In Acts 16, we have the apostle Paul leading a team for the first time to disciple believers in their faith and to disciple unbelievers to faith. One night, Paul received a vision from God of a man begging him to come over to Macedonia (vs 9). This encounter led Paul to conclude that God had called them to cross over from Asia to preach the gospel in Europe. They ended up staying for several days in Philippi, an important city and Roman colony, in Macedonia. While there, he and his team went looking for people of peace (defined as people who are receptive to you. Finding a person of peace is more of a dance than science).
Typically, whenever Paul was in a new city, he’d begin his ministry by going to a local synagogue. As there was none in Philippi, he went outside the city and to find a proseuchē, ‘a place of prayer’, where a community of women had gathered on the Sabbath. This was very deliberate on the part of Paul. Walking in the Spirit does not mean we do away with common sense and intentionality. It was there he met up with Lydia. They probably started out talking casually. Paul was a tentmaker by trade and Lydia, a businesswoman dealing in expensive textiles. The conversation then progressed to more meaningful and spiritual subjects. Lydia was probably a Gentile who converted to Judaism. In the course of the conversation, the Lord touched Lydia’s heart and she responded to what Paul was sharing with her about Christ. Paul was not preaching a sermon to her.
People of peace can be people you’ve known for a long time or meet for the first time as this next story shows. Floyd was on a KLM flight when he struck up a conversation with a lady across the aisle. After some small talk, she revealed that she worked for KLM. All this while, Floyd is praying silently, asking God to lead him in the conversation. Floyd shared how he working with the poor and how important his faith was in shaping his decision. She gave him a surprised look and said to him that she was a Catholic and prayed to Mary. She was watching Floyd very intently to see what his reaction would be. He didn’t react and just said something innocuous about how important prayer is.
Soon she asked Floyd what he thought about praying to Mary. After thinking about it and sensing the Holy Spirit’s presence in the conversation at that moment, he said, “I have Catholic friends who pray to Mary because they don’t feel they’re worthy enough to pray to Jesus”. He went on to tell her his testimony, how he had been set free from legalism, that God wanted a personal and intimate relationship with him through Jesus, not a religious and distant relationship. All because God loved him. Big tears rolled own her cheeks. “I’ve never heard anything like that before. It’s so beautiful”. She didn’t come to faith right there and then but that’s ok because she was left with a clear and deep understanding of God’s love for her and how she could respond to His love to make it her own.
What Paul and Floyd did we can do also!
Following Jesus,
Mark
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