OUR OBEDIENCE AND HIS PROMISES

 

As we meditate on His words today - let us reflect on Acts 23:11. 

11 But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, "Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome."

In this chapter, we see God’s promise to Paul being kept. Paul was told by God that he would make it to Rome and that nothing would stop him. Paul had faith in God that he would keep his promise and that is why he went to Jerusalem where he knew there would be verbal and violent attacks against him for his relations with the Gentiles. In this scripture,  we see God's provision and protection of Paul.

Paul was not satisfirad with his work in Jerusalem, he felt that he did not do a lot to preach the Gospel to the Jews. But at night Jesus appeared to him inside the prison cell. Paul was imprisoned for several times and every time Jesus would free him. This time, Jesus did not free him, he accompanied him inside the prison to cheer him up and exhort him to take courage for He is always with him. 

Jesus assured Paul that he did well in serving the Lord and that He will still use him to testify in Rome. This is an assurance that Paul will not die in Jerusalem because he still needs to go to Rome. 

In our journey in faith, there are times that we fail the Lord, or sometimes we felt we are not doing enough for him, but in this situation it is very clear that for the Lord what is important is our obedient heart - it is our responsibility to obey and  He is responsible for the result. 

All He needs is for us to obey - no matter what.

Let us reflect:

- How many times do we fail God by not spending time with him because we cannot get up or lazy to open our bible -- we would rather entertain our laziness than to fight for the WORD of God. 

- How many times we do not attend to His works or fellowship because we do not feel well though we are aware of how satan works and the pattern of spiritual battle? 

- Was there a time that we doubted His promise and His plan for us? 

- What do we do when we felt like we fail Him. Are we like Paul, who repent and speak to the Lord what happened?

- We are all bound to fail when we do His works and when we decide to obey, because persecution is present and we are always on battle spiritually, but do we easily give in? if not, do we experience the presence of the Lord talking to us when we are so down? 

As Christians and true servant of the Lord we must be able to hear the voice of God, instructing us what to do and guiding us, encouraging us and giving us assurance like Paul. 

Lord, as we obey you keep your promises of proctection and provision to us.  Amen.