Daily Devotional for Saturday, April 15

Paul Makes a Request

“And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek?” Acts 21:37

“Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love. There are some things only learned in a fiery furnace.”— Oswald Chambers
Paul had once again been imprisoned for his obedience to God in preaching the gospel. Instead of pouting and protesting, Paul seemed to have sought every opportunity to preach the gospel despite his circumstances. Paul appealed to the authorities for the opportunity to speak and he proclaimed the gospel when the opportunity was granted.
It seems that many Christians pray for God to deliver them from trials and proclaim God’s goodness when life is easy. Many Christians claim to be blessed due to the absence of conflict or persecution. Yet, Paul exemplifies to us that faith in God is almost a guarantee of trials and shows us how to remain bold and courageous in the face of those trials. Paul no doubt suffered for his faith, yet each trial and persecution enabled him to proclaim the gospel to a new audience.
Paul’s writings to Timothy admonish Christians today, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3). Again, in verses 12 and 13, Paul wrote, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”

THOUGHT: Faith in God does not eliminate earthly trials. Faith in God empowers us to remain faithful in trials.

Steven Ridings