and proclaimed the Christ to them. The people united in welcoming the message Philip preached, either because they had heard of the miracles he worked or because they saw them for themselves. There were, for example, unclean spirits that came shrieking out of many who were possessed, and several paralytics and cripples were cured. As a result, there was great rejoicing in that town.
POINTS FOR REFLECTION
1. The Jews used the tools of oppression and persecution to stop the gospel of Jesus. For them, it was a method to thwart growth of Christ’s followers, but God used the persecution as a means of dispersing the gospel like a farmer scattering seed on a farmland because those who had escaped went from place to place preaching the Good News.
2. Hence the weapon of the warfare was nothing but PREACHING: DOING WHAT THEY WERE ASKED NOT TO DO. This becomes the weapon that roused the most brutal of their enemy in the person of Saul, who went as far as obtaining legal backing to kill the early Christians. He succeeded. But like every battle, there must be a winner, and he lost because he was fighting with man-made weapons, while the Christians fought with a Divine guerilla weapons- the weapon of the Word of God.
3. Saul, as Paul after his conversion, writes: take the word of God as the sword the Spirit gives you, because you wrestle not against flesh and blood (Eph 6:12-13). He knew this, he learnt his lesson when he tried battling with Christians. He knew this from his defeat!
4. And so child of God, I say to you: NO ONE CAN STOP YOU! Yes, as long as you battle with the right weapon! That good thing which you do, for which men persecute you is your weapon. If you give in to their pressure and stop it, then they have defeated you. Take this as watch word: The more the persecution, the more you should increase your efforts. Never give up, and never stop praying with the Word of God.
TASK: Read Ephesians 6:12-15 now and pray Psalm 144. I pray for you: The Lord shall defeat all those who attack you and make you victorious. Amen.
