Far or Near – The Presidential Prayer Team

He is actually not far from each one of us. – Acts 17:27

Last month, the most distant star—or possibly pair of stars—that astronomers have ever seen was revealed thanks to the Hubble telescope and a massive cluster of galaxies. In the months before he died, evangelist and founder of Cru, Dr. Bill Bright, wrote often of heaven and hell. He said his logic was this, “The God whom we worship created at least 100 billion galaxies—some astronomers would say 200 billion. Do we give God credit? They say it was the Big Bang. But it was this great Creator God who made all this majesty and glory.”

When he was preaching to the Athenians on Mars Hill, the apostle Paul reminded them of the God he worshipped being the Lord of heaven and earth, the Creator who made from one man every nation on the face of the planet. Moreover, he told them, that God is not far away from each one, “In him we live and move and have our being,” he told them (Acts 17:28). He described a personal, knowable God as he preached to them.

God is a God who wants to be known. He wants you to seek Him, and He wants to be found by you, so He is always close. He also wants you to help other people know Him. The Lord longs for humanity to learn about Him, to turn away from sin, selfishness, and self-righteousness, and come to Him, receiving His righteousness by receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Pray for God to lead you in the part He has for you to play in the growth of His Kingdom. Then intercede for those governing in Washington, D.C., to ponder the stars at night and determine to know the Creator who placed them there, yet is very near.

Today’s Verse: Acts 17:27

that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Acts 17:22-31

²²So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. ²³For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. ²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, ²⁵nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. ²⁶And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, ²⁷that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, ²⁸for

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

²⁹Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. ³⁰The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”