“And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.  Matthew 28:20

Recommended Reading: Isaiaha 41:8-13  “⁸ But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.⁹ Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.¹⁰ Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.¹¹ Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.¹² Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.¹³ For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.”

ACTS 24:1-28  “After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;² And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them.³ And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.⁴ And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.⁵ And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.⁶ And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean; from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.⁷ And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man’s house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.⁸ And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.⁹ Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:¹⁰ For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.¹¹ And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.¹² And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,¹³ Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.¹⁴ And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you:¹⁵ But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters.¹⁶ And he drave them from the judgment seat.¹⁷ Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things.¹⁸ And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.¹⁹ And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.²⁰ When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not;²¹ But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.²² And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.²³ And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.²⁴ And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.²⁵ This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.²⁶ And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.²⁷ And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:²⁸ For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ”.                                                                                      COMMENTS: Above is a longer choice of scripture both from Old and New Testaments.  The passage from Isaiah gives Israel encouragement and preparation that God would be close and faithful to them during coming hardships and guide them safely through them.  God was also instructed them to keep theirs eyes on Him and remain faithful to Him no matter what their hearts and emotions and minds and circumstances would want to lead or distract them to go.   God is also so instructing Paul and passage in Acts also is showing us how God did guide and encourage Paul along his journey.  Paul did remain faithful through times of trial, persecution, discouragement, and ultimately death, but not until he saw fruit of his work in the lives of many who he ministered too.  But Paul would not see the full impact of his ministry nor live to see his letters become a part of our now New Testament scripture.  He had to trust God to do His part while focusing on doing the part God called him to do and leave it at that.  Yet, Paul encountered stiff opposition often during his journeys from both expected and unexpected sources.  Yet, Paul understood the true source of opposition was satan and the true source of his purpose and strength was Christ Himself.  Christ encouraged Paul (Acts 18:9-10) to not be afraid but to preach boldly even though He would not remove the opposition.  Paul discovered and accepted what each of us must as well.   Christ doesn’t promise to remove obstacles and hardship from us but promises to go through them with us providing His full support and help and council. 

Think back to times of hardship and difficulty.  Did you have someone close who did just that?  Did having someone to confide in and to give you wise council help?  I can remember encountering difficult situations at work that I didn’t know what to do and experienced discouragement.  I would go across the street to visit my father and talk it through with him.  Many of those problems were not things he was familiar with nor understood himself.  But he would always remind me that God is and would both pray with me to hear His council and would encourage me to pray until God’s answer came.  The answers did come but not always right away and often from others instead of directly to me.

Those experiences taught me to go to Him first and also taught me the reality of having His Holy Spirit close and available 24×7.  Not seeing or hearing Him physically always make it difficult to remember and appreciate that, but I believe He purposes that to force us to rely on our faith to see Him and hear Him with our spiritual eyes and ears that can only be used when we stretch our faith in Him. We access that faith and seek Him first by prayer and then by confirming from scripture and also support of other Christian friends and church.  We are not designed nor intended to face the world alone nor without God’s abiding presence and help.  That is why He provided His Holy Spirit to be our continual comforter and help mate.  So even when we’re alone, we are never alone.  We must forget that. “Anxious care is out of place in a heavenly Father’s presence.” Kenneth Wuest

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