Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Acts 20:18-20
[Paul] said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears…You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.”
I want to tell you about something which regularly happens in our home. When my son leaves for work, I will naturally wish him well, and he always has exactly the same response: “I’ll do my best, Dad.” What is more, I know that he will. And that’s exactly what we’re reading in this passage today – Paul had done his best.
Paul had spent three years with the church in Ephesus, which was a very long ministry for him. He clearly loved the people passionately and was always keen to take every opportunity to encourage them. On this particular occasion, he was eager to get to Jerusalem in time for Pentecost, so he decided not to travel to Ephesus but invited their leaders to make the 30-mile journey to the coast to meet him at Miletus. He knew that this was the last time he would speak with them, and it is a moving speech revealing his deep love for the people.
Paul wasn’t perfect, and neither are we. But God looks to us, frail as we are, to do our best and, amazingly, our gracious and loving heavenly Father will take that and use it to His glory.
Question
Are you committed to doing your best for God today?
Prayer
Lord God, thank you that You are willing to take and use what I give to You today. Amen

Acts 19:11-12
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
I have no personal experience of my own handkerchiefs being a blessing to anyone else, and those close to me suggest they probably wouldn’t be! But that’s not the point. God will work in the way He chooses, and in this wonderful period of Paul’s ministry, that was exactly what He chose to do. The reference to the handkerchiefs here is probably to the sweat bands that Paul used in his daily tentmaking work.
When we hear about God working in miraculous ways, we are naturally keen to see Him do exactly the same things today. However, I believe our focus needs to be on the fact that God is always acting miraculously. It happens when people get better after a time of illness; when people recover after skilful surgery; when a child is born; when people find new hope; or when we look at the beautiful countryside or watch a majestic sunset. Every day we are being blessed by miracles, and that needs to encourage us to expect God to work in new and amazing ways. Looking at my handkerchiefs or my shadow, I don’t have any particular expectation that God is suddenly going to do amazing miracles with them, but looking at the miraculous God that I know, I find it very easy to believe that He might do so.
Question
In what ways have you seen God act miraculously in the past week?
Prayer
Loving God, open my eyes to see the amazing miracles that You are going to do today. Amen

Acts 18:9-10
One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”
Throughout the Bible, we hear God telling people not to be afraid. When God made a covenant with Abram, the father of the nation of Israel, He spoke to him in a vision and told him not to be afraid. Later, we meet Joshua after the death of Moses, and God told him not to be afraid or discouraged “for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). Much later, we hear the angel telling a young girl called Mary not to be afraid when she is told she will give birth to the Son of God.
The command not to be afraid reminds us how damaging fear can be. God knows that we cannot be effective in serving Him unless we overcome the problem of fear. Fear takes many forms, and it can creep up on us. It may be a fear of what other people think of us or a fear of failure, loss, ill health or death. Just because you are normally a confident person doesn’t mean that you are impervious to fear. We need to look to God and hand over our fears to Him, reminding ourselves that He is with us and will never leave us.
Question
What are you most fearful of at the moment? What are you doing with that fear?
Prayer
Loving Father, thank you for understanding me so well and giving me the strength to face up to my fears. Amen

Acts 17:32-34
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed.
Paul received a complete range of reactions to his speech to the Areopagus. Some laughed, others wanted to hear more and yet others became believers. You couldn’t get a more varied response than that! First of all, there were those who laughed with contempt. They found the idea of the resurrection absurd. It is never pleasant to be laughed at, but Paul knew that the Christian message will always seem ridiculous to some people.
Other people were sufficiently stimulated by Paul’s message to want to hear more from him at a later date. When people first hear the Christian message, it often comes as such a surprise that they don’t know how to take it all on board. They need time to stop and reflect. We need to be very patient and continually willing to talk with people about their questions and doubts.
And, finally, some people believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus. How thrilled Paul must have been that one of the members of this distinguished body should make a commitment to follow Christ. And remember that Paul had never intended to be in Athens at all! He was merely waiting around for a few days while Silas and Timothy caught up with him. Paul’s eagerness to share the good news of Jesus was unceasing.
Question
How would you support someone who was being mocked for their faith?
Prayer
Lord God, help me to share Your good news with other people, whatever their reaction. Amen

Acts 17:22-23
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.
Paul must have been delighted to get an opportunity to speak to the Areopagus. This was a highly respected body which brought together the leading thinkers of Athenian society. I love the graciousness and sensitivity of Paul’s approach to them. He wanted to build a bridge with these learned people. He observed that he had been looking around the city and noticed that they were very religious. They would have loved that. But he went further, remarking that he had come upon one particular altar which was “to an unknown god”. I am sure that his hearers were flattered by the care with which Paul had surveyed the situation, and they were all ears.
If we are to speak compellingly to our society, we too need to build a bridge. Attacking people, however wrong they may be, is never a way of building a relationship! Paul’s sensitive approach didn’t mean that he watered down his message. He simply ensured that what he said made sense to his hearers. Having built a bridge, he was then able to get to the heart of his message and urge his hearers to repent. We have much to learn from this. Most people in our society have not a single clue about the Christian message and we need to communicate by starting where they are.
Question
How could Paul’s approach help us as we share the good news?
Prayer
Loving God, help us to speak relevantly and clearly to our society. Amen