PRISCILLA

Posted byDianne HornePosted inUncategorized

A Partner in Leadership

Acts 18:1-4, 18-28

Teamwork is a wonderful thing.  Priscilla and her husband Aquila were both in business together, tent-making or leather working.  They both had training in that field of cutting and sewing woven cloth of goats’ hair into tents.  

They were a very effective couple due to a number of reasons.  They knew how to make the most of their lives together as a married couple.   If you’re in business of any kind and working alongside others, a rich component is working in ways to capitalize on one another’s strengths.   Priscilla and Aquila must have worked well together…being a compliment to each other.  In fact in Scripture, you never hear of them mentioned separately, but as a team.

This couple had met Paul in Corinth when Paul was on his second missionary journey.  They moved around like Paul.   Their business of tent-making always provided them a “home on wheels” so-to-speak so that their home travelled with them.   When Paul arrived in Corinth, being in the same business, he probably asked around if there were others who shared his livelihood of tent-making.  He was self-supporting as he ministered to others.   By finding others with the same occupation, he may find they had a position open for Paul.  He did, in fact, work with Priscilla and her husband Aquila in their business.

We’re told they opened their home to Paul.  No doubt this couple became close friends and co-workers.   Paul developed a close friendship, and camaraderie with this couple.  Paul would teach them and encourage them about Jesus Christ and how to live that out where they lived.   Paul really discipled this couple as well as worked with them in their business.  What an influence he must have been to them.

Priscilla and her husband experienced a “united ministry” to both Paul and other believers.  They lived to be a compliment to one another and their efforts were multiplied as they co-labored as a team. 

To roadside rest on the friendship of these three people, they understood their trade and could identify with Paul in his relocation adventures as well.  They knew how to “pick up their tents” so-to-speak and move on to other areas.   Perhaps their business ventures were growing and they wanted to set up another branch of their work later in Ephesus.

Paul invited this couple to travel with him to Ephesus.  They served Paul well as supportive friends, co-laborers in ministry,  and enthusiastic for the work.  Travelling with Paul, they were available to encourage and provide much-needed physical, spiritual and practical support for their friend.  

Paul had poured time and energy into discipling this couple concerning Jesus Christ…..His death, burial and resurrection.  He came along side Priscilla and Aquilla for a season to teach them and encourage them in their faith walk.  Now this couple was using their home, wherever they lived,  for ministry, not only to Paul, but others.  

What a influence they had on Apollos and his spiritual journey.  He was an intelligent and eloquent man who had heard about Jesus through John the Baptist.  He only had heard and understood part of the story of Jesus.   God was now bringing Apollos up-to-date on the message and ministry of the Lord Jesus, His life, crucifixion and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit.   Priscilla and Aquilla had the privilege of “tutoring Apollos in the truth.”

We all need that, don’t we.  Many of us can look over our past and smile with joy at the people who “invested in our life and walk of faith.”   

Our lives aren’t to be lived like the Dead Sea….just taking in information.  But we’re to be like springs of living water, giving out to others what’s been invested in us.  Time and energy are two strong components for this. 

Our lives are to be lived “intentionally,” and with “purpose.”   God wants our lives to be broken bread and poured out wine…..nourishing others in their faith and the truth of Scriptures.  This is purposeful living and Prisilla and Aquilla exemplified this in their ministry together. 

It wasn’t just their teaching, but their example of how they lived that spoke into the life of Apollos and many others who were in their home.   Paul has spent time with this couple and his investment paid many dividends for the Kingdom and its progress in other lives. 

Our life can get busy, can’t it!  This modern culture’s priority is for success and accomplishment.  Success in the world’s eyes often is not success in God’s eyes.  

Many in the world, including some in the Christian community, don’t necessarily share the priorities God holds dear.  Life is busy and it takes time and effort to invest in others.   Paul and this couple modelled a meaningful and purposeful life…..INVESTMENT IN OTHERS.

God yearns that we keep our spiritual eyes open to the opportunities He will bring along our every-day life; opportunities to share our faith, meet a practical need, extend hospitality to another hurting soul, listen to their hurts and hearts.  

People don’t care how much we know…..they only know how much we care!

I loved the fact that this couple was a team.  We can team up with others in reaching our world for Christ.  What focus and encouragement and support they were to each other;  and then extending and multiplying themselves in the lives of others.   No one person knows it all or can do it all.  

Each of us are like threads that are to be woven together to display a lovely canvas of Christ to our world.   Each one’s strengths complimented the other’s weaknesses.  Their lives were “gifts” to Paul and everyone they came around. 

Is your life…is my life a “gift to others?”

Compass thought:   What do people think of Jesus Christ…..after they spend time with you and with me??  After they hear you talk, work and watch how you live …. What do they think of Him after being with you.   

Our lives have INFLUENCE.  

Every time we reach out to help, or speak we influence others on how to live for Christ.  We can be a positive influence or a negative one.  God yearns that our lives are “contagious” and “winsome” and “salty”; drawing others to see what God is like and then desire a relationship with Him for themselves.  Our lives will leave a lasting impression!

May the flavor of our lives be the drawing agent God uses to draw others to Himself.  Wherever we are, whatever we’re doing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

WHAT IMPRESSION ARE YOU AND I LEAVING ABOUT OUR WONDERFUL SAVIOR ??

Published by Dianne Horne

I can’t think of anything I enjoy more than to see lives changed! There’s nothing more that puts “oxygen and joy” into my life than to bring the application of Scripture into the “shoe leather” of our lives and to share it with others. I feel awkward speaking about myself, but I understand it can be helpful to enable others to relate to and enjoy the work of our Lord does in other people. Another down-to-earth way of sharing who I am, is that I love to eat, laugh and to talk about the Lord. I’m not a very exciting individual, but my Savior sure is! I’ve been happily married for many years, and I now reside in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. God has transplanted my husband and I 28 times in our years together; and it is only when in His presence that you can ask the “why questions” as to the adjustments He’s brought us “to” and “through” in the numerous locations and countries we have lived. God’s care, love, forgiveness, faithfulness and moment-by-moment presence has not only carried me (when I had every reason to fall apart), but lifted me to a joy I’ve never known. There’s one thing to have joy when things are going great, and quite another dimension of joy and peace when everything in your world is crumbling and unknown. Most of our lives will appear like “ordinary oatmeal living”, but when we allow Him to “establish our steps”, He alone takes our mundane acts of kindness or aid and makes them “extraordinary” for His purpose in the lives of others. The seasons of caring for my parents and the associated grieving process has forever changed me. It was my honor, joy and privilege to participate with my Lord in what He was accomplishing in their lives, as they both gave their lives to Jesus Christ just days before they were escorted into His presence in heaven. The medical challenges and decisions that needed to be made for a number of those years thrust me into a trust and dependence upon the Lord that I had never known up to that point in my life. In my journey, I’ve come to realize that our “weakness” is our greatest “strength”, because real power, provision, and His purpose being carried out in and through our lives, depends on Him orchestrating such through His sovereignty. My “heartbeat of fulfillment” lies in sharing with women, in various settings, helping them to enjoy, study and apply the principles of God’s Word in a down-to-earth fashion. I thrive interacting with women and encouraging them to put their trust in the One Who knows them best and loves them extravagantly; and to prioritize “spending time alone with God each day” developing their relationship with Him. Our lives aren’t designed to just get answers to prayer….but to know and love a very personal Savior, and to surrender daily to “His plans, His agenda and purpose” for our lives. Several years ago I was challenged to respond to a critical question I had never considered: Why do you exist? What’s your purpose in life? I live to bring an expression of God in the ordinary events of life, seizing every opportunity of serving and delighting in others. I want my life to be an infectious expression of His love for others, and for them to know how special “they are” to Him; and thus be contagious with His grace. My life compass is: After people spend time with me, what do they think of Jesus Christ? The stories that will appear in my blog, are true events that have taken place in my journey. They’re all “very ordinary” circumstances that have occurred through sharing them with Jesus and watching Him orchestrate and demonstrate what He can do when we yield “our ordinary” to the Extraordinary One.

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