Acts 23:11 – – “And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.”
Do you have dreams so big that sometimes when you think about them they seem unrealistic but you are convinced in your heart that it is what you are called to do? Or you always wonder if it was really God that placed it in your heart because everything about that vision screams IMPOSSIBLE?
The bible says in Philippians 2:13 –“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and do of His good pleasures”.
This is how you will know it is God; it will not be about you. It will be about how God wants to put you in a position where He will flow through you to His people.
I want to encourage you today with the same encouragement I received from a part of the story of a man whom I admire so much in the bible – Brother Paul.
After so many warnings about Brother Paul’s visit to Jerusalem, he proceeded because he knew he just had to because it was in the will of God for him. He knew the mission was never about him or what he was going to go through in Jerusalem. He just knew and was convinced he had to be in Jerusalem.
Upon his arrival he met with the elders who gave him practical wisdom in form of an advice as to how he should conduct himself so as not to stir up trouble. All was going to plan till some Asians Jews saw him and all went south so fast.
All sorts of accusations were leveled against him but without any concrete proof but because there were a lot of them, the hands of the authorities were tied and at a stage they realized there was no way they could protect Brother Paul.
Brother Paul on the other hand stood firm on the mission, He kept on witnessing for Christ even though that was the main reason behind his circumstance.
God then appeared to him and told him as he has stood his ground and told his story of Him in Jerusalem that soon he would do the same in Rome. Noticed here that God told him the destination but did not say anything about the in-between, he just wanted him to know that he would arrive in Rome and tell his story of Him.
The following morning a group of 40 men took an oath neither to eat nor drink anything till they saw that Paul was dead and they even got consent from the priest but all these did not bother Brother Paul because he knew where he was going and God had told him he would get there.
As if that was not enough, he was left in prison for over 2 years without actually committing any crime, and then the authorities finally set to transfer him to Rome.
A storm rose which lasted 2 weeks (non-stop) and they lost everything on the ship but Paul assured everyone that no one was going to die just because God had told him and reminded him that he would get to Rome to share his story of Him. After so much travails, Acts 28:14 recorded they arrived in Rome.
I want to let you know today that it does not matter how impossible the destination may look or how fearsome the storm on the journey may seem or how difficult the task to be undertaken to get to the destination may seem, You will arrive THERE simply because God has told you so. He may not always reveals everything to you but one thing is certain He is working on your behalf to get you to that destination because He has more interest in you getting there than you have of yourself in getting to your destination. He is working out all this to conform to His will (Ephesians 1:11) and His will for you is to arrive at your destination.
No matter how big the dream is, just keep following His instructions, it may seem slow or sometimes static but know you are getting closer every day and nothing or no one can stop His plans from coming to pass in your life once you yielded all to Him.
I leave this final note with you –“…Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might”- Ephesians 6:10.
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