February 13th, 2017 She's Going to Eat me!!

Reading: Act 20 and Genesis 42-43

Scripture: Acts 20:23-24, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 

Observation: God though the Holy Spirit had been urging Paul to return to Jerusalem but in the urging he was also told that he was going to go to prison and he would have afflictions on him. How often to we here there is going to be a hardship when you do this thing do we want to go to that thing. I know there are many times I have turned and run away from thing that I heard were going to be hard or cause pain to do. 

Application: With God on our side there may be pain and affliction but he will give us the strength to get though these afflictions. In his book and Sermon series named Through the Eyes of a Lion, Pastor Levi Lusko talks about the worst pain he ever felt and how it brought him closer to God. In it he also talks about that how sometimes the thing you need to do most can be the scariest saying we need to run toward the rawr. In that he talks about Lions hunting habits and that the big rawr on one side is meant to chase the pray into the group of Lionesses on the other, as counter intuitive as it my seem the safest place to run is directly at the sound of the rawr. That is exactly what Paul was doing he knew that there was going to be trials and prison and all sorts of troubles for him but he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem knowing his life was not important but finishing his ministry was.

Prayer: Father you are so amazing I can’t hardly wait to get to heaven and see how all the peaces of my life fit together being I know I have a tendency to make a mess of things. I thank you for your Holy Spirit and the guidance you give me though him. I thank you for your daily provisions and blessings you pour out on us. I ask that you continue to help us see your direction for our life and help us to run toward the rawr into your arms and not into the clutches of the evil one.