One compelling female - taking a page out of her book.
- Christine DiGiacomo
- 21 minutes ago
- 4 min read
I'm a'wonderin' - do ya have a place of prayer?
"Yeah, I do," she said, "at my kitchen table, every morning."
"Yes, I sure do," he said. "I pray with a bunch of guys at our small group."
Well, which is it? Is a place of prayer the place you privately pray or is it the place you go when you have cares - great or small - to be surrounded by people who will pray with you?
Yes. It is one and it is the other. It is both.
Back to powerful chapter 16 in Acts:
We left our missionary team of Paul, Silas, Timothy and now Luke arriving in Philippi. "...a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia1. And we stayed there several days.2 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer.
We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us."3
There are several things that call to me from these verses, but mostly this,
-->The men went out, expecting to find a PLACE OF PRAYER . . .
Their expectation was good and it was right. While Paul's custom was to go to the town synagogue when he first arrived, there was none because there were not 10 adult Jewish men, a quorum, so there could be no synagogue. The faithful had to meet under the open sky near a river or sea. And so they did. [pictured above - Lydia's Spring today; picture taken April, 2024]
Lydia and the other women on the banks of the river represented a place and a people of prayer, a marriage of the two. An intersection of faith, hope, and devotion. But please, let's stop a moment and consider this woman, Lydia. She was one compelling figure! Three hundred miles from her hometown of Thyatira, Lydia distinguished herself by gathering with people in prayer, likely leading it. Luke makes a point of telling us about her successful business life as well and we see another intersection of life/faith. Because of her financial resources and her generosity of heart, she opened her home to Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke. Think of how progressive this was in the first century!
Remember, women were second class citizens at best; their voices not even heard in a court of law ... yet here we have a successful business woman mentioned by name .... and LOOK AT THIS, Lydia gave from her resources to support the work of God. Her faith in God gave her an open heart when she heard the good news of Jesus Christ, and she recognized the Truth immediately; she shared it with her household as well, and all of them were baptized, making public their newfound joyful commitment to Jesus Christ.
By chapter's end, we see that she cared for a battered Paul and Silas in her home again. These mentions of this first-century woman go to the heart of the 'realness' factor of Scripture, recording what was a cultural anomaly--that of Christianity's honoring women.
Hmmm... yeah, I like this woman Lydia.
One of the great things about life in our tech-savvy world is that folks can get prayer needs out to many people in lightning speed! [Do yourself a favor - stop and make a note of the many great things about the time in which we live! It will do you good] So, literal armies of prayer warriors are pressed into service at warp speed to pray about real-time concerns! We modern-day Lydias can create places of prayer on text-message threads and on social media - a really great use of what often feels like a nuisance.
Life is not easy at times. And I do not know about you, but I do not want just to survive life today. . . I want to thrive! We need God ... and to access him, we need to pray, we need to talk to him. And sometimes, depending on the severity of our need, we need to cry out to him! There is no other way. Further, we need people of Christian faith alongside us, believing along with us who are willing to contend for us in prayer.
Do not do this thing called 'life' alone. In Florida, are you? Find a place of prayer! Living in East Jerusalem? You must find other followers of Yeshua and pray! In California? Do not take for granted that you can meet with other believers for prayer ... do it and be committed. Contend for faith and freedom on your knees.
Across the globe, may I ask you 'do ya have a place you can pray, gather your wits about you and talk to God?' You must be intentional. Create a place.. . a space. Pray.
And ... also find a place, a community of faith-filled folk who will pray with and for you, won't you? We are not meant to merely survive, we are purposed to thrive.
Get intentional about prayer, because it will change your life.
Christine
1 - includes parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania and Serbia
2 - The ruins of Philippi are near modern Kavalla in northern Greece. It was then a city of Macedonia founded by Philip, the father of Alexander the Great. A Roman colony and military centre, governed directly from Rome, Philippi was situated on the Via Egnatian, the highway running east and west linking Rome to Byzantium (Istanbul) 'Too much detail? For me, I like to know how the ancient translates to the modern-day map
3 - Acts 16.12-15
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