As for Philip…

“There is a truly wonderful story about the Apostle Philip in Acts 8.  He goes to Samaria and preaches the gospel and many turn to Jesus.  Peter and John then come and pray for the new believers and continue the work for awhile.  Was Philip upstaged by them?  Absolutely not.  We all have our gifts from God and our talents and abilities.  None of us is complete on our own.

“After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem.  And they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the good news.  AS FOR PHILIP, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.   So he started out and met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia.  the Eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship”  (Acts 8:25-27)  

Please read all of Acts 8 today if you can.  This Eunuch comes to faith in Christ and is baptized.  If Philip had not yielded to God’s plan of Peter and John coming to Samaria to continue the work there for a time; and if he hadn’t traveled south at the precise moment that God sent him; than this encounter with the Ethiopian treasurer may never have happened.  It is my understanding that this is the roots of the Ethiopian Church today.

I have seen horrible territorialism in the Body of Christ sometimes.  I have been a part of it.  I have learned the hard way that if I don’t move on when God brings in another to continue the work where I am and wants to move me on to a different place, dissension happens.  What God intends for the people in His Body is sacred, and we have our part.  But that  part can change and shift at any given moment.  I was so stiff and inflexible, with my heals dug in, that God had to drag me out of my old ministry and into where He has me now.  I have learned to hold on loosely and remember that God’s thoughts are not mine and His ways are above my ways.  I am so much more content and at peace.  God uses me here, there and everywhere now because I remain open and flexible.  This has been a hard, painful lesson for me.  Perhaps by sharing this story of Philip and the insight God has shown me about my mistakes, I can spare others the same pain I had to be put through because of God’s great love.  I hope so.  God bless your day

Amen and Amen!