Daily Dose of Hope
December 9, 2025
Scripture – Acts 13
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, I come before you today with humility. You are holy, you are perfect, and I am painfully flawed. Forgive me, Lord, for the way I fall short over and over again. Forgive me for not being loving, patient, and kind. Jesus, I want to follow your example. I want to have a clean and pure heart. How I need you. Create in me a pure heart, Lord, and renew a right spirit within me. I love you. Amen.
Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the daily Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida. We have been walking through the Gospels over the last few months and now we are mid-way through the book of Acts. Today, we are walking through Acts 13.
In today's passage, we read about the first missionary journeys. The believers feel the Holy Spirit calling them to go, so they go. Paul and Barnabas, especially, feel called to be missionaries and go to new places with the Gospel message.
In Cyprus, the disciples encounter a Jewish sorcerer (seems like an oxymoron) and false prophet who was getting in the way of the proconsul, or governor, coming to belief in Jesus. Maybe the sorcerer sees Paul as a threat to his own power, we really can't tell. But Paul doesn't stand for it. Filled with the Holy Spirit, he speaks boldly and tells the sorcerer that he is a child of the devil. The man actually becomes blind. Seeing the power of God at work, the proconsul accepts Christ.
This particular incident is worth mentioning because it doesn't take long for Paul and Barnabas to encounter opposition. They know they are sent by the Holy Spirit, they are sharing the Gospel, and there are forces that aren't happy about it! But Paul and Barnabas are undeterred. They take care of the sorcerer and keep on going. I think too often when we encounter resistance, we consider giving up. We think, "Maybe God isn't calling me to do this ministry or maybe God isn't calling me to share my story with this group." It's possible, at times, that resistance can mean we are doing the wrong thing IF that resistance comes from godly people. However, more often, I think resistance means we're pushing against powers that need to be brought down. Keep going and DO NOT COMPROMISE. Stay the course.
Back to our passage - notice that wherever Paul and Barnabas go, they stop in the synagogue first and preach to the Jews. Some follow and believe which simply angers the Jewish leaders and they cause trouble. It's then that Paul basically says, "Look, we tried to offer you salvation in Jesus. You reject us so we are moving on to the Gentiles!" The Gentiles are very pleased. And the word spreads and many people believed. This is a pattern we will see repeated again and again.
I think sometimes we keep trying to do something, over and over and over again, without a lot of success because we feel like God has called us to do so. Sometimes, as in this passage, that is simply a door we need to close so that we can open up a more productive one. It's okay to say no to good to do what's great for God's Kingdom.
Blessings,
Pastor Vicki
