Daily Dose of Hope

December 12, 2025

Scripture: Acts 16

Prayer: Holy God, We come before you this morning with humility. You, Lord of all Creation, Almighty God, came down to earth to become one of us. You didn't come because you needed to, but because we needed you to. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the gift of incarnation. As we continue through this Advent season, help us prepare our hearts for your coming. Help us remember who and whose we are. In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan. We have been walking through the Gospels and now we are mid-way through Acts. Today, we are in Acts 16.

There are two parts of this passage I want us to discuss. The first is when Paul meets Timothy and decides to bring him on his missionary journey, he circumcises him. Wait? Didn't Paul just argue at the Council of Jerusalem that circumcision and the law were an unnecessary burden for Gentiles? Yes, he did. Now he circumcises Timothy. Is he contradicting himself? I don't believe so, but there are some layers to unpack.

Timothy's mother was Jewish and his father was Greek so he would not have been circumcised. Now, Timothy and Paul are going to be visiting many young churches, some filled with Jewish believers. While circumcision wouldn't be required, it probably gave Timothy a bit more authority in the eyes of those new Jewish converts. It was probably also a debate they just didn't want to have. They wanted the focus to be on salvation through Jesus Christ and they wanted to avoid anything that would be a distraction. Of course, I'm thinking – was there a circumcision check at the door? How would they even know? But I digress.

The other part of the passage that is fascinating to me is how the Spirit of God discourages Paul and crew from going one way so that they would end up in Macedonia. I mean, they had a route already planned out and they were prevented from taking that route. And then Paul has a dream about a man calling to them and begging for them to come to Macedonia. So they head in that direction. When they go into Macedonia, it opens up a whole new area to the Gospel. They head to Philippi, where they meet a woman named Lydia and she accepts Jesus. She welcomes them into her home, which later becomes a house church. This is only the beginning! By listening to the Spirit and not insisting on their own way, the Gospel was advanced.

How often do we want to force our own way with God? Yet, the Spirit is always trying to guide us, if we let him.

I can't finish today's devotional without at least addressing the prison story. Paul and Silas are arrested after a debacle of sorts with a servant girl. She had a spirit in her that told the future. Keep in mind, this spirit would not have been of God, so most likely the power was demonic. She followed the men around and was really wearing on Paul's nerves so he cast out that spirit. But she was quite a money-maker for her owners. When they find out the future-telling spirit is gone, they are livid. They drag Paul and Silas into the public square and have them beaten. Then, they are put in prison. It feels a lot like a local mob gone crazy.

But God is always up to something. An earthquake basically opens up the prison so the men could have theoretically walked out. But they didn't. I don't know why they didn't leave. Maybe the Holy Spirit impressed upon them to stay, we don't have that information. But because they stayed, the jailer is saved and so is his family! One door opens another.

God is always opening at doors, always at work, but we have to be paying attention. How have you seen God working behind the scenes in your life this week?

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki