Daily Devotions

Acts 17: 23As I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god.

Paul comments here tell us that he was a diligent man who made the effort to know his target audience. Before he started to share the gospel with the Athenians, he first walked around to study their culture, their social values and beliefs. This is prudent as it would enable the evangelist to speak to the heart of the people.

In this instance, Paul first commended them of their religiosity and also their desire to want to know all their gods and he pointed out that they even had an altar to an unknown god. This became the entry point for Paul to catch their interest. The Athenians were immediately attracted to what Paul had to say to them about their beliefs and practices.

Literally it opened a door for Paul to speak to their hearts as that was something that they had been seeking and to establish. They knew that there is a supreme being but yet they do not know who he is and how to get to know Him. Paul then explained to them all about the supreme God who had created the whole universe and all living things on earth.

Then Paul began to share the gospel of salvation with them and a good number responded positively.

In my mission trips, I was at a church which had experienced a tremendous move of God some decades ago and the people who were part of the revival back then are still around though they are senior citizens now.

When I came to them, I reminded them of their legacy when there was a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them for a period of time. Their faith was rekindled and the lukewarmness that they were in was transformed. They began to remember all the miracles that had taken place and how they had lived through those wonderful days.

Then I began to encourage them to seek again this revival that should come into their Church and their village. By the time I finished the message for the meeting all the people were just waiting to rush forward to rededicate their lives to the Lord.

God knows all about our lives, He cares for us and He will always be there for us when we call and draw near to Him.

All that God is waiting for is for those who have not known Him or those who have grown cold to turn to Him and He will respond to them in His love. If we are lukewarm, it is time for us to rekindle the fire in our spirit so that we can rise up and run back towards God.