The power of public faith

Happy Friday everyone. I'm still fighting that cold but I'm winning so that's a good thing.

So yesterday's bible study was heavy stuff, I've gotten some really good comments about it. Thanks to everyone for that.

Today I'm looking at some more of Joshua chapter 13 and Acts chapter 5.

Turning to Joshua 13:29-33, what shall we find today...

This is another passage about the inheritance of lands. This time for the tribe of Manasseh and a mention again of the tribe of Levi and the fact that their inheritance is God himself, not land.

I'm not getting any new revelations on this scripture currently. Perhaps its the wrong season in my life or perhaps I'm just being dense but this whole section of Joshua seems very dry.

A friend mentioned that for the Israelites this inheritance of land would have strong spiritual connections as well and that is a valid point. However, for me, right now...I'm not really getting a lot out of it.

Moving on to Acts 5:12-16 however I am finding much more interesting things to think on...

Key passages:

¹² The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. ¹³ But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them. ¹⁴ Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women.

Paraphrase:
The leaders of the church regularly performed many miracles and wonders among the people of Jerusalem. During this time those who believed in Christ met regularly at the Temple in a place called Solomon's Colonnade. Despite the miraculous signs no one else dared to join the believers in their daily visits to the temple, even though the people of Jerusalem had great respect and admiration for all of the Christians. And yet, even though many were afraid to join them, more and more came to believe and were brought to the Lord as new Christians- large groups of men and women, in fact.

What I found interesting about this passage, at first glance, is that the sub-title given to it by the Message translation of the bible is "They all met regularly" while the sub-title given to this passage by most other translations is "The apostles heal many". (The portion of this scripture which I chose not to include in the 'important' part for me today is about healing.)

I can say without a doubt that the strength of faith which allowed for the great and abundant miracles during the first days of the Church is an extremely important topic. However it is not the part of this scripture that the Holy Spirit is pointing me at today... For me this reading was all about "they met regularly" they worshipped and fellowshiped in public and many people were saved...

As someone who has tendencies to be more introspective and and introverted I find myself quite comfortable not attending most large social gatherings. Once I'm at church I am usually quite happy there but prior to getting in the car and starting the drive I usually have a bit of an internal battle with myself about whether or not I *want* to attend today...

So one thing I'm taking away from this today is a reminder of some of the things God can do when those who believe in Christ meet together regularly to sharpen eachother. Another thing that I found notable is that the Christians were meeting in a public arena. Part of me is in awe of the courage and faith that these few thousand men and woman must have had to be willing to stand up in front of all the strength and power the Priests of the Temple and the military could bring to bear and, despite that, shout to the world the joy of their new found faith in Christ... Another part of me is challenged to work on getting my personal faith, and the faith of my church community out *in to the community* more.

That's what I'm going to be praying about today.