In Whom We Live, Move and Have Our Being

The wisdom of God is gentle, winsome, winning in its ways.

Elisha found God was 

not in the whirlwind, 
nor the storm 
but in still, small voice.

The apostle Paul in his Mars Hill speech used familiar words of a Greek poet to arrest the attention of his audience. 

One verse from the famous opening invocation to Zeus was quoted in Acts 17:28: 
“For 'in Him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are His offspring. '”

Aratus a Greek poet used by Paul.

Paul's motto was:

"That I may be all things to all men, that I may win some."

Rigidity, laws and rules were not Paul's life or preaching outreach.

"ALL THINGS to ALL men!"

Saying really "I will pay with my very being what it costs to reach these ones for Christ".

Paul's controlling motivation was bound up in awakening souls of lost ones..
... not in earthly desires, plans, requirements. 

All things to all men HOWEVER means being in tune to God's prompting.. a believer unexpectedly walked up to a bikie at his bike in a carpark and offered a tract sharing a summary. It was accepted graciously, and eternity will reveal the results.

Why? Its was God's time. For God's Spirit had prompted .. that still, small voice spoke.

Being in tune with God's voice is very hard. 
Oftimes we silence it by our busyness, our lack of communion, our attitudes - but all this can be restored by a moment of prayer.

Susannah Wesley had 17 children.. when her children saw her with her apron over her head they knew not to interrupt her in her tabernacle.. her needed moment of prayer,  communion with her Father.

Oswald Chambers was visiting a dear old Highlander saint, who said,"if ye've permission, please speak to my ploughman about his soul." 
As he was faithful at this Oswald commented in surprise that the Scotsman had not done it and said so. 
The reply was "if ye think that laddie, ye know nought of the permission of the Spirit". (Paraphrased from memory.)

"Soulwinning is God's work.. it is not a matter of trial and error but of being led by the  Spirit".
Paul was "all things to all people", but he also knew there was a time to speak and a time to refrain from speaking. Ecc. 3

For years towards the end of my dad's life it seemed I had little direct witness to him. I was restrained. That was a struggle  to refrain from speaking, but God had the door shut for the moment.
As we carry this burden for a dear one, we often forget the great comfort that we ARE living epistles, seen and known of all men.

2 Cor 3:2-5

"Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men

 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;"

God's sufficiency, not us.

God, not us. 

God's Spirit not me.

"In whom we live, move and have our being"!

This is such a privilege!

How much louder is what we do, heard - than what we say?

Link also here to hymn.

Maker, in whom we live, in whom we are and move, 

the glory, power, and praise receive for thy creating love. 
Let all the angel throng give thanks to God on high, 
while earth repeats the joyful song and echoes to the sky.
Incarnate Deity, let all the ransomed race 
render in thanks their lives to thee for thy redeeming grace. 
The grace to sinners showed ye heavenly choirs proclaim, 
and cry, "Salvation to our God, salvation to the Lamb!" 

All words to hymn HERE..

So God worked silently, quietly in small ways, with that still, small voice on my dad's heart in those last few years.

Two decades earlier he said he believed in God as a creative power, but as a force, not a Person or God with whom you could have a relationship. 

I called his god an almighty watchmaker who set the watch in motion but was detached from it.

If you want to read how dad came to the Lord in his last days, read it HERE, and verses I prayed for him - Here. 
The key in it was the waiting IN FAITH upon the Lord for that saving grace. 

Faith is critical. 
The delay in our prayer being answered is God is waiting. 
Often He's waiting for us to be ready for His answer.

Isaiah 30:18
"And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him."

His way, not my way.
Our very existence is Christ, in God.

Acts 17:28: 
“For in Him we live 
and move 
and have our being; 
as even some of your own poets
 have said, 
For we too are His offspring."

Or as Colossians 3:3b puts it:
 "... your life is hid in Christ, in God." 
What a statement that is!

Hope to share on that when time permits. 
This study has been ongoing, scripture is so richly interwoven, so had to cull. 
I pray it blesses you as it did me.
If things are difficult, I pray earnestly for you for God's comfort. 
"Our  Heavenly Father knoweth. "
"He careth for you." 
And thank you so much to all who encourage me with this blog. 
You bless me so!
Prayer hugs, 🙏🤗
Shaz in Oz.x

PS . If you haven’t I'd love it you to join as a wonderful encourager of this blog ...  link HERE.  Thank YOU to those who have done so already. It really encourages me to keep on. 😊

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