Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. With them they sent the following letter: To: The Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. From: The apostles and elders, your brothers, Greetings. We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. It therefore seemed good to us—after we had come together with one mind—to send chosen men to you with with our beloved Barnabas and Paul—men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements. You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell (Acts 15:22-29)
The four requirements sent to the Gentiles were not only a compromise, they were a renouncement of the Gentiles worshipping idols. The animals the Gentiles offered to their gods, were often strangled so the blood was retained, a practice against the laws of Moses. Idol-worshippers were also taught that adultery was okay, but the Sixth Commandment given to Moses says, “You shall not commit adultery.”
At first, it surprised me that the early church allowed those requirements to be sent to the Gentiles since Jesus is all we need to save us. If I were alive back then and hadn’t prayed, I might’ve spoken up and said those requirements were wrong. But Romans 12:2 tells us to let God give us a new mind, so we will know what God wants us to do. And when we do those things, they will be good, pleasing, and perfect.
If the Jewish and Gentile Christians were to be brothers and fellowship together, they needed an agreement of how to cook their meat and the security of knowing that flirting with someone else’s spouse was off limits. I can believe that the Holy Spirit would tell the Gentiles, “You will do well to avoid the practices you used to sacrifice animals to idols and you should also avoid sexual immorality.”
When we have disagreements in our church, family, and/or workplace and find the need to set rules, we would do well to listen to what each family member has to say, pray, and ask the Holy Spirit to have us come together with one mind, His mind. Romans 8:6 says, “If our minds are ruled by the Spirit, we will have life and peace.”
Father God, I praise You for the gift of Your Spirit. Fill me with the power and wisdom of Your Spirit, and let Your Spirit rule my mind with God’s truth so that I will have life and peace. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.
I am not quite sure how to approach this topic. I feel that God gives us the freedom of free thinking and choice. When you say that we should let God rule our mind, it almost sounds like ‘cult’ thinking. I believe that God wants me to let Him into me with the gift of the Holy Spirit. I believe we should strive for an intimate relationship with God. He wants us to experience the love, joy and peace He has to offer all of His children. However, I don’t believe that he wants to rule our mind because of His gift of free will. Perhaps I am not thinking of this in the right way.
You’re touching on a lot of difficult things today. Again, remember I am just giving you my opinion. I feel that cult thinking is when you allow a person, not God, to take over your mind. God wants us to have free will to be able to choose Him and His thinking. 1 Corinthians 2:16 says we are to have the mind of Christ.
Wow, marvelous blog structure! How long have you been blogging for? you made running a blog look easy. The full look of your website is fantastic, as neatly as the content material!!
I have been blogging for three years. Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
I wasn’t thinking about this in the right way and your response made things clearer for me. I guess I am knit picking. I agree with your definition of cult thinking.
I’m glad I was able to clarify the Scripture for you. I prayed for you and your family this morning. I love you, Sis.
Wow, wonderful blog layout! How lengthy have you been blogging for? you made blogging glance easy. The overall look of your site is fantastic, as neatly as the content material!!
I have been blogging for three years. Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Wow, wonderful weblog layout! How long have you ever been running a blog for? you make blogging glance easy. The overall glance of your site is wonderful, as neatly as the content material!!
I have been blogging for three years. Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Wow, fantastic weblog format! How lengthy have you been running a blog for? you make running a blog glance easy. The total look of your web site is great, let alone the content material!!
I have been blogging for three years. Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Hiya! I know this is kinda off topic however , I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My blog covers a lot of the same topics as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other. If you happen to be interested feel free to send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you! Great blog by the way!
Sure if you sign up for my devotionals I will give you my email address. Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
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Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
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Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
I do agree with all the ideas you have presented in your post. They’re really convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are very short for newbies. Could you please extend them a little from next time? Thanks for the post.
Thank you for your comments, encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the structure of your website? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or two pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?
Thank you for your comments, encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the layout of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or two images. Maybe you could space it out better?
Thank you for your comments, encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Greetings from Carolina! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to check out your blog on my iphone during lunch break. I enjoy the info you provide here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m shocked at how quick your blog loaded on my phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, very good site!
Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
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Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Hello would you mind stating which blog platform you’re using? I’m going to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a difficult time choosing between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your layout seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something unique. P.S Sorry for being off-topic but I had to ask!
I use WordPress. Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Hi! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a collection of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on. You have done a wonderful job!
Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Hmm it seems like your site ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I had written and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I as well am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new to everything. Do you have any suggestions for rookie blog writers? I’d certainly appreciate it.
I’m happy to have a web designer. Also, write for your readers. Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Hello! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on. You have done a wonderful job!
Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
I do agree with all of the ideas you have presented in your post. They are really convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are too short for newbies. Could you please extend them a little from next time? Thanks for the post.
Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
Really enjoyed this update, is there any way I can get an alert email when there is a new article?
Yes. Sign up for my devotionals and you will receive them. Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody
I am constantly looking online for ideas that can help me. Thank you!
Thank you for your encouragement and coming to my website. Isn’t it wonderful that when our lives are ruled by the Spirit, we will have love and peace. I prayed for you and your family today and hope you know how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you. Blessings, Jody