Tag Archives: serving christ

We see toward the end of verse 25, “Joy of Faith”. When you live for Jesus, you will often find yourself in bad spots. The Apostle Paul had more than his share of bad spots. Saul met Jesus on the Damascus Road, and heeding His call became Paul the Apostle. When Ananias was told to go to Saul and lay hands on him, Ananias was initially hesitant. After all, the Saul had been terrorizing the Church. But Jesus told Ananias:

Acts 9:15-16 (ESV) “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

As Saul caused others to suffer for Satan’s sake, now Paul himself will suffer “for the sake of {Jesus}”. Oh, how Paul would suffer! Paul told the Church at Corinth:

2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (ESV) For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

The brighter and more flamboyant the LIGHT, the greater the DARKNESS will hate it.

Paul said that he was so distressed that “we despaired of life itself”. That is a profound statement. This means that Paul got so discouraged that he and those with him welcomed death. This is a state of advanced depression, where life has lost its savor. Paul was like that poor old Saint Job who cried out:… Continue reading →