Distribute food?

Honestly, I don't know much about spiritual attack.

Acts 5 and 6, the really early part in the early church. (The Spirit came in chapter 2, so it still isn't too far down yet.) At least up to where I read, it was before Stephen was martyred, before Paul's conversion. The three main chunks were 1) Ananias and Sapphira lying to the apostles about the money they got from selling their land; 2) the arrest of the apostles; and 3) the dispute between Jews about their widows.

Satan attacks in many ways. He messes with people's heads making them compromise their integrity. He straight up makes authorities persecute Christians, flogging, passing anti-God laws, killing. He also uses something inherently good as distractions to the calling of the believers.

Acts 6:1-7 talks about two groups of Jews who had a dispute over the distribution of food to their widows. Pretty stressful deal. But the Twelve decided to let seven men who are full of the Spirit and wisdom be in charge -- they prayed and laid hands on them to do this work. Why? Because the Twelve knew that if they took care of this dispute, they would not be able to be obedient God's call for them for ministry of the word and for prayer (v. 2, 4). And what Satan intended to be a deterrent for God's word, it became a catalyst. The word of God spread, and the number of disciples grew rapidly.

This passage made me wonder how it relates to our chapter. Some of us are called to lead SGs, some of us to finances. Some of us are called to prayer, and some of us to disciple people. I think it's so easy as "the leadership team" to forget that we have our own specific calling and our specific posts. For me, it's so easy to jump in and distribute food, when that may not necessarily be where I am called to.

For this, I am so grateful for God's wake-up call to us last semester. With Connect, I feel like we can talk about our chapter and recognize different people's gifts. It has become a place where we exhort and encourage, remind each other of God's grace and regain passion and strength. May it continue to be a place where Satan is defeated and God is glorified, and a place where we can lay hands on each other to send each other out to places and positions that we are called to, bringing wisdom and the Spirit of God with us as we go.

Acts 6:7 concludes Satan's attack with this:
"So the word of God spread."

Amen!