Every time he tried to go North on his journey his way seemed blocked. Then this happened and suddenly it all began to make sense.
Paul has decided to venture out on his second missionary journey. These cities that Paul wants to visit are in modern day Turkey. Paul is working out of Antioch in Syria, which is southeast of his planned route. It seems that Paul has in mind to travel northwest to his mission field, and then turn north and back east to cover some new ground (on the way back home). The problem is that God wouldn’t let Paul go any further north. Several times he tries, but Luke reports that “we were prevented” from going there. So, Paul keeps sliding west, until he hits the Aegean Sea. Then he has a vision that reorients his entire journey. He sees a man from Macedonia calling out to him, asking him to come and share the Gospel.
Macedonia is west of where Paul originally intended to go…and once there he begins traveling south through that country.
Here are a couple of lessons to learn from this passage: (I won’t go into any detail with them)
1. Always be preparing for your next mission excursion…once you finish one, be preparing for the next. And don’t just prepare forever……go.
2. Take a “Timothy” along with you whenever you are going. This is how we learn to be evangelistic. You simply cannot learn it completely while sitting at home. Swimmers have to get in the water to learn to swim, you can’t simply read the book. Consider having a “Timothy” with you when you teach, work around the church, or visit, or whatever you do. Train the next generation.
3. Make your plans, but be sensitive enough to the Spirit that He can change them.
4. Don’t be anxious or upset when God changes your plans…His purposes are always right. Many things seem like “mountains” today that will look like nothing in a few days.
5. Be settled in your mind that what you are doing is what God wants, not simply what you want. That way, if you are persecuted, or run into hard times, you won’t be tempted to doubt or quit.
6. Don’t be afraid to do what is right, even if it is unpopular, or will get you in trouble. (casting out a demon from a fortune teller)
7. When God provides for you, accept the gift! Paul tried to refuse the invitation to stay with Lydia, and if he had, there wouldn’t have been a church meeting at her house.
8. When you fall on difficult times, don’t spend your time groaning and moaning and having a pity party. Consider this: God has allowed it for some reason. Put your trust in God and allow him to reveal himself through it. God is working in ways that you and I cannot possibly understand.
9. Every time something bad happens to you it isn’t because you have sinned.
10. If one path seems blocked, then try another path. Don’t quit or go home.
Trying to make these 10 things my own, especially the one about not having a pity party……
PR