Daily Devotion by Ray Stedman

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 10th​

The Radical Resurrection​

Read the Scripture: Acts 4:1-12

Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

Acts 4:11-12

This is a startling declaration! It says that there is no other who can fulfill the place of being the cornerstone of authority in the world. No other name! None of the religious leaders, none of the political leaders of all time could possibly do this work. There is only One adequately equipped, qualified to be the foundation of human government, the basis of human authority.

You take all the religious names of history — Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, Mahatma Gandhi, Ramakrishna, Joseph Smith, Mary Baker Eddy — whoever and whatever. The most that can be said of these men and women is that they are moral teachers. The best we can say of them is that they taught what is right. Many of them did. Christians are often accused of being bigoted, of being intolerant of other faiths. There is a sense in which that accusation is perfectly just. We are intolerant of other faiths, in the final analysis. But this does not mean that Christians do not recognize that there is much truth in other religions.

Other great religious leaders have uttered fine moral teachings and precepts which have helped people. But there is one thing they could not do: They could tell us what was right; but they could not enable us to do it. That is the difference between Jesus of Nazareth and any other name that can be named in this world. That is why we can never consent to considering any other name to be equal with that of Jesus of Nazareth. No other has solved the problem of death. No other has broken through this ghastly terror that hangs over the human race — only Jesus of Nazareth. God has made him the cornerstone, and there is no other name by which we can be saved.

We do not need someone to tell us what to do; we know what to do. Most of us know better than we are doing! What we need is One who will change us, give us a new motivation, make us want to do what we ought to do, and give us a new heart, a new outlook, a new ability, a new capacity, a new life. This is what Jesus does.

Lord Jesus, thank you that you are ready to save any who will trust and believe in you, by this wonderful miracle that you have made possible — that wherever a heart in emptiness and loneliness, in pain and despair, cries out to you and asks you to enter that life and dwell within, you take up residence there.

Life Application​

What is the unique distinctive that makes Jesus' moral authority comparable to none other? Do we like the Apostle Paul want to know Christ and the life-changing, radical power of His resurrection?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 11th​

When the Establishment is Wrong​

Read the Scripture: Acts 4:13-22

But Peter and John replied, Which is right in God's eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.

Acts 4:19-20

The inconsistency of these Jewish rulers led to what was basically an illegal act. They were the representatives of God to this nation and as such they were ostensibly committed to doing the will of God. Yet here, in spite of the evidence they had received of what God wanted done, they directly opposed the will and word of God, and forbade these apostles to speak in the name of Jesus. The disciples, very wisely and courteously, declined to obey this command. They pointed out that they had no choice, they cannot help speaking about the things they have seen and heard. The message they declared was so challenging, so transforming in its implications, both to the nation and to the world, that they cannot be silent and still be true to their relationship to God. It was a message desperately needed, so powerful in its implications and its effect that they cannot, out of sheer humanity, maintain silence. They thus respectfully declined to obey what these rulers commanded.

At this point the whole question of civil disobedience comes into view. These apostles were forbidden by the properly constituted authorities to preach in the name of Jesus. The apostles told them to their faces that they would not obey the rule. This incident had been used through the centuries to justify many activities such as racial strife, draft evasion, violent demonstration, boycotts, strikes, etc. We cannot read this account without the question being raised, and quite properly: Is it right for a Christian to disobey a law because of a conscientious scruple? The clear answer of this account is, Yes! There are times when it is necessary, when it is right to disobey properly constituted authority. The establishment can be wrong as well as right.

The Scriptures are clear that governments are given by God. Paul says that government authorities are the servants of God (Romans 13:1-7). The emperor on the throne when Paul wrote those words was none other than Nero, a wicked, vile, and godless man. Yet Paul could write that the governing authorities were the servants of God and those who resist them resist what God has ordained. He acknowledges that governments have certain powers, derived not from the people but from God — the power to tax, the power to keep law and order, the power to punish evildoing, even to the point of death. The Scriptures make perfectly clear that all this is right and ordained of God, and believers are exhorted to obey the authorities.

But there is a place for civil disobedience. Notice that it occurs here only because the conscience of these men rested directly on the word of God which contradicted the human law. The issue is so clear that Peter even calls on the rulers to be the judges of what the apostles should do. He says, Which is right in God's eyes? You are religious men. You know which is the higher authority. Who should we obey, God or man? The matter was so clear that these authorities cannot say a word. All they can do is threaten and bluster and try to maintain control by the threat of force. They feared the people who were convinced that this was a remarkable sign from God.

Preserve me, Father, from misguided zeal. Reveal to me the underlying turmoil in society that is the result of your Spirit at work among men, and to line up with you; to take my stand with these men and women of old.

Life Application​

Are we dutifully and earnestly seeking God's wisdom in the issue of civil disobedience? Jesus calls us to be salt and light, both desperately needed in our rapidly decaying culture. Are we both prayerful and obedient?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 12th​

The Mystery of History​

Read the Scripture: Acts 4:23-31

On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. Sovereign Lord, they said, you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them

Acts 4:23-24

After being released from custody of the Sanhedrin, the apostles did not go out to organize a revolutionary committee to overthrow them. They did not even try to arouse a popular demonstration. The clear evidence of this passage is that they had popular support. But the apostles do not rely for even one minute upon political or popular pressure. They cast themselves upon the unique resource of the church in any age, which, when it forgets it, becomes nothing more than an instrument of distortion. They cast themselves wholly upon the sovereign power of God at work in history. That is the greatest force to alter a power structure that the world has ever seen. It has been ignored by the church many times and thus Christians have frittered away their efforts in relatively useless activities which make a lot of noise but never accomplish anything.

The apostles found encouragement in two things: First, the sovereignty of God, his overruling control of human events. The very first word of their prayer recognizes this, Sovereign Lord. God holds the world in the palm of his hand, and is intimately involved in every human event. They found great consolation in that, but I find many Christians have forgotten it. These disciples openly recognized that God had even predicted the very opposition they faced. Later, they quote the second Psalm in support of it. They had clearly been doing what Christians ought to do under pressure: They had gone to the Scriptures. They had found in the second Psalm the prediction of the actual opposition they were facing.

This second thing they saw is what we might call, the mystery of history. You can see it in verse 28 where they say of the Sanhedrin, They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. In other words, the God of history uses the very opposition to accomplish his purposes! That is what they saw. God worked through the free will of man. These people opposed the plan of God. They tried to thwart God's purposes. They tried to derail his program. But God operates in such a marvelous way that he uses even this opposition to accomplish his will. That is the story of the cross and of the resurrection of Jesus.

That principle is what these Christians reckoned upon. They recognized a principle at work in human affairs which is the most powerful force known to man, and which the church frequently ignores to its peril.

Thank you, Father, that I can trust in your sovereign power and control even over those events which do me harm.

Life Application​

What are two important principles we derive from God's Word regarding our reactions to deepening moral decay and human suffering? Are we willing to act faithfully, while acknowledging the mystery and majesty of God's sovereignty?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 13th​

Body Life​

Read the Scripture: Acts 4:32-36

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.

Acts 4:32

This is a beautiful glimpse of what life was like in the early church. After the dramatic events of the day of Pentecost, the healing of the lame man, and the great response of multitudes in Jerusalem, the church faced life in the world of that day — a world of darkness, despair, and death on every side — and met it with a flowing out of the life of Jesus Christ. This is ideal Christianity, true, genuine Christianity. Unfortunately there is also a counterfeit Christianity. It came in shortly after this in the early church, and evidences of it will be seen throughout the book of Acts. Wherever the true church has gone throughout the world, counterfeit Christianity has gone right along with it.

Counterfeit Christianity can be recognized externally as a kind of religious club where people, largely of the same social status or class, and bound together by a mutual interest in some religious project or program, meet together to advance that particular cause. But that is a far cry from true Christianity which consists of individuals who share the same divine life, who are made up of all ages, backgrounds, classes, and status-levels of society, and who, when meeting together, regard themselves as what they really are — brothers and sisters in one family. But of that mutual background of love and fellowship they manifest the life of Jesus Christ.

That is what we have here. The key idea is community, commonness, everything in common. They were of one heart and mind. The word heart is used for the human spirit. It denotes the deepest part of our life. It is the unconscious level of existence, the spirit, the most essential part of our nature. Here were people who, by the Holy Spirit, had been united into one life. They were of one heart. At the very deepest level of their lives they belonged to each other, and that is only possible by means of the Holy Spirit. They did not need to have met someone before to recognize that if he or she is a Christian they belong to each other, they are of the same family and they always have a vast area in common. This was true of these people.

Not only did they have it, but it also manifested itself in the fact that everyone had a new attitude toward the material life. This is not a forced distribution of goods. It is not an attempt to make everyone give up their material things and redistribute them to others. No, it is a change of attitude, saying, Nothing that I possess is mine, for my exclusive use, but everything that I possess is God's, and therefore it is available to anyone who needs it. So here were these early Christians, one in heart and mind and body, united together. That is the church as it ought to be.

Father, thank you for the renewed life being imparted to your body. How true it is that it flows through the interchange of those who belong to one another, made so by the life of Jesus Christ which we share, brothers and sisters together in Christ.

Life Application​

What can I as a member of Christ's body do to facilitate community among my fellow believers? Do I realize the importance of oneness as members together under the Headship of Christ, the Lord of the Church?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 14th​

The Prince of Pretense​

Read the Scripture: Acts 5:1-11

At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

Acts 5:10-11

Why did this occur? Why was the Holy Spirit so severe? Is this what he always does with his church? Someone says, Thank God this doesn't happen any more; if it did, we'd have to put a morgue into every church. This is a picture of what happens in a life when pretense is indulged in. The moment you or I pretend to be something that we really are not, the second I assume before you a stance of spiritual impeccability which I do not possess, that moment death enters in. I am immediately cut off from the flow of the life of Christ. It does not mean I am no longer a Christian, but it means that the life of the body is no longer flowing through me. Instead of being part of a living, vital movement, I become a dead and unresponsive cell in that body.

That is what is wrong with the church today. It is the tragic sickness of the church in any age — pretense, sham, hypocrisy — to pretend to be something we are not. The most astonishing thing about this is that it is unconscious hypocrisy, for the most part. I seldom meet deliberate hypocrites. I am guilty of it frequently, and so are you — thus being an unconscious hypocrite. We think it is somehow religious, or Christian, not to show what we really are.

That is what this story of Ananias and Sapphira underscores for us. The minute they pretended to be something they were not — death! When we come to church we put on a mask of adequacy, but inside we are inadequate, and we know it. We are struggling with problems in our homes, but we don't want to tell anyone about them. We can't get along with our children, but we'll never admit it to anyone. The pride that doesn't want anyone else to know what is going on between husbands and wives, and between parents and children, keeps us from sharing. We come to church and put on a mask that says everything's fine! Everything's wonderful! Somebody asks us how are things going. Great, great! Fine! How's everything at home? Oh, wonderful! We're having a wonderful time! The minute we say that and its not true, we die. Death sets in. Soon that death pervades the whole church. That is why dishonesty is the primary characteristic of the church today.

How do we deal with this problem within ourselves? In Scripture the way to cure a spiritual disease is always the same: Repent and believe. Repent means to acknowledge that you have been doing it wrong. It means to face the fact that it has not been right. Then believe means to understand that God has already given you, in Jesus Christ, all that it takes to do what you should. Then start doing it! Start opening up and sharing your burdens. You will start in a rather small way, perhaps, and it will be difficult at first. But it is the sharing of lives that makes power and grace to flow through the body.

Father, Forgive me for my own pretense, and teach me to open up with my brothers and sisters in Christ so that when people look at us they might say, My, how these Christians love one another.

Life Application​

Am I personally contributing to the serious issue of hypocrisy? What steps must I take to address this threat to the very life of Christ in me and through me?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 15th​

True Healing​

Read the Scripture: Acts 5:12-16

The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.

Acts 5:12-14

This sounds like the days of Jesus all over again, does it not? Here is a tremendous display of physical healing power at the hands of the apostles. The result was that multitudes were added to the church, increasing it far beyond the five thousand we had already noted before. Here is obvious evidence of the power of God at work.

But there are many people who are troubled by this account. They say, What is wrong with the church now? Why don't we have signs and wonders and mighty events like these taking place? Many people, feeling that such signs are the mark of power, have tried to reproduce these signs and wonders, and the result has been certain of the healing movements of our day, with faith healers who travel about declaring that they are able to heal as the apostles did.

We must notice some things about this account that are carefully given to us by Dr. Luke. First, he says, these were done by the hands of the apostles. These were not done by all believers. They constitute what the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 calls the signs of an apostle... (2 Corinthians 12:12). He said to these Corinthians, You are questioning my apostleship. You're asking if I really am an apostle because I'm not one of the twelve. Well, let me ask you this. Have you not seen the signs of an apostle that I have done among you? These signs you see were specifically to accompany the ministry of the apostles to whom was assigned the task of laying the foundations of the church, of giving the Scriptures upon which the church must rest.

Not only were the Apostles to manifest the power of God in physical ways, but this physical manifestation was to be a symbol, a sign, of the spiritual power that God would release among the people. It is always a mistake to put emphasis upon a physical miracle. Physical miracles, although they attract attention, also confuse people so that ultimately they miss the point of what God is saying. God wants to heal the whole of man, the hurt in man's spirit most of all. That is where the problem really lies. Every person ever healed by the Lord Jesus, or by the disciples in the days of the early church, died. The physical healing was a temporary thing, with no exceptions: they all died. But when God heals the spirit, it is an eternal event. There is an inward change that is never lost. When God heals a man from the inside out, he makes him a whole person. It does not really matter what happens to the physical — at best it is only a temporary thing. The great thing that God is after is the healing of the hurt of humanity in its spiritual sickness, its evil, its darkness and its desperateness. That is always where he desires to start. I do not mean that God has stopped healing physically; he has not. But the deepest need of man is spiritual healing, not physical. That is what this passage is saying. And when spiritual healing happens, multitudes will be added to the church.

Father, thank you for your power to heal, not just in the physical realm but in the deeper realm of the heart.

Life Application​

Are we trivializing God's healing at the deepest level of our souls by focusing primarily on physical healing? Do we trust His power to heal and His wisdom to choose both how and when?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 16th​

Confrontation!​

Read the Scripture: Acts 5:17-42

They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

Acts 5:40b-42

I love that. They did not stop. They counted themselves fortunate to suffer dishonor for his name. It seems to take Christians so long to face up to the simple declaration of Scripture that, when they were called to be a Christian, they were called to suffer. As Paul said in his letter to the Philippians, For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. (Philippians 1:29). We are called to this. Suffering is an integral part of the Christian experience. It is not something that is unusual or reserved for just a few; it is for all. Peter wrote, Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. (1 Peter 4:12). Don't think it is strange. You go through problems, difficulties, heartaches, disappointments, ostracism and coolness from others, all for the sake of the Name. Don't think that is strange. It is that to which we are called.

In a world that is run by illusions, governed by deceptions, and is a victim of lies and maliciously evil falsehoods, what else can we expect if we stand for the truth? People will think we are strange, at times. People will think we react in funny ways. There will be some degree of coolness, even among those who are, in many other ways, friendly toward us. They will think we are a little odd. But it is they who are odd; it is we who are normal. When a normal person lives in a world full of oddballs, they think he's odd. But that is the suffering to which he is called. Like these disciples, we ought to thank God for it and rejoice in it. Jesus said that, didn't he? Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my name's sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, ... for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you... (Matthew 5:11-12 KJV).

The church, then, is not to wring its hands, and say, Oh what a terrible thing! We're being opposed! What an awful thing! No! Rejoice, like these early Christians did. Count it an honor that you have been called to suffer a little for his name's sake. Stand up and be counted.

Father, help me to understand that we are the salt of the earth, we are the light of the world, and we must begin to act that way again.

Life Application​

When 'truth has fallen in the public squares' are we prepared to fulfill our calling to speak for Truth? Do we resist the forces of evil for Christ's sake, in His wisdom and with His Truth?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 17th​

How the Body Functions​

Read the Scripture: Acts 6:1-8

So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.

Acts 6:2-4

It would be very easy to read that as though the apostles were saying, We're too good to serve tables. After all, we're apostles. Let's pick out seven flunkies who can do that, while we devote ourselves to the tremendously spiritual work of prayer and preaching the word. If you read it that way you completely misread this passage because that is not what they did at all.

Remember that these apostles had been in the upper room with the Lord Jesus. They had seen him divest himself of his garments, gird himself with a towel, take a basin of water, and wash their filthy, dirty feet. They had heard his words, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.... (Luke 22:26). They were not, in any sense, downgrading the ministry of serving tables. They made this decision on the basis of a difference in spiritual gifts. Here we have a very clear example of the way the early church assigned duties upon the basis of the distribution of gifts by the Holy Spirit.

The glory of this church was that they were conscious of the superintendency of the Holy Spirit — so aware that the Lord Jesus himself, by means of the Spirit, was the head of the church. He was apportioning gifts, giving certain ministries to various individuals and sending them out, giving the orders. All through this book of Acts you can see tremendous manifestation of the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Here, then, they recognize that he had given various gifts. The apostles understood that their gift was that of an apostle. They were to lay the foundation of the church, for it was given to the apostles to lay foundations. That foundation is the Scriptures. It is on the Scriptures that the church rests. The minute the church departs from these Scriptures it loses its strength, its light and understanding, and its ability to operate. That has always been true. Whenever the church has rested upon the foundation laid by the apostles, the truth as it is in Jesus, the church has always had strength, power, and grace.

Therefore it was necessary that the apostles give themselves to the ministry of apostleship, which involved, prayer and the ministry of the word. As they met together in prayer they learned and understood the mind of God. The Spirit of God reminded them of things which the Lord Jesus had taught them, and they in turn imparted this to the church. At that time, none of the New Testament was in writing. Yet all of the truths which we have reflected in these New Testament pages were being uttered by the apostles as they taught the people from place to place. They taught them what we now have written down for us. And all we have, of course, is the word of the apostles. This whole New Testament is nothing but the word of the apostles given to us. So it was essential, as they understood it, to devote themselves to this.

But they recognized also that there were other gifts of the Spirit. There were gifts of helps and gifts of wisdom, and men and women in this vast congregation had these gifts. So all they are doing here is charging the church with finding among themselves men who had gifts which would qualify them to do this kind of work — gifts of helps and gifts of wisdom — that they might know how to solve these practical problems within the church. They are saying, every gift is important. We simply are sticking with the gifts that were given to us, and we want you to find among yourselves those who have other gifts.

Father, thank you for the gifts you have given me and I ask that you will teach me to serve you accordingly.

Life Application​

Do we seek to discover and put to use individual gifts distributed by the Holy Spirit? Do we honor each gift for its distinctive value, as we use them to serve His calling? Do we exhibit the beauty of Jesus' humility in our serving?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 18th​

The True House of God​

Read the Scripture: Acts 6:8-7:56

However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me?, says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?

Acts 7:48-50

Chapter 7 records the longest sermon in the book of Acts. It is Stephen's brilliant defense of what he believed, and is really a review of the history of the people of Israel. He answers the two charges against him, and he brings a third charge which he levels against the people.

Here in verses 48-50 he argues that God himself, through the prophet Isaiah, had predicted that the temple would not always be an adequate place to worship God. In fact, no building ever will be. God is bigger than buildings. God is the One who made all things, who makes the material from which a building is made, and who makes the men who put that building together. God has not designed that he should be worshipped in a building made with hands.

It is an important point he makes. I have always been disturbed by the widespread teaching that a building can be called the house of God. We should labor diligently to keep our teachers from saying that to our children. No building is the house of God, or ever was. Even the temple, as Stephen points out here, was not rightly called the house of God. When a church building is filled with people, who are indeed the house of God (for man is the house in which God intends to dwell — your body, and my body), there is a sense in which the building is the house of God, because God is there in his people. But when everyone leaves and the lights are turned out, the building is no more the house of God than any other building. It is no more holy, no more sacred. It is nothing more than a building, an empty building to be used for whatever purpose is helpful at the moment. It is not the house of God. You are the house of God.That is the great truth that Stephen tries to get across to these people.

Father, thank you that you have chosen to dwell with your people and make us the house of God. I pray that you would be completely at home in my heart.

Life Application​

Is it scripturally accurate to call a building the 'house of God'? What is the truly amazing truth about where Christ has chosen to live? How does this affect the way we regard His ownership of His residency?

Message: What More Can He Say? (Acts 6:8 - 8:1)

When I entered the city of Jerusalem for the first time I came down from the Mount of Olives and went through the gate called St. Stephen's Gate. In my mind's eye I can still see the activity in the Old City and I can feel again the tremendous impressions that were mine as I came in through that...

www.raystedman.org

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 19th​

The First Martyr​

Read the Scripture: Acts 7:57-8:1

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul approved of their killing him.

Acts 7:59-8:1

A vivid picture, is it not? It is noteworthy to see how God stands by his faithful martyr here. Stephen's eyes are opened, even in the presence of the council, and he sees the Lord Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. It is my conviction that every believer who dies sees this event, that when a believer steps out of time into eternity the next event waiting for him is the coming of the Lord Jesus for his own.

Here Stephen sees him waiting to step out and receive him in a few moments, when he will be taken out of the city and stoned to death. This is the sight that greets the eyes of those who fall asleep in Jesus, and Stephen sees it. He prays to him in words that echo those of Jesus himself on the cross. Jesus had prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, (Luke 23:34). Stephen says, Lord, receive my spirit, and do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Twice in this account we have reference to young Saul of Tarsus. All of those who killed Stephen laid their garments at his feet. He kept the garments of the rest while they were doing the stoning. He had voted against Stephen in the council; he was consenting unto his death. But the idea the Holy Spirit wants us to grasp from this account is a truth that we have exemplified here and that has been manifested through the church many times since this day: The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. When the church suffers this way it always grows immensely. Out of the blood of Stephen there came the preaching of Paul. By the death of this first martyr there was brought to the church the heart and soul of the mighty apostle to the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul. Paul never forgot this scene. It was etched in his mind and memory so that he could never forget.

To this memory Jesus referred when he said to Saul, arresting him on his way to Damascus, Saul, Saul...It hurts you to kick against the goads... (Acts 26:14 RSV). What did he mean? This memory of Stephen was like a goad digging at young Saul's conscience, bothering him constantly, and preparing his heart for that moment when the Lord Jesus, who had received Stephen's spirit, would appear and reveal himself to this young man who would be converted and become Paul the Apostle.

Father, this account has sobered me that this life is a real battle and it can come to blood and sweat and tears. I pray that I may, like Stephen, be found faithful unto death, recognizing that the One whom I serve is the rightful Lord of heaven and of earth.

Life Application​

Heroes of faith have left us a heritage of their stoning, flogging, torture, imprisonment and martyrdom, perhaps never more prevalent than today. Are we prepared to submit to the suffering God may choose for us so that He may accomplish His sovereign purpose?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 20th​

From Persecution to Proclamation​

Read the Scripture: Acts 8:1-4

And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

Acts 8:1-4

It was by means of the persecution that arose over Stephen that these early Christians were pressed out of Jerusalem, spurted out into the areas around, into Judea and Samaria, and began to preach the word, all according to the program of God. God used Saul of Tarsus, even before he became a Christian to accomplish this. God works to use the very obstacles thrown in the path of Christians to advance his cause. You can picture young Saul, enraged over what he regarded as a heresy, trying to stamp it out with all the energy of his flesh, entering house after house, dragging off men and women and committing them to prison. This is the rage of a tortured conscience, which tries, by zealous activity, to cover up its anxiety, emptiness, and hurt. Yet God uses this as an instrument to accomplish his purpose.

God does two things with this rage of Saul's: He forces the church out of Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria to fulfill the divine program as he had outlined, and he makes the early church depend not upon the apostles but upon the gifts of the Spirit distributed to everyone — for these who were scattered abroad were not the apostles. Dr. Luke is careful to tell us that. These were ordinary, plain-vanilla Christians like you and me. And yet they had gifts of the Spirit. But they would never have discovered their gifts if they had not been pushed out, and put to work. So God used this pressure to place them in circumstances where they began to develop the gifts of evangelism, of witnessing, of helps, wisdom, knowledge, teaching, prophecy, and all the other gifts of the Spirit that had been made available to them.

Sometimes I think that God will have to do this in our day before people will begin to believe that they have spiritual gifts and put them to work. He may have to bring persecution upon us so that there cannot be dependence upon a central ministry, but each one will begin to utilize the gifts that God has given him.

Are you going through some kind of pressure today? Well, it is not punishment for our sins — Jesus took our punishment fully, on the Cross. The pressure, the trials, and the problems that come are by no means always the result of sin in our lives. Sometimes they are, but it may be God's way of moving you, of pressuring you into a new experience, into a new understanding of his truth and of his equipment in your life, and giving you a new opportunity to put it to work.

Thank you, Lord, that you are completely sovereign over my life and I can trust you to use me wherever you see fit to do so.

Life Application​

Jesus said, 'In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!' (Jn.16:33) Our 'cheer' (contentment) is not with our trials, but with God who is at work, causing 'all things to work together for His good.' (Rom.8:28) Will you rest in God as He works within your difficulties to make you more like His Son?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 22nd​

The Divine Wind​

Read the Scripture: Acts 8:25-40

After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages. Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, Go south to the road — the desert road — that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

Acts 8:25-26

An angel suddenly appeared to Philip. I've never had an angel appear to me. I do not know anyone else to whom an angel has appeared. You may ask, Does God still work through angels today? and the answer is a resounding Yes! He does. But they are not always visible. The ministry of angels, according to the Bible, goes on all the time. They are ministering spirits sent forth to serve those who are heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14). All of us are being touched and affected by the ministry of angels, but we do not see them. There have been well-documented experiences and incidences of the appearance of angels recorded in church history. I believe that, as we draw nearer to the days of the return of Jesus Christ, we may well expect to see a return of angelic manifestation.

Here is an unexpected agency through which the Holy Spirit works. An angel appears to Philip and gives him an unexplained command to go south and take the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza. He could not have picked an emptier stretch of road. It is desert road. There are no cities or villages there. The wonderful thing to me is the beautiful way in which Philip obeyed this command of the angel. He did not say, Well, I'll have to pray about this. He did not say to himself, Well, I wonder if this is a call to a larger field of service. He just went, that is all. He left the awakening that was going on at Samaria, with its demands for training and teaching. He arose and went down to a desert road.

This is a beautiful picture for us of what we might call the wind of God, the sovereign blowing of the Holy Spirit, and of the adventure that is always characteristic of someone who is being led by the Holy Spirit. Verse 25 and Verse 26 are both records of Spirit-filled activity. Peter and John were obeying the Holy Spirit when they testified, prophesied, and evangelized. But Philip is also obeying the Holy Spirit when he is being sent by an angel out to a desert place. Both are part of the Spirit-filled, Spirit-led life.

That needs to be made clear because we tend to run to extremes. The Spirit often leads through the ordinary, the usual, and he can be very effective that way. But that is not the only way. This is the lesson that God is forever teaching us. This is the creative strategy of the Holy Spirit, the freedom to interfere, the freedom to override a program, and to change it, and to make something new. The church has suffered terribly by ruling that out, by so organizing everything that there is no room for the Spirit to move.

Father, thank you for the sovereign ability of the Holy Spirit to direct me in ways that I cannot predict. What a note of excitement this adds for me, Lord! What a glorious sense of expectation becomes mine as I constantly wonder when you are going to break through and do the unusual again in my life.

Life Application​

Is the 'wind beneath our wings' the Holy Spirit, or are we guided by whim, or another lesser motivation? Are we missing the wonder and worship of being led by the Spirit of the Living God?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 23rd​

Beloved Enemy​

Read the Scripture: Acts 9:1-19

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, Ananias! Yes, Lord, he answered. The Lord told him, Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.

Acts 9:10-12

Paul has been converted. Now he is a Christian. And what is the first thing he experienced as a Christian? The life of the body of Christ. That is wonderful, is it not? Two unknown, obscure Christians are sent to him. He meets them and is immediately helped by the strengthening that can come from the body, from other Christians. First there is a man named Judas. That is all we know about him. Saul is led to his house whom he has never met before. While he is there a man named Ananias is sent to minister to him.

Is there not a joyful, poetic irony about this, that the Holy Spirit has chosen two names which are tainted names elsewhere in the New Testament, Judas and Ananias. These names belong to two other people: Judas the betrayer of our Lord; and Ananias, the first Christian to manifest the deceit and hypocrisy of an unreal life. Yet, here are two people, bearing the same names, that are honored and used of God. It is just a little touch, but it seems so much like the Holy Spirit to use names like this.

These men come and minister to Paul. Ananias was understandably reluctant to come. Saul had been ready to drag people off to prison and put them to death because they were Christians, and so he is understandably hesitant. But the Lord reassures him, telling him to go because Saul is praying.

That is the first mark of a Christian; he begins to pray. He recognizes that God rules, and there is a relationship between man and God, and so he begins to pray. God says to Ananias, You needn't be afraid of a man who prays. Go to him, because he is praying. Thus Saul of Tarsus began to experience the joy of body life through these other Christians ministering to him.

Father, thank you for this amazing story of Saul of Tarsus. Thank you for the impact his life has had upon the world as a result of this encounter with you on the Damascus road. Thank you for this wonderful picture of one like Paul being included in the body of Christ. Teach me to include others with the same spirit of love.

Life Application​

Do we tend to think of non-believers as pariahs, enemies, adversaries? Have we forgotten our own state but for God's saving grace? Are we available to be instruments of Grace to whoever God leads us?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 24th​

Learning Meekness​

Read the Scripture: Acts 9:9-31

After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

Acts 9:23-25

What humiliation! Here Paul was, equipped to win the day for Jesus Christ. He was going to show the world how much he could do for this new Master that he had found. But instead he finds himself humiliated, cast off, rejected, repudiated. His own friends finally have to take him at night and let him down over a wall. He walks away into the darkness in utter, abject failure and defeat.

The amazing thing is that many years later, as he is writing to the Corinthians and looking back over his life, he recounts this episode. He says, You ask me to boast about the most important event in my life? The greatest event in my life was when they took me at night and let me down over the wall of Damascus in a basket. That was the most meaningful experience I have ever had since that day when I met Christ... (2 Corinthians 11:32-33).

Is that not amazing? Why would this be so? Because then and there the apostle began to learn the truths which he records for us in the third chapter of Philippians, where he says, Whatever gain I had, I learned to count as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus... (Philippians 3:7-8 RSV). That is, All the things that I felt were so necessary to do what God wanted I had to learn were absolutely useless, worthless. I did not need them at all. Everything that I thought I had and needed to serve him I had to learn I didn't need at all. The beginning of that great lesson was the night they let me down over the wall in a basket. There I began to learn something. It took me a long time to catch on. But there I began to learn that God didn't need my abilities; he needed only my availability. He just needed me, as a person. He didn't need my background, he didn't need my ancestry. He didn't need my knowledge of Hebrew. He didn't need my knowledge of the Law. He didn't need these at all. In fact, he didn't have any particular intention of using them to reach the Jews, he was going to send me to the Gentiles. And though he did not understand it fully then, he began to assume the yoke of Christ and to learn that which Jesus Christ says every one of us must learn if we are going to be useful to him.

Jesus tells us what the curriculum is: I am meek and lowly in heart... (Matthew 11:29b KJV). Ambition and pride must die. We learn that we do not live to aggrandize ourselves any longer. We do not live to be a big shot, either religiously or secularly. We live only to be an instrument of the working of Jesus Christ. And we must learn the truth which Jesus taught his own disciples when he was here in the flesh, Without me you can do nothing... (John 15:5b). You can do what? Nothing! You may do a lot in the eyes of the world. What you do might be esteemed there. But in the eyes of God, without him it is nothing. If you are depending on yourself, God evaluates all you do as worth nothing. This is what Paul began to learn. Through this experience his pride began to die.

Lord, I pray that I will learn the lesson, and that I will be willing to be a person no longer holding onto control of the program myself but quite willing to follow where you lead, and to trust in your life in me to be all that it takes to do all that needs to be done.

Life Application​

Are we learning the liberty and beauty of humility, or are we still counting on our personal resources, real or imagined, to accomplish God's work in us or through us?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 25th​

The Cure for Death​

Read the Scripture: Acts 9:32-10:23

Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, Tabitha, get up. She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive.

Acts 9:40-41

This is a marvelous miracle — a restoration from the dead. Here is a woman known for her ministry of love and selflessness, and then this ministry was interrupted by death. But now, by the hand of God and the power of Jesus Christ, she is restored to ministry and she resumes her good works. Of course she later died again because this is but a picture, intended to teach us that this can happen to the human spirit too. Something can interrupt the progress of a spiritual life which is beginning to blossom, to flourish and bear fruit, to grow and minister to others. Some circumstance, some event or experience, can interrupt and change it and cause it to die. The person loses that zeal, earnestness, and eagerness, and becomes cold and hard, indifferent and unconcerned, bitter of spirit. He literally is like someone dead.

Many people are like that. Some have been dead for years and are still walking around. That reminds me of the famous comment by Dorothy Thompson, the newspaper reporter, when she heard of the death of Calvin Coolidge. She said, How could they tell? Many are like that. Their life of service has been interrupted by some incident which has been like the hand of death laid upon a zealous and earnest ministry. They have grown cold and indifferent, the very picture of death.

This can go on for years. Edwin Markham, the great Christian poet, once knew a banker whom he entrusted with the settlement of an estate. The banker betrayed him, and Markham lost all his money and was rendered penniless by the deed. It made him bitter and for several years he could write no poetry. Then one day as he was trying to write he was sitting at his desk aimlessly scrawling circles. As he doodled, making these circles, suddenly the thought struck him of the great circle of God's love, of how it takes us in. He was struck with inspiration and wrote these words:

I drew a circle and shut him out;
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in.

He forgave the banker and was able to resume his ministry. After that came some of his greatest poems. This is what Jesus Christ can do. He can heal a dead spirit, raise it to life and restore it. He can heal the bitterness that may be in your life, rendering you cold and indifferent to the needs of others.

Lord, I pray that your Spirit would keep me alive and responsive to you, confessing my sin and allowing your life to work through me.

Life Application​

'To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.' Are we choosing life, seeking the renewal of our minds through honest confession of named sins? The alternative is spiritual death, the wages paid by sin.

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 26th​

Forgiven!​

Read the Scripture: Acts 10:23-11:18

All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

Acts 10:43

Peter says, You may not appreciate this fully, but everything that Jesus did was predicted by the prophets. Long before he ever came, what he would be like and what he would do was written down. Every prophet bore witness to this one fact: The only way you could ever find forgiveness of sins is by believing in him. That is the great, final, glorious thrust of the gospel. The good news is that men have been given a way to be forgiven of their sins.

That is the basic need of every human heart. Each of us suffers from the terrible consciousness of guilt. We are guilty people; and we know it. That is what makes us so restless. That is why often we cannot stand to be alone with ourselves, because we are afraid of that sense of guilt which oppresses us. So the prime need of our lives is to be forgiven, to have nothing in the past to worry about, to have nothing that makes us uncertain of the future and, especially, nothing which makes us unwilling to appear before God. Through Jesus Christ sins are forgiven.

Have you reflected upon that, Christian friend? Have you recently stopped and thanked God that your sins are forgiven? Have you ever? Not just the ones you committed before you became a Christian; all your sins. All the future ones as well as those of the past are forgiven already in Jesus Christ. God therefore has no quarrel with you, he loves you, he accepts you. Whatever you do he will continue to love you and accept you.

No one can take that truth and use it as a license to sin, to go out and do as you like. To do so would indicate that you have never been regenerated, have never understood why God bore your sins. But if you have been born again you know that this is the greatest and most unending blessing of your life — to wake up every morning and remember that you stand as a beloved child in God's presence. He loves you and accepts you. You are his, and for that reason he will be with you all day long, in every circumstance of your experience.

Thank you, Father, for the forgiveness of my sins. Thank you for sending your Son to die for me so this could be possible. And thank you that he rose victorious over death to give me the hope of eternal life.

Life Application​

The apostle Paul exults: 'your life is hidden with Christ in God.' (Col.3:3) Such is our security, our identity in Christ, that nothing can separate us from Him. Are you living in the understanding of Christ's total forgiveness of you? Will you each day wake to the guilt-free joy of His presence?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 27th​

A Good Man​

Read the Scripture: Acts 11:19-30

News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

Acts 11:22-24

The gospel had broken through the Jewish barriers that had held it in and was now reaching out to the Gentiles. The result of this first preaching was that many Gentile converts came to Christ. This news was a bit disconcerting to the disciples at Jerusalem. They did not know what to do about this movement of the Holy Spirit. Since they were themselves Jews, raised in the tradition that they were God's chosen people, you can imagine what happened. They never thought that God would move to reach the Gentile world and so they hardly knew what to make of it. When word came to them that Gentiles were becoming converts of Jesus Christ, they were utterly astounded. Were these real Christians?

To settle the issue, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. He did not come to attempt to control this new thrust by the Holy Spirit; he came down to investigate it, to see what God had been doing. The three reasons they chose Barnabas are given: (1) he was a good man, (2) full of the Spirit, (3) full of faith.

Good man means more than simply that he behaved himself. This is a reference to his disposition. He was an easy-going, cheerful, open-hearted, gracious individual. He has appeared this way to us already in the pages of Acts. He defended Paul when he came back from Damascus, disillusioned and defeated. The other apostles would have nothing to do with him because he was still suspect. But Barnabas brought him in and championed his cause. He was that kind of man.

He was full of the Holy Spirit. That, of course, is the supreme qualification. Being full of the Holy Spirit meant that the fruit of the Spirit was evident in his life. He was filled with love, joy, long-suffering, patience, and gentleness. He lived this way not because of his own easy-going character but because he was drawing upon the power of an indwelling Holy Spirit.

Third, he was a man of faith. That means he acted upon what God said. He did not wait for his feelings. A man of faith simply believes God and expects him to act. He doesn't even think about how he feels himself. Faith is not a feeling. Faith has nothing to do with your feelings. Faith is simply a recognition that God has promised something, and, since he is God, to expect him to do it, and therefore to act on that basis. That is the kind of man who gets something done.

Make me to be available to you, Lord, filled with the Holy Spirit, a person of faith, flexible, ready to move according to the steps that you outline. Make me willing to change. Save me from being rigid, unbending, and inflexible in my attitudes to others.

Life Application​

The one who depends solely on God to live through him will be a 'Barnabas' in his servant relationships with others: gracious, Christ-like and overflowing with encouragement. Will you look for ways God can use you to strengthen and bless others with His overflowing life in you?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 28th​

A New Man and a New Name​

Read the Scripture: Acts 11:25-26

Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

Acts 11:25-26

It has been as much as ten years since we have seen Saul. Ten years ago he left Jerusalem with his tail between his legs and went to Tarsus, his home town, defeated and disillusioned because he had been trying to serve God in his own eager zeal. He had not yet learned the process of dependence upon the Holy Spirit, upon the life of Jesus within. But in those ten years he has learned a lot. He was not entirely idle, as he tells us in Galatians. He preached the word throughout the regions of Syria, and of Cilicia, the area around Tarsus.

But he has learned one great secret. He has discovered that what he had regarded as his credentials for activity, all that he had previously reckoned upon as useful in his life — his ancestry, his orthodoxy, his morality, his zeal — all has been wiped out. He has learned that they are not what make you an effective worker for Jesus Christ, but that only your dependence upon Jesus at work in you makes the difference. As he tells us in Philippians 3:8, he learned to count as manure all this other stuff, in order that he might gain Christ.

When he had learned that, the Lord sent Barnabas over to Tarsus to find him. Now God had his address all the time. Barnabas didn't; he had to look for him. But when he found him he brought him to Antioch, ready to begin his great worldwide ministry, that marvelous ministry of the Apostle Paul that shook the world and has changed the course of human history time after time.

We then learn of another first: the disciples were for the first time called Christians. It is clear from this brief statement that it was not the Christians themselves, but the people of Antioch who called them that. The word means, those belonging to Christ, or Christ's men. As these Christians talked about Jesus to men everywhere — Jesus the Christ, the Messiah — the Gentiles around them labeled them Christ's men. At first it was a contemptuous term, a term of reproach. Look at these crazy people! They come into our city, they don't worship our idols, they live lives entirely different from ours. So, contemptuously they called them Christ's men, Christians. But the disciples thought it was wonderful to be called Christ's men, so they adopted the name and called themselves Christians. That is why today we are called Christians.

Thank you, Lord, for the privilege of being called a Christian. May my life reflect all that you are as you live your life in me and through me.

Life Application​

Do we regard lightly the name 'Christian'? Consider the words of Isaiah 43:7: '...everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made'. Are we honored, awed and humbled by the power of His life-changing Presence?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 29th​

To Cause To Shine​

Read the Scripture: Acts 11:27-30

During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world... The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea.

Acts 11:27-29

Here is a ministry of one of the gifts of the Spirit — that of prophecy. Unfortunately, the gift of prophecy, has become associated only with the ability to predict the future. But that is not the primary meaning. Primarily it means, to cause to shine. It is the ability to illuminate the Word of God and to make it shine. Peter wrote, We have a more sure word of prophecy which shines as a light in a dark place... (2 Peter 1:19 KJV). These were men who could take the Word of God and make it shine. They illuminated the darkness in people's lives with the truth of God. Occasionally they were also able to illuminate the future and that is done here.

On this specific occasion one of them named Agabus stood up and, by the Spirit, foretold that there would soon be a great famine throughout the world, and, although it is not stated here, that it would be especially severe in Judea. This came true just a few months later. When these disciples heard that there was going to be a great famine, they began to prepare for it. They realized that it would be especially severe in Judea, and so they prepared to send a gift to Judea for when the famine would come. The whole account is a beautiful picture of the concern of the body. They knew this was coming. They did not wait for it to happen until they finally got heart-rending appeals from Judea. They anticipated it by the Spirit, and they had the gift all ready when the effects of the famine struck. They sent it by their favorite teachers, Barnabas and Saul, who had been teaching there in the church for a year.

What wonderful instruction in the Holy Spirit they must have had under the leadership of these two men! They understood the essential character of the church — that it is a body that shares life, one member with another. You notice that there is no sense of hierarchy here, no priesthood. There is just the body of Christians together, one group in Jerusalem and one in Antioch. One has need and the other has plenty. And so the body in Antioch sent to the body in Jerusalem what was required to meet their need and to share together in the life that is in Jesus Christ. What a wonderful picture this is of the church. The essential characteristics of a church are all here: The gifts of the Spirit, the shared life in Jesus, the proclamation of the Word, the teaching of the Scripture, the sharing of the body; it is all here.

Lord, thank you for your Word. I pray that you would cause it to shine in me and that I would respond as these early Christians did.

Life Application​

Godly, biblical leadership in Christ's Body will assure the outworking of the spiritual gifts, including sensitive, compassionate attention to others' needs. Are we attentive and obedient to our personal gifting of the Spirit? Does the love and compassion of Jesus find full expression in our serving? Shine, Jesus, shine!

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.

 

[Obadiah]

A daily devotion for May 30th​

The Difference Prayer Makes​

Read the Scripture: Acts 12:1-19a

So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

Acts 12:5

As we review the events of Acts 12:1-19, a question comes to mind; Why was James killed (see verses 1-2), and Peter delivered? Could God not have saved James as well? There is no question that he could have. Well, why didn't he? The only answer that this chapter suggests is found in Verse 5. Peter was kept in prison, just as James. But the difference was that earnest prayer to God was made for Peter by the church, and as a result, Peter was set free. You say, What difference does it make? Couldn't God just have set Peter free anyhow? If God determined that James would die and Peter would be set free, what difference did the prayer of the church make?

But let us never forget what James (not this James, but Jesus' brother, who wrote The Epistle of James) says: You have not because you ask not (James 4:2). In his wisdom God has designed that his people shall participate in what he does. He is impressing upon his people here that when danger threatens the program of God, or the people of God, it is a call to prayer. God will hear that prayer and answer it and set people free, when he would not have done so otherwise.

This is the great lesson of this chapter. We are not to take the events of our day for granted, as though there were nothing we could do about them. Prayer becomes a mighty, powerful thrust on the part of the people of God, to change events. Prayer is the most natural response of a heart that is dependent upon God. If you are really counting upon God to do something, then you will pray about it. You will trust him; you will communicate with him. If you are not counting on him, you will not pray. If you are really counting on something else, or on someone else — if you think that by your own clever maneuvering you can get out of a situation, or if you are trusting other human beings to come through — you will not pray.

The basic motive of prayer is a sense of dependence. If you really think that God, and God alone, can work, and that there are elements of a situation in which only he can change things — then you pray. This is what happened to this early church. When they realized that James had been put to death, and that this vicious attack of the enemy could be successful, it suddenly crystallized in their minds that they had a part to play in God's program. They were to go to God in earnest prayer that Peter might be delivered. And God set him free in a wonderful way.

This passage highlights for us what prayer does, and that is basic for us to learn today. God works in the same way today as he did in these first century days, and he will respond to our prayers in very much the same way.

Father, teach me how to pray. I don't always need to know what to pray for, but I do so desperately need to pray. I need to pray for others; to pray about the dangers that beset us as a nation and as a world. Help me to open my heart and be honest before you. I know that in the mystery of prayer, a mystery that I cannot fathom, something is happening that makes possible the activity of your Spirit to work in unusual ways, ways that otherwise would never happen.

Life Application​

When prayer is worship, the focus is on the character and will of God. Are we learning to worship Him by praying Jesus' prayer: '....nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done'?

Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.