Feel Like You Are Banging Your Head Against the Wall?

In Acts 15:36-40, we find Paul going forth on his second missionary journey. Paul teams up with Silas, a leader in the church and a prophet as well. Barnabus wanted to include John Mark, and Paul refused to take a quitter along. So, God through this personality disagreement, has TWO missionary teams where there was once only one.

Someone once said the reason there are so many different kinds of churches is because we have so many different personalities.

In Acts 16:1-5 we find Paul & Silas returning to Lystra and Derbe. A young man by the name of Timothy caught their attention. Paul saw a great potential in Timothy and wanted to take him along with them. There was a small problem. Timothy’s Mom was Jewish, but she had married a Gentile man. This meant that Timothy was not circumcised, and would be regard by the Jewish people Paul was witnessing to as something similar to trash. This would severely handicap their witness in the synagogues and to the Hellenistic Jews they would encounter.

Paul circumcised Timothy, not because he was conceding to the Judaizers, but because it removed a barrier to evangelizing the Jews, who all knew that his father was a gentile. “And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.”

Paul and Silas then had what we preacher’s call a “Head banging experience.” Maybe you have had one too. It’s when you feel like instead of making progress you realize you have simply been banging your head against a wall. First they had been forbidden to go into Asia by the Holy Spirit. So they went through Galatia and started to go toward Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. But that night Paul had a vision: a man from Macedonia appeared saying “Come over to Macedonia and help us” Paul immediately realized that God was directing them through this vision.

Realize this: As Revelation 7:10 says “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb”.

God is busy in this world speaking to people and working circumstances to draw people to Jesus. Most of you can bear testimony to the fact that before you accepted Jesus as you Savior, that God had been using circumstances and even His own words to touch your heart. That is why God needs people who are willing to partner with Him in reaching the lost that He is calling. So while Paul and Silas were spinning their wheels, God was preparing the hearts of three people. God was arranging circumstances. God kept Paul and Silas spinning their wheels until He was ready for them!

Don’t ever think you are banging your head against the wall when you are serving Jesus. You may think you are spinning your wheels, but all the time God is preparing someone or some situation for you to be used in. There will be times of feasting, but there will be times of seeming famine. Do not lose heart. Hope thou in God! For we shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance! God is preparing someone’s heart for you to talk to. God is still in the Saving Business! Salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb!