Daily Devotion by Ray Stedman

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for July 13th​

Halfway Christians​

Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. He said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

Acts 19:1b-2a

When Paul came to Ephesus he found men and women who had been told about Jesus, at least to the extent of the baptism of John. He obviously thought they were Christians when he first met them. But, as he watched them, he observed that something was missing, and I am sure there is puzzlement in his voice when finally he says to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? This question indicates that the normal Christian pattern is that the Spirit is given immediately upon belief in Jesus Christ. There is no suggestion here that the Spirit of God is given a long period after belief in Christ.

There are many people who believe in Jesus and yet who today do not evidence much sign of the work of the Holy Spirit. There are many churches in our land today where, as I am privileged sometimes to speak in them, I want to say to the people, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? There is no sign of it.

The Holy Spirit is given upon belief in the Lord Jesus, but that does not stop with one act of believing. We are to keep on believing in the Lord Jesus and thus to manifest his power and vitality in our lives. It is that continual act of believing which releases the freshness of the Spirit in our lives. Paul says to the Colossians, As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so live in him... (Colossians 2:6 RSV). As you received him by an act of believing, keep on believing, walk in him, live in him, so that you might demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit.

So what is wrong if there is no evidence of the working of the Spirit? None of the joy, none of the grace, none of the power? It is because we are not believing in him. We believed in him once, but that believing has ceased. There is now no sense of expectancy, no fresh anticipation of his working in our lives today.

Are there signs of the Spirit of God in your life? Are his presence, his power, his working, the freshness, the vitality, the enthusiasm, the excitement of the Spirit visible in your Christian life? If not, you have ceased believing in Jesus. There must be this expectation of his working, for he makes himself available to us continually, moment by moment, to fulfill every demand life makes upon us, as we expect him to do so. That note of expectancy is the evidence, or the sign, of faith which marks the difference between the sterility, the deadness, and the dullness of religiosity without the Spirit, and the fullness, the freshness, and the vigor and power of a Spirit-filled life. So this question, addressed to these halfway Christians of long ago Ephesus, still has meaning for us today, as we understand the need for a continual act of faith in the Lord Jesus.

Lord Jesus, how frequently I fail to understand the truth of your promise that you have come to live within me. Grant to me anew, Lord, the faith to lay hold of this promise and to make visible in my life.

Life Application​

Have we settled for being 'halfway Christians', absent evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit? What is the key to releasing the freshness and vitality of his power in and through us? Is our daily walk characterized by believing in God's Word and in his indwelling presence?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for July 14th​

Off Witchcraft!​

Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.

Acts 19:18-20

Luke mentions two movements here. It started with the believers who began to clean up their own lives, who came and divulged their hidden practices, confessing what they were doing in private. Obviously these were relatively new Christians and perhaps they had never thought that anything was wrong with these practices. But as they sat under the teaching of the apostle and saw the kingdom of God and how God longs to set people free, they began to see that what they had been doing — the astrology, the reliance on horoscopes, the belief in the influence of the stars, and all their other superstitious practices — had held them in bondage. These were the reasons why they remained weak and fearful, upset and distressed within themselves. So they began to confess all this and therefore to be free from their bondage. And that, in turn, precipitated another movement. The unbelievers around them in the city began to take a second look at their own practices. Many of them who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them when they became Christians under the influence and power of the gospel, and thus they were set free from their own deadly delusion.

This illustrates how light breaks forth through the church. It is the church that is the light of the world. When the church begins to straighten out and clean up its life, and act and live as God has called people to do, then the world will begin to see itself as it is, and see what is wrong, and start straightening up and being freed from the practices that are darkening and blinding it. This is what happened here. They surrendered all their occult literature — and that was a costly thing to do. As they totaled up the value of these books and the various paraphernalia that was brought to be burned, it came to fifty-thousand pieces of silver. That is about ten thousand dollars, which was a tremendous sum in those days. It meant that these people were forsaking their livelihood. They were changing the total pattern of their lives, as they saw that they could no longer practice the occult and live as Christians too. It revealed how willing they were to be free from this terrible practice.

Here in Ephesus, Paul and the other Christians, by the power of the truth, broke through this deception. They assaulted this stronghold of evil. They cracked it wide open, so that Luke says, The word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailed. That is how a church ought to operate — in the power of the Spirit and by the authority of the Word. There are strongholds like this all around us today, bastions of darkness: drugs, witchcraft, homosexuality. How desperately this situation needs the assault of truth and of light. God longs to deliver people from these strongholds, and he has given the church this power.

Father, I see powers of darkness holding people enthralled, locking them into misery and heartache, superstition and fear, hostility and emptiness. Lord, help me to understand that this is a very strategic time to live and to give myself to this exciting, glorious encounter against these powers of darkness.

Life Application​

Are we faithfully and transparently confronting any and all evil practices in our own lives? Are we committed to being set free, and to sharing that freedom with others, regardless of the cost in worldly goods or prestige?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for July 15th​

Christianity is Dangerous​

After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and when he had exhorted them and taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia.

Acts 20:1

Paul is eager to explain to the Christians this whole uproarious riot that had just taken place in Ephesus. There is something about it he does not want them to miss, so he calls them together and exhorts them before he leaves. Luke does not tell us what that exhortation consisted of, but I believe that Paul does. There is a passage in his second letter to the Corinthians which refers to this very occasion. In 2 Corinthians 1:8 Paul says, For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself (2 Cor. 1:8 RSV).

Put yourself back with the apostle into the midst of this tremendous uproar. It had appeared for a while that the gospel had so triumphed in Ephesus that Paul could think of leaving and going on to other places. Then this riot suddenly occurred, seeming to threaten the entire cause of Christ, and putting the Christians in great danger. Paul is crushed and distressed. His life is in danger. This crowd is so wild, so uncontrollable that for a few hours it looks as though they might just sweep through the city and wipe out every Christian in Ephesus. Paul says, ...we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Why, we felt that we had received the sentence of death... (2 Cor. 1:8b-9a RSV) He could not see any way out. It looked as if he had reached the end of the road. But God had a purpose: ...but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. (2 Cor. 1:9b RSV)

That is the very heart of the Christian message, as Paul will go on to explain in this letter. Our sufficiency is not of ourselves, he says (2 Cor. 3:5). His explanation to these young converts in Ephesus was unquestionably along this line. He was saying to them, God has sent this event, has allowed it to happen to teach us that he is able to handle things when they get far beyond any human control. When our circumstances get way out of order, far beyond our own resources, God is able. He has taught us this so that we will not rely on ourselves but upon him who raises the dead, who works in us to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think, according to the power at work within us.

What an awareness this apostle had of the fantastic strength of the body of Christ working together, praying together, supporting one another, upholding each other in prayer and thus calling into action the mighty power of the God of resurrection, who can work through the most unexpected instruments to quiet a situation, to hold a crowd in restraint, to stop the surging emotionalism of people whose reasoning has been short-circuited, to hold them within limits and bounds, and to bring the whole affair to nothing! This is the might of our God.

This is what we can learn from this situation, as we too come into times of danger and pressure and trouble. The difficulties which strike suddenly in our lives, the pressures through which we must go, the sudden catastrophes that come roaring in out of the blue — these are sent so that we might rely not on ourselves but on God.

Thank you, Father, for those trials and difficulties you bring into my life which teach me to depend not on myself but on you.

Life Application​

'Safety first' is not the Christian logo! Do we need to be disabused of the notion that authentic Christian living means immunity from hardship, persecution and suffering? Are we taking up the whole armor of God, trusting Him to do battle through us -- or are we resisting the very adventure to which we are called?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for July 17th​

The Main Thing​

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

Acts 20:28

The primary responsibility of an elder or pastor is to teach the Scriptures, to feed the flock. If he is not doing that, he is failing in his job, miserably. It is the truth that changes people. If the Scriptures are not being taught then people are not being changed. They are struggling in their own futile ways and nothing is being accomplished. So the primary job of elders and pastors is to set the whole counsel of God before the people.

They are to begin with themselves, says the apostle, i.e., they are to obey the truth which they themselves learn. This is where their authority comes from. It is only as they are obedient to the truth which they teach that they have any right to say anything to anyone else. Even the Lord Jesus operated on that basis. He said to his disciples on one occasion, If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me... (John 10:37). That is, if what I am doing is not in exact accord with what I am saying, then don't believe me!

Would you dare say that to your children? Or to your Sunday school class? Or to others who observe you as a Christian? If what I am doing is not in line with what I teach, then don't believe me. I have no authority over you; I have no power over you. But if your actions are in accord with your teaching then power is inherent in that obedience.

So these pastors and elders are to begin with themselves, and to teach the Word. Their responsibility is to the Holy Spirit, not to the denomination, nor to the congregation. It is the Spirit who has set them in that office and has equipped them with gifts. He who reads the heart is judging their lives, so it does not make any difference what anybody else thinks. They are responsible to follow the Holy Spirit in what he has given them to do.

Notice how he underscores the fact that theirs is a very precious ministry. It is to feed the church of the Lord. Nothing is more precious to God in all the world than the people of Christ, the body of Christ. The most valuable thing on earth, in God's sight, is his church. He gave himself for it, he loves it earnestly, he purchased it with his own blood. Therefore it has highest priority in his schedule and emphasis. What concerns the church is the most important thing in the world today. I wish we could catch that picture as the apostle understood it.

Father, how grateful I am for your Word. How graciously it teaches me, especially through the other members of the body. Please protect and encourage all those you have called to teach your word.

Life Application​

The emphasis on teaching and obeying God's Word is critical to both private and public Christian witness. Are we instead trying to impress people with our credentials and skills? Do we need to reassess what is 'the main thing' in both our walk and our talk?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for July 18th​

Paul's Mistake​

As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, This is what the Holy Spirit says: In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

Acts 21:9-11

This is a rather painful scene. At Caesarea they came into the home of Philip the evangelist. There Agabus, a prophet of the Lord, in a dramatic, visual way, took Paul's sash from around his waist and bound his own feet and hands, and said, This is what the Holy Spirit is saying to you, Paul. If you go on to Jerusalem, this is what will happen to you. You'll be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles. They will bind you, and you'll be a prisoner.

This was the last effort made by the Holy Spirit to awaken the apostle to what he was doing. Agabus was joined in this by the whole body of believers. The whole family present urged him not to go, Luke included. We read in verse 12, When we had heard this, we and the local residents begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. So even his close associates recognized the voice of the Spirit, to which the apostle seemed strangely deaf. He refused to listen.

And in Paul's reply to them we can detect that, without quite realizing what has happened, he has succumbed to what today we call a martyr complex. Paul said in verse 13, What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. These words are brave and sincere and earnest. He meant every word of them. We can find no fault with the bravery and courage expressed in those words. But it was not necessary for him to go, and the Spirit had told him not to go.

Here we see what can happen to a man of God when he is misled by an urgent hunger to accomplish a goal which God has not given him to do. The flesh had deceived Paul and evidently he saw himself as doing what the Lord did in his final journey up to Jerusalem. The Gospel accounts say that Jesus steadfastly set his face to go there, determined to go against all the pleading and the warnings of his own disciples. Paul must have seen himself in that role. But Jesus had the Spirit's witness within that this was the will of the Father for him, while Paul had exactly the opposite. The Spirit had made crystal clear that he was not to go to Jerusalem.

When Paul refused to be persuaded his friends said, Well, may the will of the Lord be done. That is what you say when you do not know what else to say. That is what you pray when you do not know how else to act. They are simply saying, Lord, it is up to you. We can't stop this man. He has a strong will and a mighty determination, and he's deluded into thinking that this is what you want. Therefore, you will have to handle it. May the will of the Lord be done.

Father, thank you for recording so faithfully even this failure by the apostle. It is so helpful in letting me see how I must rely not upon the arm of the flesh but upon the arm of the Spirit. Teach me to walk in obedience, Lord, and not to venture out upon that which would be merely the fulfillment of a great desire on my part.

Life Application​

The guidance of the Holy Spirit is intimate and personal, yet he often uses godly counsel from others to validate God's will. Are we learning to be alert to the inner witness while open to confirmation from our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for July 19th​

Freedom in Christ​

And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law; and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.

Acts 21:20-21

Many have misread this and concluded that Paul set aside Moses and the Law, that he did reject circumcision as of no value. That charge was false. Paul never taught a Jew to abandon Moses, or not to circumcise his children. What he strongly taught was that the Gentiles should not be made subject to these Jewish provisions. He would not allow them to come under the Jewish Law and insisted that they did not have to follow any of these Jewish provisions. But he did not set aside the ritual for the Jews.

Rather, he pointed out to them that this was all symbolic, and that it was all pointing toward Christ. The very rituals they were performing and the sacrifices they were offering were all telling them of Jesus. Jesus' coming had fulfilled, and filled out, the picture that the Old Testament sacrifices had drawn. Thus, in the very process of carrying them out, the Jews were simply retelling themselves of the coming of the Lord Jesus.

These observances were very much like the Lord's table is for us today. When we take communion, we are dealing with symbols. There is a sense in which those symbols are telling again the story of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. Doing this does not make us any better, but it reminds us. This was the function of these Jewish rituals. They were reminders of what the Lord Jesus had come to do. All through the book of Acts we see Jewish Christians going into the temple and offering sacrifices, just as the Lord himself had done. There is no suggestion that they should have stopped, or that it was wrong for them to do this. Until God took the sacrifices away they were permitted this means of expression. The sacrifices ended when the temple was finally destroyed in A.D. 70, when the words of Jesus were fulfilled and Roman armies came and laid siege to the city (Matthew 24:6ff). The city was taken and the Jews were carried away captive, exactly as the Lord Jesus said. But that was several years still in the future from this point in history.

Paul's practice was that when he was with the Jews, he became as a Jew; when he was with the Gentiles, he became as a Gentile; and when he was with the weak, he limited himself and became as weak as they so that he might reach them on their level. He was simply declaring again the freedom he had in Christ. He was free — free to live as a Gentile among the Gentiles, free to live as a Jew among the Jews, free from the Law, but free also to keep the Law if there were certain advantages to be gained by so doing.

Thank, you, Father, for the freedom you give me to become all things to all men, so that more might be won for you. Give me wisdom as I seek to practice this with those around me.

Life Application​

Learning the distinguishing principles between Law and grace will free us to discreetly demonstrate them to others. Are we dedicated to learning these Truths so that we may freely and responsibly apply them to our relationships?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.