Editor’s Note:  The AMI QT Devotionals from March 7-13 are provided by Kate Moon.  Kate has been serving the Lord in E. Asia for nearly 15 years. 

Devotional Thoughts for Today

Acts 8:29-36

The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” 30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. 31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him . . . 34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.  36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”

In a remote rain forest jungle part of the world, there were once two villages separated by a large mountain.  One village had received the gospel, built a rough structure with a cross on top, started gathering regularly for meetings, and wonderful and amazing things happened there.  News of these goings on reached the other village, but only in bits and pieces because of the whole mountain separating the two.  They heard that this first village had built this structure, that they gathered there, that amazing things were happening.  So they decided to try the same.  They built a rough structure with a cross on top, started gathering there regularly, and they would sit in this structure and wait—wait to see what would happen next. The documentary that recorded this true story ended something like this: “At the time the editing of this film was completed, there was as of yet still no missionary working among the people of the second village.”

Presumably, it was because the village was too remote – if I remember correctly, for all practical intents and purposes, only reachable by helicopter or a very long trip up a river by boat – but after watching this documentary, I remember having these thoughts:  Here were these people who were sitting around in this (unbeknownst to them) “church” building they had built themselves, waiting for someone to come tell them about Jesus.  People in America had many chances to hear and the luxury to refuse time and again, but there were people in the world who had not yet heard even once and were just waiting for someone to come and tell them.  To me, the obstacles of physical distance or discomfort seemed more surmountable than that of a hardened heart.  If the only reason some people weren’t saved was for lack of hearing because they lived in too remote a place, I thought, heck, I’d go.

The Ethiopian eunuch, like the villagers above, was someone who also just needed a little help.  The Holy Spirit had already done all the work in his heart, even had him start reading the Scriptures; he was just having some trouble understanding what he was reading and needed someone to explain.  Living in certain environments where people are generally not so open to hearing the gospel, we can feel that evangelism is so hard.  But sometimes, it can be as easy as this.  There are people in the world who are reading, searching, wondering, questioning – wishing there were someone they could ask so that they could understand.  Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to bring us to them that we might lend a helping hand.

Prayer

Holy Spirit, help me to be willing to make myself available to help someone in spiritual need.  Open my spiritual eyes that I may see who those people are, whether they are in my immediate context or somewhere farther away that I need to go.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Nahum 1