And now I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
– Acts 20:32
I love this verse at the end of Acts 20. Paul has spent this time with these Ephesian elders. He’s wept with them just recounting how night and day for years. He has poured God’s Word into them. This makes this conclusion so beautiful when he says, after spending years with them, he’s departing.
Acts 20:32 Reminds Us God’s Word is What Ultimately Builds Us Up
He’s sad. They’re sad. But he says, “I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace.” What a great description of God’s Word. “The Word of His grace.” It’s what God’s Word is. It’s a picture of His grace toward us, His love for us. When you see your Bible, see the Word of His grace, which is, Paul says, “able to build you up.” When you see your Bible, see this book that is able to build you up. Who doesn’t want to be built up in life by the God who made you. It is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance.
Oh, what a picture. When you see your Bible, see it as leading you to an inheritance. And not just an inheritance of money or possessions, an inheritance of eternal life, of a kingdom to come among all those who are sanctified, meaning all those who are set apart by God in His grace and His mercy, who He’s called to Himself. Oh, let this verse transform the way you view the Bible today and every day. I just want to speak this Word over you and then lead us to pray according to it. But I commend you today to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Acts 20:32 Encourages Us to Eargerly Engage the Word of God
God, we praise You for the Word of your grace. God, we praise you for your love for us and giving your Word to us. I pray based on this picture of your Word in Acts 20 for a zeal and a hunger for your Word in all of us that just is growing increasingly, longing for your Word more and more and more and more. God, we pray that You would deliver us from any sort of complacency with your Word.
God, help us to soak in it, to read it, to study it, to memorize and meditate on your Word, the Word of your grace. And as we do, we trust, oh God, you will build us up. We trust that you will lead us to the inheritance, that you will give us the inheritance that you have prepared for us as your children, as citizens of your kingdom.
And oh God, help us to commend others to the Word of your grace today. Help us to build up others with our speech according to your Word. Help us to speak your Word into others’ lives today, in ways that bring life, in ways that build up brothers and sisters in Christ. And in ways that bring other people into the family, into the body of Christ today through our Words speaking your Word. God, we pray that you would help us to build others up and lead others to the inheritance among those who are sanctified through our sharing of your Word today.
Praying for the Bahing People
And God, we pray for the spread of your Word all around the world, specifically today to the Bahing people of Nepal, 3,300 of them in this remote tribal people group. God, we pray for the spread of your Word among the Bahing individuals and families. We pray that you would strengthen all those who are working to get your Word to them. Raise up more laborers for the remote, unreached people groups of Nepal. And God, we pray that the Bahing people would be built up by your Word and given the inheritance among all those who are sanctified because of the proclamation of your Word among them. God, may it be so. We pray all this according to Acts Chapter 20, Verse 32, in your Word, which we love. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
